With Ray on board now we're cruising to position ourselves at the eastern end of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and jumping off point for the dreaded overnight crossing of the Gulf of Mexico from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs. So far we've made our way from Destin to Panama City and today to Port St Joe.
The cruising has been great thru this area, beautiful beaches and unspoiled bays. We're seeing lots of dolphin and oystermen and lot's of interesting boats!
From here we'll move on to Apalachicola to get our "Sojourners Permit" (thanks Florida for making life cumbersome and unwelcoming to visiting boaters) and then be watching the weather to be ready to depart as soon as the conditions are favorable.
After we crossed Mobile Bay we entered the relatively protected Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW). This route is a series of coastal rivers and bays connected by constructed channels and is used for commercial/barge-tow traffic as well as recreational/cruisers. Because there is no protected waterway connecting Florida's "Big Bend" we, like many other Loopers, need to prepare ourselves and the boat for this marathon run by making sure all the boats systems are ready to run for 20+ hours continuously. With three of us to stand watch and the newly installed autopilot system it will be easier, but will still require turns at the helm from our planned afternoon departure, then through the night and then until the middle of the next day to get to our destination.
Tarpon Springs is just north of Tampa and known for it's long history of greek culture/restaurants and sponge divers. It will be a good place to recover after the crossing.
