At first it looked like we would have plenty of time to traverse the gulf coast then a possible opening started to peek out of the forecasts. Each day it looked more and more favorable for even an overnight crossing for the trawlers. With that in mind we made our way across and pulled in to C-Quarters Marina in Carrabelle to top off the fuel tanks before moving out to the staging point of Dog Island by Saturday afternoon.
The anchorage already had a few other boats waiting and a couple more coming out of Apalachicola. Mostly trawlers and 1 sailboat were planning on leaving around 4 pm for an overnighter. The weather was looking better as the hours passed with the winds and waves falling back towards the predicted forecast. Our plan was to get some sleep and head out between 3 and 4 am.
At 4 pm the armada took off. 7 boats in total. I listened on the vhf to their conversations as they entered the gulf and while it sounded a bit rocky no one was complaining as they tinkered with their course to find the smoothest ride. Eventually they were out of vhf range and into the night. Time for some shuteye.
As night progressed in the anchorage the wind shifted direction which made sleeping nearly impossible. Soon enough it was go time. During our time at anchor the skies went from clear to cloudy with a mist in the air as we contemplated to go or stay. We weighed the options and decided to get moving. The forecast was still good. 2' or less for most of the trip showing on all of the weather sites well into Sunday night.
Tourists spotlight came in handy as we picked out the buoys going out East Pass. With the mist and the clouds it was blacker than the inside of a cow and not all of the buoys are lighted. We knew it was going to be fun once we passed the outer marker and turned toward Clearwater. The less than 2 footers were more like 3 footers on the beam causing us to roll back and forth uncomfortably. A change in course toward the Crystal River buoy and a slight increase in speed to get the bow up helped ease the rolling. Still the spray was dousing the flybridge as Tourist plowed forward through the dark.
On we went for the next hours until the sun came up not risking leaving the bridge even to use the head while we were in the washing machine. And no. Neither one of us had an accident during that time! Once we had daylight we could at least see what may be coming at us and take precautions.
We dickered with our course and settled on a route between Crystal River and Clearwater that was still bumpy but not perilous to either us or the boat. And on we went. Certainly not the forecast conditions but it was slowly getting better. At least that's what we kept telling ourselves!
About 80 miles out we turned directly for Clearwater, increased speed, and held course. Eventually the sun popped through the clouds and the seas flattened to less than 1' around 30 miles from the pass into Clearwater. Just what we had hoped for the entire journey. We pulled up to the fuel dock at Clearwater Municipal at exactly 3 pm. Eleven hours and 180 miles after we began our crossing adventure.
The 2' or less turned out to be 3' to 4' with some 5 footers tossed in for kicks. Nothing broke on either the boat or us and other than a nice covering of salt all was well.
We fueled and went around the corner to anchor for the night where we saw one of the boats that had left on Saturday afternoon. When I talked to them they stated that their night got progressively worse and that it was one of the roughest crossings that they had experienced. I later found out that the sailboat turned out to be the fastest boat out of the afternoon group and beat everyone to the Clearwater area. Unfortunately for us it was too rough to take pictures.
Would we do it again? A question we asked ourselves at the end of the day. Our answer was...if all forecasts were the same at the time of departure we probably would, although it's not a comforting feeling to realize that those 1' to 2' seas were bigger than predicted.
As a side note at this posting the weather window for crossing from the Panhandle remains closed waiting on Mother Nature.
With maybe 14 + crossing there we can say; 2 good crossings, 3 ok, 4 not much fun, 4 not again, 1 never again! It's a fickle stretch that agitator cycle.
ReplyDeleteRick, Deb and Izzy