Day 62

We woke up early to threatening weather, and decided to wait it out. We thought we could make Clearwater today, but due to the weather we will be lucky to make Tarpon Springs. Grant kept the weather tuned in on the VHF, and we waited for our chance. It was a good thing we waited, because at about 9:30 there was severe weather about 10 miles south of us with winds up to 50 mph! That would have been very bad if we were at sea in those conditions. Waves as high as 10 feet! (We had 5-7 foot waves yesterday). We got the residual of the storm to the north and were a bit concerned about the anchor holding. The winds were about 25 mph, and gusty. Grant started the engines to warm them up incase the anchor let loose so we could at least be under power and try to keep the boat from hitting anything. Worse case scenario was a beach not too far from us we could put the boat on without too much damage… Fortunately the anchor held, and we weathered the storm. About 11:00 the national weather service lifted the severe thunderstorm warning for the area, and we waited an additional 30 minutes for the dark clouds to pass. The weather was still gloomy, and there was a 70% chance of showers the rest of the day, so we figured we would get wet whatever we decided, so off we go!!

We stayed as close to shore as we could, and the sea was not all that bad. We ended up traveling the whole day with clouds threatening rain, but somehow we were able to avoid all of it! Lucky day – did I mention we saw more dolphins today?? I hope to see dolphin’s everyday I travel on the gulf, as I believe them to be a sign of safe travel. About 5:00 we had a decision to make – go to Tarpon Springs or keep on to Clearwater. According to our ETA on the GPS, we wouldn’t be able to get to Tarpon Springs until just after dark, and we were only going to be able to anchor there, so it would have been difficult to find a good anchorage at night. Clearwater was about two hours past Tarpon Springs, but we were able to get a slip at the local city marina. We decided to test our luck and travel at night to go on to Clearwater. About 6:30 we lost all sunshine, and were in the dark the rest of the way. The most difficult part of traveling at night was finding the crab traps, and avoiding them! We kept the spotlight on the water in front of the boat, and it seemed to do the trick. Traveling at night ended up being quite peaceful, and the winds calmed down, so we made good time. It was also comforting because we were able to see the lights form the city and knew exactly where shore was. It is funny, because you learn to determine where on the chart you are approximately by judging the lights on the shoreline, and matching them up with cities/islands along the way. Not too much different than flying and trying to match up the cities/freeways up on the maps to what you see below…

We arrived in Clearwater about 9:00, and tied up to the dock to settle in for some much needed rest. Today was almost as long as our crossing two days earlier, and nearly as tiring. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we had spoken with Ken and Becky (friends in St. Petersburg) and they invited us to a party tomorrow night if we make it in time.