Navigator on the Loop: Crossing the Gulf of Mexico and enjoyable Duneden

Having received a favorable weather forecast it was time to make the crossing.

We were planning to cross with Frank and Gail on Double Time on Monday morning, the forecast looked favorable. We thought they would be an excellent buddy boat since they had crossed the Atlantic Ocean in their sailboat and lived on their boat in the Mediterranean for five years before doing the loop. I should explain that most loopers cross at ten knots or less which requires an overnight crossing of twenty or more hours. Jan and I were not interested in an overnight crossing. In fact Jan initially thought we would have someone else help me take Navigator across and she would meet us on the other side. I was happy when she announced that she would make the crossing with me.

At docktails on Sunday evening Frank, recommended delaying our crossing until Tuesday for a better weather forecast. That was totally acceptable to us as we wanted the best weather possible for our crossing. At around six am on Monday morning Frank knocked on our boat and explained that the forecast had changed again and Monday was now better than Tuesday. Since we were both up and ready we hurried, said goodby to Mark and Jane, cast off our dock lines and departed. We were crossing the gulf! This worked out well for Jan since she got a good nights sleep not worrying about the impending crossing.

After clearing the buoys at East Pass I set the throttles and autopilot and didn't change either for almost eight hours. Double Time was ahead of us to start, traveling at twenty miles per hour. We traveled two miles per hour faster, a little slower than we wanted, but we wanted to stay close together. It was great to know they were there for 170 miles. Although we traveled slightly faster I could still see them on the horizon when we arrived on the other side of the Gulf.

About five hours into the trip Jan went below to use the bathroom and got motion sick. By leaving so quickly she forgot to take her pills, which she always takes to fly commercially. About an hour later the waves subsided a bit, her pill took effect and she slept the rest of the way.

After arrival and talking with Frank and Gail, we learned that we both had helped each other on the crossing. Frank navigates with his laptop and was unable to view his screen with the sun shining directly onto his helm. He was very relieved to just follow behind us. Gail helped Jan understand that the seas were very "complicated" and that she had also gotten motion sick, which was very unusual for her.

We made it! 172 miles in about eight hours. Nice!

After arriving we saw Tom and Tim from IF, the grandfather - grandson team doing the loop. They had been there six days and were about to move on. I enjoyed a nice dinner with them in Tarpon Springs while Jan declined, recuperating from the motion sickness and medicine hangover. While returning in their rental vehicle, which was a four door Ford F150 pickup, Tom offered me the rest of the week rental. This rental becomes important later in the blog. He had paid for it until Friday and were leaving on Tuesday. Another Mertz Luck event!

Mark and Jane on Average Looper left Carrabelle around 4 pm on Monday and arrived at Marker 1 Marina in Dunedin around noon on Tuesday. Jan had a very nice buffet lunch ready for them after they were secured and checked in. I had dirty pirates again and everyone was enjoying their accomplishment. Frank and Gail also joined us, along with Average Looper's guests, John and Maureen.

We enjoyed Dunedin so much we stayed for ten days. We enjoyed traveling to Tarpon Springs to have dinner with Al ant Terri, bicycling a lot, a day on Average Looper at an island beach, a trip to Crystal River to see the manatees, Rib Fest in St. Petersburg with a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert and just relaxing.

Our last docktail party in Carrabelle before crossing the gulf.

This is the first few way points leaving Carrabelle.
I emailed these three photos to our son Mike in Chicago for our float plan.
If he didn't hear from us after twelve hours on the water he would have begun a series of efforts to locate us. The last effort to be the Coast Guard.
We were totally prepared with cell phones, EPIRB, DSC VHF radio and a life raft.
Thankfully none of that was necessary and I remembered to notify him of a successful crossing.

This is the second set of way points.

Notice way point number 7 - 154 statute miles without a turn.

Obviously a record run for our loop!

This is the final leg of our gulf crossing on the chart plotter.
As you can see we traveled 172 statute miles from beginning to end.
We are very proud of this accomplishment both for us and the boat.
Everything went as well as could be expected.