Port St. Joe, FL, GULF CROSSING, Tarpon Springs, FL

Monday, January 12 we moved from Panama City, Florida to Port St. Joe, Florida. We saw lots of dolphins along the way. We also saw F22s practicing from nearby Tyndall Air Force Base. We had a nice ride, although parts of the Intracostal Waterway and Gulf County Canal were a bit narrow. Port St. Joe was a great spot to spend several days. The marina, called Point South, is newly remodeled and has a fantastic staff and ship store. They are in the process of building a restaurant also. The town is quite charming and has many nearby restaurants and shops. Everything was easy to walk to. The waterfront has the historic Cape San Blas lighthouse as well as new townhomes near the water. We were there until Friday so visited several restaurants. We ate at Provisions, Sisters Bistro, Joe Mama's, Quatro Locos, and The White Marlin. We also enjoyed music bingo at the Haughty Heron bar and package store. Everyone we met was very friendly and welcoming!

While in Port St. Joe, we got the idea of crossing the gulf from here instead of going on to Carrabelle like most loopers do. The long term forecast did not show a lot of good days ahead so it made sense just to try and cross from Port St. Joe. We plan to visit the towns we missed, Appalachicola and Carraballe, at a future date after we finish the Loop. The crossing is a little longer from Port St. Joe but seemed doable. Since we can cruise at 21 mph at 3200 rpm, we chose to do a daytime crossing. Slower boats must travel overnight so they arrive in Tarpon Springs in daylight to avoid hitting crab traps. Staying awake all night did not appeal to either of us so we waited for a good weather day to be able to cross in daylight. The AGLCA has a daily email regarding weather and wave heights. We also purchased a custom forecast for our boat from Marine Weather Center. We chose to head out on Friday, January 16th, knowing it would be a little bumpy but a "perfect" weather day did not seem to be coming up any time soon. Although we traveled solo, a couple other boats were scheduled to head on the same route later in the day so if something happened we could contact them. We have a subscription to Seatow which was another back up plan in case we broke down. We left about 7 am at first light and it was only 32 degrees. We bundled up and had the boat all batten down to keep gear from rolling around the decks. The trip from Port St. Joe in open waters  was about 212 miles. The furthest we were from shore was 70 miles. It was rougher than we thought it would be and we think some of the waves were 4 or 5 feet. For the most part the forecast was pretty accurate. We don't have auto-pilot on our boat and Tim did a truly amazing job holding the course. I know because I took the helm a couple times and had a very hard time holding course as the wind and waves would immediately pointed me to Venezuela(so says Tim). The navigation devices had a delay so a constant scan of the chart, rudder position, and compass heading was needed to keep a minimal variance in course through the water. I don't have many good photos since it was a pretty bumpy ride and we couldn't move anywhere on the boat without holding on the entire time. Needless to say the entire boat was covered with salt from sea spray. We made it to anchorage near Anclote Key outside of Tarpon Springs before dark, about 5:45 and it was still light enough that we could see and avoid running into crab traps, which are marked with  white balls in the water attached with  ropes from the crab traps. The ropes can get tangled up in the prop shafts and stop the engines, thus the need to avoid them. Needless to say we were quite ready to celebrate with one of the special Caymus wines we were given, and hunker down for the evening. We thanked God for a safe voyage! The first photo shows Port St. Joe in the moonlight at 7 am when we left. The second one is the custom forecast which pretty much panned out. In some of the other photos you can see a few white caps and sea swell.

Saturday we went up the Anclote River to nearby Tarpon Springs. The city marina is very nice with friendly staff and is right in the sponge dock area. Tarpon Springs is known as the "Sponge Capital of the World". It also has a strong Greek heritage. There is one main block of restaurants (mostly Greek food), sponge boats, and shops. Saturday was finally a warm and sunny 70 degree day so we soaked up the sun and had lunch with our friend Steve who winters in nearby Clearwater! We went to the popular Rusty Bellies and had a drink near our boat at the Dock Waterfront Grill. Later we ate at the famous Hellas Greek Restaurant and Bakery and watched the Denver-Bills game at Costa's. Sunday brought cold , 50 mph wind gusts and rain so we stayed on the boat until the afternoon. We went to Dimitri's on the Water for excellent gyros, and then shopped for (you guessed it!) sponges, and Tarpon Springs swag, greek olives, wine, and cheese. Tomorrow we head to Madeira Beach Marina a few miles down near Clearwater and plan to see more friends there!