The Move North Continues

 In my last entry we had just arrived at Cayo Costa after an overnight sail from Marathon in the Florida Keys. A storm was predicted on the following day, so we stayed put and prepared for wind and rain. As it turned out, the rain came, but the wind never got above 25 knots, so that was very good. It is always great when you see a storm on radar break up as it approaches you. 

After that storm we had some sunny days ahead, but we had 20 knots of wind out of the north, so no sailing for us. We decided to take advantage of the sun and move north along the ICW. On April 4th, we moved from Cayo Costa to just south of Sarasota. We had a nice calm anchorage, which was nice after a long day of opening 8 bridges and fighting the strong wind on the nose. 

This shot was taken as the sun was rising on April 5th in our anchorage near Sarasota. I don't know what formed it, but it was illuminated by the rising sun. We really needed that calm night after the bumpy passage followed by the constant movement of the windy anchorage at Cayo Costa.

We had another travel day on the ICW on the 5th that included a few bridge openings and two bay crossings. The first was Sarasota Bay that is a little over 5 miles across. We motor sailed across that. And then after two more bridges we were ready to cross Tampa Bay. 

A crazy thing happened when we were waiting to open the Cortez Bridge. We got a call on the radio from Jeff from Michigan. He was in a marina right next to the bridge. We had met him and his wife Sheila in Marathon while we were down there. They just so happened to see our boat and called out to us. That was amazing and very welcome. 

We got to sail with the engine off for part of the Tampa Bay crossing. It felt familiar as we purchased SHIFT not far from there and spent a lot of time on the bay learning how to sail her. We then motored on to Gulfport, Florida.

Here we are crossing Tampa Bay. You can see the Sky Bridge in this shot. You can also see a large ship on the bow leaving the port of Tampa. That ship was going 15 knots or 3 times faster than us and was 700 feet long. 

When we arrived in Gulfport we decided to go ahead and get fuel, so that we would be ready for our next moves north. We had one of the most stressful experiences we have had in a long time. It is tough to describe, but we called the fuel dock and asked if we could come into the very tight marina. They said the dock was empty and come on in. When we got there, two other large boats had come in unannounced and took up the entire dock. We had to make a pivot in a very tight space and then wait about 20 minutes in the very tight space and not hit any of the boats that surrounded us. It was crazy and took all of the skills I have to make it happen. The end result is we got in there and got a load of fuel and water. Very relieved to have that done, we headed out and found a good place to drop the anchor. It was very rough that afternoon and evening, but finally calmed down overnight and we slept well. 

We had not been off of the boat since March 30th in Marathon, so that was 6 days. We had plans on Saturday, April 6th to see our good friends Geoff and Marsha. We also needed to go to the library to finish our taxes after I had made a mistake on my first attempt. So, we got the dinghy down and headed to the dinghy dock. It felt so good to be on solid ground, so after the library, we took a walk around this very cool town. 

The beach at Gulfport, Florida and the mooring field and anchorage beyond. 

Kim and I were so ready to go for a walk after being on the boat for almost a week. 

The town of Gulfport, although surrounded by the greater Tampa/St. Pete area, still has some old Florida charm including beautiful live oaks. 

We had an awesome time with Geoff and Marsha. We had lunch overlooking the beach and then went back to their marina to see how they live. It is a very nice and protected little marina. They then took us to a grocery store to get a few provisions to prepare us to move on. Thanks to Geoff and Marsha for the great time together. 

We had a really nice sunset the last night we were in Gulfport, Florida.

 We had a weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico on Monday and Tuesday. The plan was to move north on the ICW on Sunday to Anclote Key and anchor there for the night and head out on Monday April 8th. I hate running on the ICW on a Sunday, but the weather was cloudy and cool when we started so there was not much boat traffic. By the time we got to Clearwater, that was no longer the case. We had large power boats zooming past us and leaving huge wakes rocking our boat. It is not dangerous on our boat, but it sure is annoying. 

Another crazy thing happened when we made it to Anclote Key. We saw another boat that we knew. Joe on Serenade was very close. Serenade is also an IP35 like SHIFT and we have talked on the phone in the past comparing notes on our boats. After we got anchored, he came over in his dinghy and we got to meet face to face and talk for a while. A small world and it was great finally meeting face to face. 

Joe took this shot of us on SHIFT as he was leaving. Thanks Joe!

 The following day, April 8th, was a big day. It is our son Mark's birthday, it was the day of the eclipse, and it was the day we would start our crossing of the Gulf of Mexico from Tarpon Springs to Carrabelle. We have done this crossing once before in 2020. On that trip we had a buddy boat. This time we would go it alone. 

We headed out just after sunrise and made our way between the barrier islands and out into the open Gulf of Mexico. We had good wind for the first 5 hours and were moving along at between 4 and 5 knots with no motor. As predicted, we then hit a calm area that lasted until sunset. We were not in the area for a great view of the eclipse, and it was cloudy, so it was kind of a non-event for us. We motored along at 5.5 knots with just the main sail up to catch what little wind was there. 

This picture does not capture the deep blue color of the open Gulf, but let me tell you it is amazing.

As I wrote in my previous post, this is not my favorite time of the day at sea, but we did have an interesting sunset. 

This is my favorite shot of our sunset at sea. You can see how calm it was at that point. That would change.

Later in the evening the wind started to build. We ended up getting exactly what was forecast for the entire trip. We had about 20 knots right on our tail. That is not a great sailing angle for us, but we put the main sail out to port and furled the head sail. We prevented the main to keep it from banging in the building swells. The worst part of this night was that we had no moonlight, so it was pitch black. It made for some nice star viewing, but you could not see how large the swells were. The best news about this night is that both of us got some sleep. It made the night go faster and we felt better the next day. Kim did have some seasickness, but I felt pretty good for this trip across. 

When the sun rose on the morning of the 9th, you could now see the swells that were as large as 6 feet. The good news is they were behind us, and we were moving along very well. 

My favorite time of the day and you can see that the sea state has changed. 

Now the sun is up, and I can see. The wind started to come down a bit and we fired up the motor for the final 10 miles of the 145 nm trip across the Gulf. 

Once we got cell signal, I checked the weather. I did not like what I saw. We had strong winds for the following day and a storm on Wednesday night into Thursday. We had planned to anchor behind a barrier island, but that would be unpleasant. I know of a place up the other side of Apalachicola in the swamps that has great protection. We decided to keep going 32 more miles to get there. We sailed for a while and then turned on the motor to make the final 20 miles. That made the trip a total of 179.3nm in 32 hours. We arrived at our spot at about 4 pm. As we came into the anchorage, we saw this guy laying on a log:

I think that is about an 8 foot alligator there to welcome us to the anchorage. 

We got the hook down and watched the boat move around the oxbow. This would be our home for a few days while the coming storm passes. I am writing this on Wednesday afternoon and so far, so good. We had some strong wind this morning and held fast, but the real show is tonight. 

A view of our little slice of heaven. Super calm and protected.

This place is called Searcy Creek. There are a number of large cypress trees around us. We hope they offer some protection from the coming storm. 

You can see how calm it was in the pictures above, so after a zoom call with my family, we went to bed and had the best night sleep we have had since Marathon. I know this is a long post, but I wanted to keep it as real time as possible. So, here we wait for the coming weather. It looks bad on radar, but we are hoping for just lots of rain and not too strong wind. 

We are now 250nm from Gulfport, Mississippi. We can make that it 6 day-sails. No more overnights is the plan at this point. We will try to get started on Saturday after the weather passes. Come back for my next entry to see how we do.