Crossing from the Panhandle of Florida to the Gulf west coast

On December 9^th we left a beautiful, dolphin filled anchorage at Carrabelle Beach at 5pm and crossed 170 miles to Clearwater Pass arriving in Marker 1 Marina around noon on Dec. 10^th.  We crossed with a flotilla of about 10 other boats and I must say this was easier than 2 years ago.  Both of us attribute this to the fact that it was warmer.  We did not have the full moon, nor the steady hand at the helm of Miss Lauren Grace that we had last time but we did have 6-7 boats in front of us and 2 behind so while we could not really see any land we did have the safety net of others.  We had batten down the hatches and prepared for rough seas but they never happened.  I had Gingersnaps and Ginger ale in case we were queasy—never happened.   When we arrived in Marker 1 there were Loopers galore.  We had a sandwich, went to bed, and at 5pm we awoke to the smell of docktails.  We celebrated with our friends from Nearly Perfect, Manana, LiLa Blue (Larry and Linda good friends from when we were here before—new boat for them), Corkscrew, and many others.  Then we went back to bed for a solid 12 hours.  Gimmetime, as it turns out, made a daytime crossing the same day from Port St. Joe  into Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs is a 20 minute trolley ride from our marina so we went and met them for dinner on the 11^th.  Greek—Hellas—fabulous.  Soooo…today—Saturday the 12^th of December we sit in 80 degree temps, finish catching up with sleep and will go into Dunedin tonight for their Christmas Parade.

Corkscrew and Sum Escape crossed behind us at about the same speed--they are anchored at Dog Island while we make our way to the East Pass and R2 to start our overnight journey

Sun Set at R2--cool to have the sun rise and set over the water--check that off the Bucket List

Sun rise as we come near the Clearwater Pass--this is where the trip starts getting long--you think you should be there and you still have 5 hours to go

Clearwater Pass

Up the ICW to Marker 1 at Dunedin--love the little sail boaters