The great crossing, wait.

At Carrabelle were checking weather windows, buddy boats, and certainly what does Eddy say….. to decide how to do the gulf crossing. We will gain at least 10 degrees warmer when we hit Tampa/Tarpon Springs. So that is our new focus!  Everyone seems to have a different cruising preference so were trying to decide which boat will match up with Paraiso. Paraiso’s last gulf crossing under Captain Chris’s command, was not so great: two breakdowns and fuel shortage.
Admiral Jan expects a little better performance this time.

On Thursday January 7^th AM we checked the weather forecasts and it was iffy as to weather we should make a overnight 10 mph crossing. We met a couple at breakfast (Doug and Melanie) that intended to a go fast Friday day crossing.  They have a Formula Cruiser (Clarabelle) and can go 25 mph which would take them about 6 hours to get to Tarpon Springs.  This is too fast for us because we would burn up all our fuel before we would get there.  We checked with Red Eagle to see if they decided to cross or not. They are holding at Apalachicola Marina.  Based upon some live discussions with Eddy they decided not to go, so we will spend another night and see what Friday brings.   By luck, India Jayne (Kit and Pam and new guy Bo) came into the marina we are staying. They travel at about the same pace as Red Eagle so we will most likely all make a night crossing with them and Red Eagle.  Now it just depends upon when the weather will let us.  We all went to dinner together and had a great time.  We wished Doug and Melanie safe travels on Friday.

Well Friday is here!

AM Friday we awoke to the large diesel engines of a Florida Fish and Game boat that is parked next to us. They were preparing to take the boat to Tampa and were heading out at 7:30 for a 12 hour trip.

So glad we bagged last night crossing it drizzled all night… Doug on Clarabelle was out of here very early with his 42 ft Formula followed by the FFGC boat 150 foot steel white water cruiser with a crew of 5 officers. Two hours later the government boat was back at dock. The deck hands said DAMMM it was rough out there. They had talked to Clarabelle and thought they were coming back in also.  We did not see them come back and worried about how their crossing went.  About 6PM Clarabelle called us and advised that they just made it to Tarpon Springs.  They had a rough ride but made it before dark.  We were very happy that they were OK.

We reviewed the weather reports in the breakfast war room. We all agreed that today would most like be OK but tonight and on Saturday may be craptastic to travel. Next weather window is Monday/Tuesday! At least Sequious crew will be in town!

Saturday we decided to visit a nearby WWII Museum.  It was packed with a lot of information.  Upon leaving the community farmers had what they called a “Second Harvest”. They offered us a box of food and drinks.  We guessed that they needed to give the food away or discard it, so we took a box and walked back to the boat. 

Sunday we planned to get together in the marina club house to watch the football games. We also heard that the Powerball was a record jackpot (1.4 billion) and we wanted to make sure we got a few numbers.  We took a walk into Carrabelle and found a gas station/deli that sold tickets.  We also found the smallest Police station.   Chris was arrested for a minute.