TERI ANN: Tarpon Springs

11/10-12/14

We made our crossing! We drove the boat for 17 straight hours from Carabelle to Tarpon Springs. We left the marina in Carrabelle at 4:45 PM, drove the boat all night and arrived at the Tarpon Springs City Marina at 10:20 AM. We left the marina with Average Looper and Our Last Boat. Meander & Untide joined our group as we headed out East Pass into the Gulf just as the sun was going down. Once the sun was down it was extremely dark, we couldn't see a thing, and had to rely only on our GPS, radar, and gauges. The Gulf started out extremely calm. We were treated to a very beautiful moonrise over the water. Once the moon was up it was much easier to see out over the water, but then the waves started to build. The waves were 3-4 ft. with some probably in the 5-6 ft. range. Even though the waves were much bigger than we hoped for, we were comfortable because it was mostly a following sea. The autopilot really had to work hard as we surfed down each wave. It was tough to keep the boat straight as we were pushed left & right as much as forward. At one point when I was on watch Al jumped out of bed because we were pushed so hard to the left down a wave it felt like the boat might broach. Luckily the boat recovered and we continued on. It was very spooky not being able to see the waves.

Because our group was traveling at 10 mph we eventually caught up to the 8 mph group even though they left at 2 PM. Then we became a group of 15-20 boats. That got a little confusing in the dark. Most of the group wanted to slow down so as not to arrive too early to see the crab pots. We didn't want to slow down too much, because we didn't want the trip to be longer for Hooper than it had to be. We eventually went ahead of the pack and resumed our comfortable speed of 10 mph and thankfully we didn't have much trouble seeing the crab pots, even with the sun in our eyes. We were so happy to get tied up in a slip and relax. We took naps and went out for a Greek dinner. Oopa!

I was worried about Hooper making this long trip, but he was the smart one. Once the sun went down, he headed forward, hopped into our bed, and stayed there the whole night. He came out the next morning once the sun was up to look for dolphin. I don't know how he could last 17 hours without a bathroom break. He wasn't even desperate to go once we were docked. What a good boy!

Leaving Carrabelle with Average Looper right behind us