This is to be our longest journey by water in one day, about 160 nautical miles . Remember our trip to the Bahamas was only 90 nautical miles across. So another early start and Betsy Marie and Lady Erica left their slips at 7am , just before sunrise, and headed out into the Gulf waters.Within 15 minutes the sun was staring to rise .A pretty picture to start this big trip.A couple of dolphins rode out also as we exited Carabelle harbor.
Seas were 1 to 1and 1/2 ft with some 2 ft and easterly winds. NE had been predicted and only 1 ft seas but this was not the case.
We had been hoping for a more northerly aspect so we would have following seas . Now it was more of a beem sea, i.e. waves hitting the side of the boat
We had set the course and chose to both run at around 15 knots. It was rather rocky and rolly for the first five hours but not too bad so we were able to maintain that speed for most of the way . After the initial first two hours Graeme and Erica alternated the driving , doing one hour each. This worked well as one could rest or read while the other kept a lookout and drove the boat.
Graeme saw a pod of about 15 to 20 small Dolphins at some point and we both saw flying fish.
Apart from that there was no water traffic apart from one sailing catamaran going in the other direction The sea started to change in the last four hours and it became quite calm.A real treat. Sun was getting hot but not in our faces as we had at the star of the journey.
We kept in radio communication with Lisa and Tom, a good idea to keep us alert. Finally came back into the intercostal just before Dunedin ( near Clearwater ) after 10 hours.
Being a Sunday there was a lot of boat traffic of fishing boats and jet skies just inside the inlet were zipping all over the place .A slow 45 mins brought us into the Marker 1 Marina around 5.45 pm. We fuelled up then both of us side tied at the long transient dock.Erica headed off to the office just in time before they shut for the evening , signed in and picked up a nice welcome package from Jill. Began to recognize this Marina was where Helen and Bob picked up there 2nd hand Sabre boat from here earlier this year.
We also saw two brand new Sabre 42 's ,( hull no 126 and 128 ) as well as a new Back Cove at this Marina.We bought our first Sabre 40( now called 42) of the same design back in 2009 and we were hull number 3!
Time to wash down the boats while it was still light . Lots of salt from this trip on the hull, railings and deck. Showers and then the four of us headed to Frenchies Restaurant for a celebratory dinner.Good food and we were able to miss the thunderstorms and rain while sitting under cover.
Back to the boats, pretty wiped out and ready for bed.But a good and successful day.
Over and Out,
E and G
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