Tourist Chronicles: Weather to go or Not!

Since we're moving up the West side of Florida most of our travel has been in the protected waters of the ICW. Overall it's been good traveling but our eye has always been on the conditions for crossing the Gulf from Clearwater to Carrabelle, a 170 mile run over open water completely out of sight of land. When we pulled out of Legacy it looked like Tuesday was going to be the day according to the weather sources I use. (www.marv'sweather.com), (www.passageweather.com), as well as the N.O.A.A. web site. As we progressed along our route it remained looking like Tuesday was the day.

Just down river from Legacy we spotted the Nina & Pinta replicas.

We made our way through the Miserable Mile and turned North passing Useppa Island.

Opposite Useppa is Cabbage Key.

We continued past Cayo Costa State park and were soon going under the new Boca Grand bridge.

Our first night was spent at an anchorage at Cape Haze.

Tourist moved along under the bridges and managed to dodge the weekend warriors who became thicker as we neared the Tampa area. We pulled into Clearwater Beach Marina on Sunday. After topping off the fuel tanks we took a slip for what we thought would be a 2 night stay.

Somewhere South of Venice we passed this abandoned vessel.

We also had this knucklehead pull right out in front of us and then proceed at a speed that I could only duplicate by putting the shifters in neutral!

Just above Venice we passed Pelican .

We had to wait for traffic to clear before we could pass through the Blackburn Point swing bridge.

A typical CF Saturday!

Passing by Sarasota.

Night two found us anchored on the lower side of Tampa Bay at Desoto Point.

Sunshine Skyway over Tampa Bay.

Looking from our slip towards Clearwater.

The nice community had a fireworks display for our arrival!

That night the wind kicked up and the tide shifted making for an unpleasant night for both us and Tourist. By morning we had made the decision to move to Clearwater Harbor Marina for the next couple of nights. That's right. The forecast changed. Now it looked like we may not cross until Friday!

Our empty slip at the Beach Marina.

Our new slip. Much better.

Apparently no one is home?

Monday Pam spent doing Laundry while I cleaned Tourist. Tuesday we walked downtown Clearwater and had lunch before boarding the water taxi and riding back over to Clearwater Beach.

Street art downtown.

More downtown art.

And even more downtown art!

Scientology has a huge presence in Clearwater. This being only one of the buildings they occupy.

The water taxi docked just behind Tourist.

They had just completed the Sugar Sand Festival on the beach before we arrived.

Clearwater Beach.

Arrrgh! Pirate's on the horizon.

By Tuesday evening it still appeared that Friday would be the smoothest day for a crossing but Wednesday was showing better than before. Forecast winds around 10 knots from the South and seas ranging from 1' to 3' the further North we went. The good news was that the waves would be coming from the South also and that we could run a route more to the East and find smaller seas. Wednesday seemed like an acceptable day.

Morning came and after stopping at the pump out dock we pointed the bow out the pass.

Looking back at Clearwater Beach as the sun comes up.

Our view for the next 170 miles.

7 and a half hours later we were coming through East Pass just South of Carrabelle, Fl.

We went straight into town and took on 307 gallons of diesel.

C-Quarters Marina. Nothing fancy but it's easy in and out and good fuel prices. Also this place has a front porch crowd that would rival the troop that gathers every morning at Legacy!

We made our way back out to the anchorage behind Dog Island to relax and maybe have a cocktail.

The anchorage shown as Shipping Cove on the charts.

The crossing was as forecast with the last 40 miles giving us 3 foot swells from the Southwest topped by 1' waves from the South. While the ride was rolly towards the end it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as if we were plowing into them. Tourist remained dry throughout the trip.

Thursday we started out intending to make our way to Panama City but as we neared Apalachicola technology got in the way by way of the weather app on my cell phone. Radar was showing a huge storm with plenty of red moving across the Gulf Coast. After a lot of calculation we decided not to chance running into it and found a slip along the wall owned by the Municipal Marina.

Found this bald eagle guarding the ICW in St. George Sound.

At the next marker we found this guy just loafing!

Under the bridge and we're in Apalachicola.

Well curses! We hung out at the boat most of the day doing boat chores and waiting for the storm to arrive. Occasional looks at the radar still showed it but in an increasingly smaller size. It was beginning to look like a wasted stop. That was until we took the marina supplied golf cart for a ride around town. This is when the stop went from wasted to beneficial when Pam found a couple of clothing items in one of the shops!

Our last stop was at the Boss Oyster House for dinner.