Crossing the Gulf

One of the most anticipated/feared segments of the Great Loop is crossing the Gulf of Mexico from the Panhandle to the west coast.  There are very few/no acceptable anchorages around the rim of Florida so there are generally two routes. The first takes several long hops around the rim, first to Steinhatchee then to Cedar Key, and finally to Crystal River before arriving in Tarpon Springs.  And - you guessed it - then there is the direct route - 132 nautical miles from Carabelle to Tarpon Springs.  There are two ways to transit the direct route, either overnight if you're a slower boat or all daylight if you're a fast boat. The multi-hop and the direct route each require a good weather window as you are out in the Gulf either way.

When we started our conversations about doing the Great Loop and Chrisy realized that there would be some open water passages her solution was: "Great - you'll get a buddy to jump on the boat for 24 hours, and I'll rent a car and take Millie and meet you in Tarpon Springs."  You need to understand that Roger's record with weather forecasting for offshore passages has been less than perfect so Chrisy's apprehension is perfectly understandable.  As the crossing approached and our planning to get a buddy on board failed, it became clear that Chrisy would be on board and Roger would need to do some better forecasting.  Fortunately, there are tons of tools to assist with the job and there are also tons of boaters who are making the exact same decision.  Even more fortunately, a massive weather window opened for us that would be hard to miss.  

So we accelerated our trip through the Panhandle and off we went. Our decision has been made - to make the trip directly leaving a nice anchorage (off of Dog Island) just outside of Carabelle that will cut off about five miles at around 6:30 AM on Monday.  We hope to travel around 17-18 knots which should allow us to arrive in Tarpon Springs in the early afternoon. That's the preferred arrival time as the sun will be behind us and will provide us with nice visibility to see all the crab pots that await us.  The little devils can ruin your day if you run over them.