March 20-21, 2017 – Monday & Tuesday
Monday we awoke before sunrise and watched the fishermen come and go as we started our final preparations for the gulf crossing. Our neighbor’s at the marina, Michael & Vickie on S/V Krakato, were also preparing for the crossing. Krakato left around 10:15 and we pulled away from the fuel dock at 11:55. We did not want to arrive on the East side of the gulf until the sun had risen high enough that we could see all of the crab pots that we needed to navigate around before anchoring.
While we were in the shelter of Apalachicola Bay, the seas were calm and we had very little wind. When we crossed Government Cut into the open gulf the seas were between two and three feet with the wind 10-15 mph. According to the weather report, the seas were supposed to calm after about three hours, but they stayed at 3-4 feet until around midnight (Rick’s watch) at which time both the wind and waves died and we had a beautiful night crossing with hundreds of stars and a half-moon that arose directly in front of the boat, giving us a moon-glow on the water until sunrise (Nancy’s watch).
At about 6:00 pm on Monday we spotted Krakoto in the distance and passed her about 3:00 am Tuesday, it was comforting to see her near for most of the night. After twenty-four hours and forty minutes we safely anchored off the Anclote Keys, just off the mainland. Krakoto arrived and anchored about an hour after we did. They have just retired from jobs in Texas and are planning on living in the Caribbean for the next few years, we wish them safe travels.
Fun Fact: I’m not saying it was bumpy, but by the time we anchored, our step counters showed that we had 22,500 steps for the day.
