Our First Post

O God, thy Sea is so great and my boat so small

 

January 4, 2023: Baytowne Marina, Sandestin Resort, Miramar Beach Florida: Well, it has been 5 weeks of total rest and relaxation here at Sandestin Resort and we have had a wonderful time, but it is time to get back on The Great Loop and finish our voyage. 

We are halfway through our voyage 6 months in time and 3,485 miles traveled, with 3,515 miles to go, we are planning to be back in Maine in early June.

 

I am not going to bore you all with "The Rogers family vacation" however, I did want to provide you all with an update as to next steps and thought I would share a few photos of our time here. 

We really had a wonderful time enjoying this community and our most generous friends, The McNamara's, The Bonney’s, and The Lovett's, thank you all.

 While staying at this marina we had access to three golf courses, two gyms, free bikes, a beach club, a wonderful pool and tons of great shops, restaurants, bars, and pubs. Of particular note would be the Marina Bar, which is located at the top of the dock, and I have to say was certainly our most frequented pub. It has an amazing outdoor movie theater size TV which you could watch from the beach, the patio, or the bar, and was on our way home every night! A wonderful place to watch the World Cup and many professional and college football games and college football down here is a league of its own! 

The Marina Bar at the head of our dock!

 

So, the forecast is looking favorable for a departure in the morning Thrusday January 5th. We have three voyages/legs to reach Carrabelle Florida (Panama City Thursday, and Apalachicola Friday). From Carrabelle we must cross the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs/ Clearwater. 

There are two ways to accomplish this. One is to take 4 days and do about 60-miles a day and anchor out two nights and two nights you can dock at a marina or anchor. The alternate  which is most common, (however we are not keen on but leaning toward doing )  is to do an 18-hour overnight trip and do the 180 miles at once at night! Our hesitation is the fact we have an all night crossing with just the two of us, this is when we could use a third or fourth body! 

Our tentative plan, if we can find a buddy boat to do this with, would be Sunday around noontime go to the barrier island off Carrabelle and anchor until just before sunset and head across at 5 PM, cruise all night and arrive in Tarpon Springs around 10 AM.  The full moon is Saturday so if it's a clear evening we will have that in our favor.  

One of the challenges in crossing The Gulf is 20 miles offshore the waters are full of crab pots. We will be about 50-70 miles offshore during most of the overnight  journey and that far out the crab pots are not an issue. Therefore, you want to plan to arrive 30 miles off shore at sunrise (7 AM). We will have the sun rising which makes seeing anything in the water difficult.  The sun rising on the open water is blinding but absolutely one of the very best things to experience, it will be the highlight of the crossing!  

By 8 AM the sun is high enough so you can navigate the last two hours through the crab pots with good visibility. Unlike very colorful Maine lobster pots that we are very use to, crab pots are black so they are very hard to pick them up.  

Since it is an 18-hour trip we cannot do the crossing at our speed (10 MPH) during the day. To accomplish the crossing during the day you have to travel at 17 MPH. We can travel that speed but we burn so much fuel , 40 gallons an hour and only have 330 gallons so its not an option for us. Therefore we are better off leaving at sunset and then cruising all night. A bit (more than a bit)  intimidating.

 

The main reason we would do the overnight is you only need one pleasant weather day/night. Doing the 4-day crossing requires four great days which we have not seen in a long time. We originally planned to depart here on Monday and unfortunately have had to hang out here due to severe weather, for four days. 

Therefore, it is just not a great weather window in January to cross The Gulf. So, it is reasonable to expect to have to hang out to let the weather improve on the 4-day trip and if you must wait for the weather to clear when we are on anchor, would just  not be enjoyable. When it rains here it really rains, thunder, lightning and huge squalls. 

So, both routes have their risks.

 

So that is our plan and challenge for the next section of the trip. With any luck we will let you know how we make out once we get to Clearwater hopefully by the end of next week.

 

 

Fair Winds and we both wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR

P.S. Anyone that wants to join us Saturday afternoon in Carrabelle FL. and do the Sunday overnight crossing, we will treat you to a great dinner Monday night and watch TCU win the National Championship. I can assure you it will be the most memorable night of your year!

 

 

 

 

Her Idea in her slip 

Ashley and Tom enjoying a beverage at The Marina Bar

Meredith did enjoy the Rum Punch's (OK so did I) many killer Sunset's

Resident Parrot at The Marina Bar

Ashley Enjoying  the beautiful Miramar Beach

Miramar Beach

Baytowne Village

100 Tuba Players at a pre- Christmas Concert in Baytowne Village

The Beach at Marina Bar favorite sunset location and Docktails

Docktails 

Found this on board one morning after a big storm, I'm not a snake fan especially ones from the ocean

Meredith killing me at cribbage!

We had 4-5 days of very cold days and went a week without running water on the dock! Picked up an extra heater to keep the salon above 35 degrees

Ice on the swim platform.......... BRRRRRRR

Lunch date at Destin Boardwalk

Biking to the beach with beach chairs!

Our (Rosemary) Christmas Tree

Christmas Eve

Christmas Cheer, Thank you Tim and Lauri

Last good bye to the Marina Bar Parrott