The Gulf Crossing - A Success!

Wednesday and Thursday, December 9 and 10 - The weather, wind and water reports forecasted favorable conditions for a smooth crossing from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs.  We left our dock at The Moorings at 2 p.m. and met up with other Looper boats at marker R2 which is close to Dog Island.  In total, we traveled with 7 other Looper boats and kept our speed at about 8 miles an hour.

                                       Spectacular Sunset on the Gulf of Mexico

Captain Carey took the lead in radioing the other Looper boats on the top of each hour.  He did a roll call to make sure everyone was awake.  Lila from Blue Haven even gave poetry readings over the radio every two hours to help pass the time.  We slept in shifts as best we could so one of us was always awake to watch the radar.

As night approached and darkness fell, we had to keep lights inside LeeLoo to a minimum so we could keep our night vision.  The waves did pick up a bit and LeeLoo was rocking and rolling for a while. It felt strange not to be able to see the waves that we were heading in to.  The stars were amazing in the middle of the Gulf, but there was no moon to be seen.  It was comforting to see the lights of other Looper boats in our flotilla.  As morning arrived we were still in once piece and almost to Tarpon Springs!  The Dolphins greeted us as we cruised along.  We did have to watch for crab pots so we didn't get tangled in their lines.  But, even the crab pot sightings weren't as plentiful as we thought they would be.

Darkness was upon us - we turned down the brightness on the instruments to allow us the best night vision.

We arrived in Tarpon Springs after a 20 hour crossing, safe and sound!  We took an hour nap to refresh ourselves, then last night joined other Looper friends to toast to a successful crossing!  We are staying at Turtle Cove Marina for at least a week, maybe more.  Turtle Cove Marina has floating docks and we are securely tied to a finger pier that is as long as Leeloo.  No short finger piers here!  It will be 81 degrees and sunny here today!  There are a lot of restaurants and shopping close by.  What's not to like?