On November 19th, 11 days after arriving in Mobile Bay, we were ready to set out for the west coast of Florida. We were excited to be able to sail after being a power boat for so long on the river system! Despite less than perfect conditions we motor sailed across Mobile Bay the 46 nautical miles to Ingraham Bayou anchorage in the ICW. We waited in that anchorage for 5 days for better weather to cross the Gulf of Mexico. It was so cold that we could actually see our breath inside the boat! We had a propane heater but only one small bottle of propane, so we decided to ration it in case it got colder. I spent a lot of those days baking cookies to warm up the cabin. We ran the motor to charge the batteries for about one hour a day, during which I would pull off all the compartments around the motor and hold my feet in front of it to thaw them. It was not the most fun we ever had!
We finally found space at South Wind Marina in Pensacola, and we headed there to ward off the frostbite. Being at a marina meant that we could plug in to shore power and have glorious heat! Our good friends Barret and Anders, who we had traveled down the river with, were at South Wind also. We decided that we would cross the Gulf of Mexico together. They are extremely experienced sailors, having sailed from Sweden, across the ocean, throughout the Caribbean and America. They also had taken classes in meteorology, and basically know everything about boat maintenance and boat operating. We learned a lot from them planning the crossing, and during the crossing and they continue to be a great resource for us when we have tricky issues. While we waited for a weather window we had a great time hanging out with them, and even celebrated traditional American Thanksgiving together.
We decided that we would cross the gulf on November 27th to 29th, a total of 280 nautical miles. We knew that the sea would be rough for the first day, but leaving then would allow us to sail for the first day before the wind was predicted to die on the second day. If we didn’t take this window though there would be no wind for about a week, and if we left earlier we would be in a storm. What we didn’t count on was how bad that early storm would hit our marina. The boats were pounded by huge waves all night before we left. We had to get up multiple times during the night to readjust lines as the wind shifted. We were all tired in the morning before we even left the dock. We mistakenly thought we would get more rest during the crossing, and we learned that we should always make sure that the crew is rested before a crossing.
We left Pensacola harbour at about 9 AM on the 27th, after the wind died down to about 20 knots. We had great wind at our stern, but we were being broadsided by 8 foot waves left over from the storm. the waves were not pleasant and it went on for about 30 hours, meaning very little sleep on the first night for either one of us. I hate to admit it, but I was pretty sea sick. For the first day and a half I stayed above deck, only venturing below when I absolutely had to use the head. Then on the second evening the waves settled out and the sky and sea were calm and beautiful! We even had dolphins that jumped next to the boat several times during the night. The moonlight was sparkling and it was phenomenal. I stayed up all night so that Douglas could rest and I could just stare at the sea.
During the crossing we saw dolphins, a shark, turtles, and a lot of birds; one little bird even came and landed on the boat. The crossing was a bit challenging at times, and a bit boring at other times. We were happy to have our friends nearby on Ella just in case we needed them, and also to commiserate about the rolly sea state with them over vhf. We arrived at the coast near Tarpon Springs on the morning of the 29th as the sun was rising, 50 hours after setting out. Coincidentally, as we were navigating into Tarpon Springs a friend boat, Hele Aku, who had left Pensacola a week or so before us and had worked their way along the ICW was arriving at the same time. It was a good reminder that no matter how we do our own journeys we get to the same places in the end!
We enjoyed a few days in Tarpon Springs, visited some friends who were in nearby Clearwater, and welcomed our daughter, Gabryel who came to sail with us for a few weeks. From Tarpon Springs we said goodbye to our boat friends on Ella and Hele Aku and we headed to Gulfport. We visited Gulfport the year before on a rented sailboat, and it was there that we met our friends Michelle and Tony on their Hunter 420 and decided that it was the type of boat that we wanted too. It was surreal to be back a little over a year later on our own boat. We love Gulfport, and this time we got to spend more time doing the cool things there like dance classes and beach yoga. It was great to spend time with Gabryel too! Tony and MIchelle met us there and we decided to sail to the Bahamas together.
During our time in Gulfport we sailed to Egmont key in Tampa Bay with some friends, hung out with our daughter, got caught up on boat projects and got the boat ready to head south. The biggest improvement we made to the boat was adding solar panels and lithium batteries. It made a huge difference in our ability to manage our electrical needs without constantly running the motor. Too bad we couldn’t generate enough power to run the heaters though, because it got freezing cold around Christmas. The morning that our daughter, Gabby, pointed out that we could see our breath in the boat we decided to move to shore at our friend’s, Ross and Catherine Anne’s, for a few days. We had a mostly traditional family Christmas there with Gabby and our friends Karl and Stacy; it was awesome! Closing out the year we had a lot of time to reflect on the fact that it doesn’t matter where you are, it’s the people that surround you that make it feel like home.
