Day #112 - Clearwater, FL
November 20th, 2008Yahooooooo, we finally made it to Clearwater!!!!!!!
We left Carrabelle at 3:00 pm accompanied by Harold and Cheryl on Victory. Beautiful entry into the Gulf which we actually entered at 3:45 pm after going through the east pass. Shortly after that we encountered four other boats making the crossing to various destinations. The water was so calm and flat that we all decided to go straight across instead of taking the inside cut. That shaved about 14 miles off of the trip.
We watched the sunset at 5:45. Beautiful red sky and you can see some of the other boats in the distance.
Shortly after that it was complete blackness. That is a really scary feeling. You are in the middle of the Gulf so there is not light anywhere, complete blackness. Somewhat like driving down the freeway without any headlights or street lights. For the first couple of hours I was so tense, just waiting to hit something. As our friend Bob on Headquarters says, that is called the “pucker factor.”
Andy and I took shifts of two hours each. We made up a bed in the pilothouse and took turns trying to sleep. He, being a male, was able to drift off immediately as his head hit the pillow. I was not as lucky but finally caught some zzzzzs about 4:00 am. Woke up and the sun was coming up and we could see land. A welcome sight!
These were our entire views most of the night!
On one of my shifts I saw a shooting star. The orange half moon came up at 12:30 which did help illumniate the ocean. We crossed the 100 mile mark at 1:00 am. That was quite a milestone on my watch.
As dawn broke we began dodging crab pots. They were everywhere. You really don’t want to run over one of those as the lines get wrapped around your props or even worse you hit the metal pot itself. More boat/prop damage and we know we don’t want that again.
This is how they mark them and they are EVERYWHERE. Nice for the last hour and a half while you are cruising into the morning sun after a sleepless night. Yikes!
We arrived at the Clearwater Municipal Marina at 9:00 am. All in all the trip was 176 miles and 18 hours. Glad we did it, glad it is over with and now on to enjoy the Gulf shore of western Florida…after a couple of days of rest that is. Total miles traveled since we left home August 1st is 2,827.
It is going to be a beautiful day, 70 and sunny! Hope we don’t sleep too long and miss it. Good night!
5 Responses to “Day #112 - Clearwater, FL”
By David & Barb Reinken on Nov 20, 2008
Congrats !!!
We have been watching your trip for several months and are glad you had a quiet and safe trip on the gulf. We plan to start the loop in 2010 and enjoy your notes and pictures.
Barb & Dave Reinken
MV Hallelujah (Defever 44)
Grand Rapids MI
By Barb Vettel on Nov 20, 2008
This voyage you are on is so much fun to follow. The trip across the Gulf at night must have been a little tense. Great pictures! You’ll be happy to know the candy sale is underway and the # of seniors who sold candy tripled!
Barb
By Ted Evans on Nov 20, 2008
I hope Andy told you how much more fun those crab pots are to dodge at 70 MPH !!!
Sounds/looks like it was a great night!!
Sail on!
By Debra on Nov 21, 2008
Glad to know that you navigated the gulf successfully. Must have been scary with no sights or sounds all night. I think I ate at Hemingway’s when I was in Pensacola in ‘07. It is freezing up here!! Can you believe that Holiday tables started Wednesday? Great photos!! Talk soon.
By Buck Leahy on Nov 21, 2008
Welcome to sunny Florida! Sure hope that you brought some warmer weather with you because the cold front that came through has been hanging around way too long.
Doesn’t look like you’ll be headed up the east coast of our peninsula any time soon, but I’ll look forward to getting together with you in 2009.