The Crossing

 

TRAVEL DAY 155 - Alligator Pt. to Steinhatchee

November 29, 2023

8.87 Hours/ 69.7 Miles

    This is it, one of the big moments on the trip and one that takes some planning and thought. The weather looked like it would cooperate for our 9 hour trip across the Gulf of Mexico and closer to home. We woke with a wind out of the east as predicted, so far so good. I felt certain that the first couple hours of crossing would be a little rough but not intolerable, and an east wind meant that the waves would be on our nose, the most comfortable scenario.

 

Alligator Pt. sunrise to start our crossing

    As we turned into the Gulf we indeed have an east wind and a waves. As we proceeded and cleared Alligator Point the waves and wind increased. Still not too bad so we proceeded on. Then it got worse, then it got bad. What we were experiencing was not even close to what was predicted. All the sources got it wrong and we did too.

 

A little "Sporty" Better Together

    Most everything that wasn't fastened down crashed to the floor. We experienced some waves that were easily 6' and buried the nose of the boat as salt spray flew over the flybridge. The seas were relentless and we were too far out to turn around and have these same waves on our stern so we kept on. I had to pull back on the throttle to make just enough steerage to ride the waves. The crew watched as our buddy boat, a larger 45' got farther away. The other boat was getting hammered too but they were able to make just a little more headway. The only prediction that was correct was that around noon it did start to lay down. After a grueling 5 hours we were in 2 & 3 footers and I was able to throttle up to make up for lost time. As we got closer the water flattened out all together.

Nose In

   Without a doubt, the worst travel day of the trip and we were thankful for a sturdy boat and to reach the other shore in Steinhatchee. I spent 30 minutes hosing the entire boat down to remove as much salt as I could while being inundated by "no-seeums".  Beers never tasted so good and we toasted our landfall.

 

Alligator Pt. to Steinhatchee

TRAVEL DAY 156 - Steinhatchee to Crystal River

December 1, 2023

10.03 Hours/ 86.4 Miles

    Our plan was to stay in Steinhatchee another night, then anchor at Cedar Key and then the next day go on to Crystal River. I woke up before sunrise and checked the weather forecast. It did not look promising that the weather would hold and allow us to make that itinerary. Today looked to be our best possible chance to leave and go straight to Crystal River before the weather window closed and left us in Steinhatchee for 3 days. If we were to leave and make it before sunset, we needed to go within the next 1/2 hour. I felt certain about it and prayed the forecast was right this time. Now to convince the crew still asleep in their rack.

 

So far so good

    I got a reluctant thumbs up. I texted Better Together and they decided to stay. We quickly pulled the shore power, cast off the lines and motored out of the Steinhatchee River. The marina is in sight of the Gulf an it appeared to be basically calm. Fingers crossed. The wind picked up slightly once we turned south but never got above 11 or 12 mph. 

 

....and better

    All along the way, I had to dodge crab traps. With the rising sun directly in my path, it made the task tough but my polarized glasses helped knock down the glare until the sun was high enough for a better sightline.

   Hour after hour the conditions improved. I pushed the throttle up and with the current we were making an easy 9 mph and would be in Kings Bay an hour before dark.  Passing Cedar Key the stacks to the decommissioned Crystal River Nuclear Plant were in sight on the port side.

 

Gold Burgee Special Delivery

    By the time we were 9 or so miles out from the entrance of Crystal River the water was so flat I could see every little fish that broke the surface.  We made our final turn to the entrance markers still dodging crab traps. Going through the markers we had not seen in well over a year and a 1/2 since we first left with Pau Hana headed to Bradenton, brought back a sense of joy and a strange feeling that perhaps we really didn't want this to end.

 

Yeah!!

    As soon as we passed Shell Island slow zone, I throttled up and coming toward us in the river was a familiar looking boat. Our friends (and hopefully future Loopers) were headed toward us with our Gold AGLCA flag! With a quick hand off we posed for some great pictures and proceeded to up the river to Kings Bay. We pulled in to our slip at Pete's Pier. A few minutes later after we got tied up, a group of our friends showed up to celebrate our "Wake Crossing". The biggest surprise was a couple (Platinum Loopers) we had met at a rendezvous Fall 2022. The crew of Rambling Rosie (now Gold Loopers) from Lecanto were there as well.

 

Gold Burgee

    What now? We are not really sure. We do know we have a lot of organizing to do to get back to land, but we are hoping this is the start of more adventures. Click Here for our Great Loop Stats.

 

Champagne Pop

Steinhatchee to Crystal River