The Great Loop: A long night...

The area of Florida where the coastline turns from (east/west) to (north/south) is referred to as the "big bend". There are a couple of Marinas along this coastal area, but the approaches are very shallow, and with a draft of 4 1/2 feet, we would need to be sure of a high tide on approach if we chose to dock at them. Our other option is to make the 160 mile run across open Gulf water from Carrabelle ( the last deep water port before the bend) to Tarpon Springs (just north of Tampa Bay). "Whatever It Takes" has a fuel capacity of 300 gallons and burns 1 gallon per mile (max range 300 miles, safe range 200 miles). We cruise at around 10 mph so the trip would take roughly 16 hours.

Our plan was to leave Carrabelle around 3:00 in the afternoon which would allow us to pass by Dog Island and get 30 miles or so into the Gulf open waters before nightfall. If all went well we would arrive at Tarpon Springs Harbor around 7:00 AM the next morning, allowing a daylight dockage.

After topping off the fuel, we checked the engine and transmission fluids, filled our fresh water supply, tested the navigation lights, and insured our radar/navigation systems were functioning properly. I filed a float plan with Laura and my Dad with instructions to call the U.S. Coast Guard if they hadn't heard from me by noon the next day. The weather forecast was very good with 1 to 3 foot waves and 5 to 10 mph winds out of the northeast.

There were two times I was uncomfortable on the trip; the first was when the sun set and the world got dark, really dark; the second time was when we spotted a large vessel on the radar and it kept coming at us, even when we changed course (images of pirates on our minds). We never really figured out what the vessel was all about, but we believe it may have been a shrimp boat working to bring in a catch that simply kept him changing course.

We had a tailwind throughout the trip and actually arrived at Port Tarpon at 5:30 AM. We had to wait about 5 miles offshore until the sun came out to travel up river to our Marina. We should not need any other night voyages for the rest the Great Loop.