The Crossing

November 20,21,22,2015

Friday Saturday Sunday

Miles traveled -225.  Holy Smokes!!!

Total miles traveled-1377

Day 69,70,71

Friday , we were still on the fence whether to make the crossing.. The weather window was really tight.. A go fast boat could get from the pan handle to the west coast of Florida in the predicted time of some calm seas.. We are not a go fast boat and we need more hours to get across.. We could get caught in a storm and 11'seas on the other side.. Not sounding good. We may need to wait another week or better to make it.

Not knowing what the weather was  going to do. Lori came to get Mike.. She drove 8 hours from Charleston SC..  Those of us interested in the crossing went out for Mexican food and talk about the "what if's". Great food by the way at Pepper's in Port St Joe.

Loris visit was late in the night and they got on the road early .. It was great to have them both with us but we understand ... We look forward to when we see them again.

At 6:30 AM Saturday , three boats met again.. The window was tight but if we leave by first light we hope to stay ahead of the scary weather.

We were all untied and on our way to Apalachicola by 7:10.

We got to Apalachicola by 11:00.. We fueled up and walked the dogs. This would be the last walk until Sunday morning..

The weather was cloudy and 1-2 foot seas. This shrimp boat was coming in as we went out.

Here's Act III , Susan and Jeff and their pup Sadie.

Here's California Lady, Nancy and Mike and their pup Leroy

We all wore our life jackets and Buster was low to the floor as we rocked and rolled for the next 18 hours.

It was dark by five.. No real sunset to speak of or photo.

These little lights are Act III and California Lady

We went 80 miles off shore and traveled 225 miles in little over 25 hours at the helm.  We were thankful for autopilot and staying ahead of the storm.. We could see it on radar and we got a little rain , but that's all. Once we got closer to shore we were warned of the kazillion crab pot that might tangle in our props.

So now we are on high alert for crab pots.

Come on daylight and shoreline.. We were exhausted.. But once again we were lucky.. We only saw 3-4 crab pots .  If there were more... It was to dark to see them and we never hit any... 

Now we just wanted to get tied up at a marina. Shower, eat , walk the pups and SLEEP!