Taurus Great Loop

 

Our actual cruise as depicted in the Nebo app  Today we cruised from Carrabelle, FL to Clearwater, FL across the Gulf of Mexico for 178 statute miles. BTW, Mr. Navy Guy Dave is upset because I didn’t use 155 nautical miles to tell you how far we went 🙉 .  The farthest from land that we were today was 50 miles. That’s a new record for us. Unfortunately, we had 3 ft. + waves on our port beam. Which means that 3 ft. or higher waves kept pounding on our left side. When this happens, I get seasick. However, at home in Connecticut, we either don’t go out in that kind of weather, or it’s a short trip. Today was an eleven  and a half hour cruise.  I don’t feel well even now.  We started this trip at 4:26 am. Which means Fred was up at 3:00 am, Dave was up at 4:00 am, and I was up at 3:30 am. We left in pitch black. The channel markers out of Carrabelle were flashing in either green or red depending on the side of the channel they mark. Dave shone a spotlight on the mar...

Today we left Apalachicola and were finally able to go at our cruising speed of 13-15 knots. Most of our trip was in Apalachicola Bay, although there was a skinny channel for a lot of it.  Once we got to the Carrabelle area, we did a reconnaissance mission into the Gulf to go through our plan for tomorrow morning at 4:30 am. The route checked out, so we are good to go.  It was very windy today, 10-15 knots so the waves and spray were hitting our boat.  But tomorrow the wind should be 5-10 knots, which is enough to keep the fog away. However, there is a frost warning tonight. 😩 The pass leading to the Gulf Remember back on August 14, I posted a picture of a stubby piling? That was in the Great Lakes where they don’t have tides.  Now that we are in the Gulf of Mexico, there are tides and these are the pilings you see. Now  those   are pilings! We were able to go into the town of Carrabelle and have lunch at a Korean … Um, not a restaurant, not a food truck -...

This morning as we left Panama City, we saw some more damage from Hurricane Michael in October 2018.  But there was also a beautiful sunrise.   We traveled in channels all day today. We passed through the area  where Hurricane Michael hit Mexico Beach in 2018.  There are many, many Loopers where we are. People ahead of us are staging for the Gulf Crossing. Today more than 11 Looper boats left on the Gulf Crossing.  That then opens up space in marinas and anchorages for the next boats to come through. For today, we passed through canals in a group of 9 Looper boats. We started out at the end of the line, but the slower boats were going slower than we wanted to travel. So we did a “slow pass” by them one at a time. A slow pass means that the slower boat slows down even more and the boat passing slows down so as not to generate a big wake. Everyone knows this and it works very well. Then when everyone is at the same marina for the evening, no one is angry. ...

Today was our last day in Central Time. And, one of our best friends joined us at Treasure Island Marina.  Fred and Dave were college roommates and I met Dave a week after I met Fred. Dave is here mainly for our Gulf Crossing which looks like it will happen on Tuesday, November 30.  The weather must meet certain criteria in order for it to be a safe cruise, which is why we’re not certain of the day. We got fresh grouper for dinner which was awesome! Today we cruised in bays, lagoons, as well as in a canal known as the “ditch” because it was dug out of the sand, which was then put on the sides.   You never know what you’re going to see:

On Black Friday, we cruised to Fort Walton Beach which does not have floating docks. For those of you who don’t boat, fixed docks are very different from floating docks. Throw in a tidal range, and life gets fun! Floating docks do just what they sound like. As the tide changes, the dock floats up or down with the boat. You tie the boat to the dock, and stroll directly to the nearest brewery.  However, for fixed docks with pilings, you tie the lines to the pilings, leaving enough slack to account for how high or low the tide is going to move.  In addition, the pilings are usually farther away, so you can leave slack.  So I watched a YouTube video on how to lasso the pilings a while ago. I’ve been using it to lasso the floating bollards. And it worked on the pilings.  I felt like a pro. 🎖  If you don’t do it right, bad things can happen.  Thanks to my brother Doug for this contribution to our blog that is an example of not accounting for the tide. Fred said ...