Crossing Florida’s Big Bend – for the 3rd time

One of the most “adventurous” parts of our cruising (read: “pain in the butt”) is having to cross the NE corner of the Gulf of Mexico from somewhere near Clearwater to somewhere near Apalachicola.  Because we’re a slow boat (yes, Clint, we’re still a “crawler”), the trip takes us 16-19 hours. 

The first two times we crossed, we made an overnight crossing.  But even though our last crossing this past spring was under very nice weather (read: minimal wind & waves), the entire journey was waaaaaaaay too long for us.  I guess that we’re just not quite the young chickens that we once were.  So for this crossing this coming weekend, we’ll try to keep the trip to a “reasonable” 16 hours.

This crossing is heavily dependent on a good weather window, and our window opens tomorrow for 2 days.  So we’ll leave St Pete downtown marina tomorrow morning & cruise as far north as we can before starting the 160 mile crossing.  We’re planning to anchor behind Anclote Key, just west of Tarpon Springs, and then start off Saturday about 4 AM to make a daytime crossing.  At the other end, just as soon as we come in to Dog Island (just south of Carrabelle), we’ll anchor again, hopefully right at sunset.  It sounds like a good plan, providing the crab pots are not planted all around Tarpon Springs like a minefield.

A restaurant where we are rarely seen -
Ruth's Chris Steak House!

On Sunday, we’ll go into Apalachicola Marina for a couple days, so the Admiral can find her Oyster City Brewery & get caught up on all their craft beers.  After that, we’ll start meandering westward towards Alabama.

Our “last supper” here in St Pete will be with Mike & Louise (Sue’s brother-in-law) to celebrate Louise’s birthday.  Should be a surprise for her & we’ll end up at a good New Orleans-based restaurant chain called Ruth’s Chris Steak House.  After that, it’s peanut butter sandwiches for a couple days!