Day 384
We got up while it was still dark so that we could be underway at first light, which turned out to be about 7:10 AM. The crossing dock to dock figured to be 180 miles and at our cruise speed averaging 15 mph I figured we would arrive in Tarpon Springs in about 12 hours, getting us there just before sunset.
By the time we left the no wake zone in Carrabelle we could see pretty well and soon the sun peeked over the eastern horizon.
The predicted light winds and less than one-foot seas did not quite work out. The seas were initially running 2-3 feet with whitecaps as far as we could see. Once we turned southeast the waves seemed to settle to about a two-foot average, plus we were taking them mostly on the stern quarter, so they were easier to take. Even so, we got bounced pretty hard a few times and there was stuff falling all over the cabin. We kept thinking as the day wore on that the waves would die down, but we were two-thirds of the way across before they finally settled to somewhere around one foot and the ride became much more comfortable. Below is a picture of the "less than one-foot calm waves" we experienced for most of the trip.
Eleven hours and six minutes after we started our engines in Carrabelle we shut them down in Tarpon Springs, covering an even 179 miles. Our average speed dock to dock was 16.1 mph including the no wake zones on each end of the trip. Even though it was a quick crossing, it was exhausting.
As we pulled into our slip there was another boat pulling into the slip next to us. Since it was after hours at the Turtle Cove Marina the people on the other boat helped us tie up and hook up our shore power. It turned out that they had just moved there from Maryland and one of the women aboard had graduated from Kenwood High School where Sharon had been the Wellness Center Manager some years ago. They found out that they knew some of the same people from there. Small world!
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