Gulf Crossing Complete✅✔️

Hello Everyone from Gulfport. We are soooo close.

We Got through our Gulf Crossing with flying colors!

After all that rain and stormy weather in Panama City, I think 3 inches in 24 hours, it was time to move on.

Sunday, we went to Carrabelle, where we had to decide when the crossing would make the most sense.

Photos:

• 1-3 Fathoms restaurant in Carrabelle, where we discussed the crossing. At least my salad was a Greek salad. Something different.- More on that later..

• The rest, except the last are of our journey from Panama City to Carrabelle. 5 and 6 are "fixed" trunks in the water in the. Middle of the channel of lake Wimico. Just another hazard... only now we are on panhandle ICW. 😬

• The last one is a bridge that we were docked next to. It was pretty cool at night.

Back to our crossing--Weather apps were all saying Tuesday was our day, but our friend Wes ( the delivery captain ) didn't think so.

He thought Tuesday was going to be more risky than Monday. The winds were building and if they built earlier than forecasted, we could get caught ---

Remember, we are going out into the gulf and making 180 mile journey, most of it with nothing around us. Weather matters. --

In the meantime, I also paid Marine Forecasting for a custom forecast for Monday and Tuesday and they actually concurred with Wes, not the apps.

We had dinner with Wes and crew to discuss whether to go. Wes arrived with this incredible piece of lined binder paper that was completely hand written. It seemed crazy at first, as we are technology people, but he knew what he was talking about and knew everything in his notes. He had been watching the weather for days.

Bottom line, Monday was the better of the two days and if you could handle a few three foot waves, go for it. My captain and I talked about it. They say to look at 3 sources and decide. We probably had 5 apps and our two "personalized sources" Apps said no, people said yes. It just goes to show you, sometimes the old fashioned scrutinize everything and scratch it down on paper, is still the best! 😜

I thought that “Seaz the day” would want to run in the mid twenty's, but as Wes has done all along, as long as we could keep our 20 mph pace, once again, we could run with them.

We prepared a couple of bailout routes just in case and at 6:45 am headed out with Captain Wes and crew. I can't begin to describe our day. Yesterday was a day that makes all the not so great days drift away.

We left with the most gorgeous sunrise ane were met by a pod of dolphins a little later in the journey. Yes, we took on some 3 footers, but mostly on the rear qtr. Yes, it was a little "sporty" at times halfway through. But it was just an awesome day.

Photos::

• 1 and 2 Good bye Carrabelle - Here we go.

• 3 and 4 The most gorgeous sunrise got us off and going once we were in the Gulf.

• 5. My view for most of the day.

• 6. Mike snapped a picture, but the video is better

• 7. Hello Clearwater!

Video: The pod of dolphins met us a short time after entering the gulf.

Captain Mike did an awesome job navigating the gulf and the "sporty" water. He drove from up top for better visibility and I stayed down with the dogs who weren't all that excited about the "sporty" waves. We talked on our headsets and kept radio contact with Captain Wes throughout the day.

We had some fun bantering — 8 hours no cell/internet—and then the craziest thing happened. Wes grew up on the rivers and lives in Tennessee. He has always known the rivers and he enjoys captaining them.

We were all on the radio- -both captains and myself --discussing those rivers and how I wasnt' the easiest person to be around during some of that time, and all of sudden Wes comes across the radio to Mike telling him there is a good size stick in the middle of the gulf and watch out.

At first Mike was like, really? You sure? Wes replied it was real and he really needed to watch out for it. That was crazy timing. Here we are, probably 50-60 miles offshore And happen to be discussing the Rivers!

The running joke is that I “willed” the stick there with all the river talk. You never know.🤦‍♀️😂😅

Video: Mike trying to catch the sporty ride on video. It was hard to do it justice.

We had a nice night in Clearwater where I finally ate something other than a salad at a restaurant.

I haven't talked much about food and that is because the food has pretty much been seafood and mostly fried... if you want anything else, it's fettuccini Alfredo.

I just ordered salad and usually had something fried- hushpuppies are my biggest downfall, but we all had fried pickles, fried mushrooms, etc... Can't imagine what my cholesterol looks like after the last two months. 😳

We did get decent food in Panama City. I had a vegetable plate as opposed to just a salad and Mike had some Yellow fin Tuna that he said was quite good.

But last night, we had mexican. Switched it up with cauliflower tacos.. Woohoo!

Absolutely nothing has been photo worthy though. 😐

After dinner, we said our goodbyes to Wes and crew as they were heading onto Venice and Wednesday their final destination of Fort Myers'.

Today we had an uneventful run to Gulfport where we will hang out until Thursday and then if all goes well, head to Sarasota and end this journey. Such mixed emotions on that. But overall, we will be happy to be home and to have completed it for sure! No talking about it until it’s over though. No jinxing it. 😂

Photos:;

It’s hard to get pictures that I wouldn’t take everyday now. But, here we go.

• 1. A work boat in Boca Ciega Bay

• 2. We finally got our bikes out again. They haven’t been out since Chicago

• A heron on the tender behind us.

Why Gulfport? And why didn’t we rush home today or even yesterday from Clearwater? ( It’s Wednesday now)

We didn’t want to arrive in Sarasota hot and tired after a long day, so we needed to stop.

The dogs also needed some downtime after that crossing. They didn’t sign up for this trip. I have to say, that have handled it wonderfully but know they will be so excited to be home. But first, a down day.

So, Gulfport or St Pete? St Pete is out of the way, but after 6,000 miles- not really. St Pete is decorated for the holidays and is actually a favorite December trip.

We love Gulfport too though as do the boys. It is a little quieter than St Pete as well. And for this trip- Gulfport has significance.

We were in Gulfport in March of 2020 when our friends from VT called to last minute cancel their trip to Fl because this thing called Covid was getting real.

We were getting our own sense that something life changing was about to happen.

Obviously that is all true. Once we got home, MaD didn’t leave port again until our journey.

Covid is ultimately what pushed us to start this journey. We wanted to go home to VT and with everything going on, we decided— “Let’s just take the boat!”

Here we are just over 3 1/2 years later on the brink of finishing.

We are going to take advantage of this blustery day and enjoy Gulfport and reflect a little. Once we get home, life will surely kick back in.

Last thing: I’ve got to give a plug for our buddy Captain Wes and a big thanks to him and the owners of Seaz the Day.

They aren’t loopers- They were just trying to get their boat, a Galeon 500, from Tennessee to Fl. But they let us be their wing boat multiple times and were fun to travel with.

As for Capt Wes, I wouldn’t hesitate to hire him for delivery or training. He was knowledgeable and respectful of the crews, the boat and boats he encountered.

He willingly shared his information with no strings attached.

He also didn’t have the “know it all “ attitude. The crossing being an example. He shared his knowledge and how he came by it. Then it was up to us to decide. We needed to be comfortable with our decision.

Photos:

1. That piece of paper that had all the right information on it!

2. A plug for his services.

That is It until we cross. Thanks again everyone for reading and all of your comments and support. We have really appreciated it.

As we are almost at the finish line. I’m trying to get stats together. We didn't do the manual daily log thing and I need to get all of my Nebo logs together.

Probably this weekend I will get it all completed and post early next week.

Thanks Again all!