TAMPA, FLORIDA - 245 MILES

MAY 14, 2012

We left Shell Island off Panama City, Florida about 3:30AM.  The weather was perfect for our first overnight crossing.  As the sun rose, we left land behind & headed offshore about 120 miles. 

The first day we were heading down the edge of a military live fire, air to air practice range.  About noon Rod was napping in the cockpit while I was on watch.  There were two loud BOOMS! 
Just like a cannon went off right by the boat.  Rod was up in a flash but we did not see a thing. The information we read on the area said if your boat was in the area & an aircraft flew across your bow, vacate the area immediately.  Well, we took the noise to mean we had gotten too close & moved further outside the range line.  That was exciting.


PASSING MISTRESS IN THE GULF

The water out there is an amazing deep blue & all of our day was spent in the cockpit. We saw almost no boats after leaving the coast until we caught up with a 41 foot Formosa named Mistress, she was anchored close to us near Pensacola & off Shell Island.  They left ahead of us on Sunday night. Without much wind they were traveling at about 4 knots & we were motor sailing at about 6.5 to 7 knots.  The couple aboard just bought her & are sailing her back to their home in Massachusetts.  After speaking to them on the radio we left them behind & continued on.


After dark Rod began working on adjusting our radar.  Finally, success.  This made my keeping watch much less stressful.  With the AIS & the radar I was much more comfortable knowing what traffic was out there in the dark.

Tuesday May 15 - At 3:30AM I found myself at the helm, on watch while Rod was sleeping.  It is so quiet out there in the dark, the sky is full of stars & the sea was almost flat.  I stood behind the cockpit looking over the hardtop with a warm soft breeze blowing over me & a sliver of moon rising on the horizon.  The calmness wraps around you & everything is right with the world.



SUNRISE MAY 15, 2012

As the sun rose & the stars faded away, we had completed our first overnight without any major issues.  Throughout the day there was nothing to see but miles of blue water, fish jumping & dolphin swimming by.  Late in the afternoon we began seeing boats & more birds, land was just ahead. 







We crossed the shipping lanes outside of Tampa Bay & continued on to Anna Maria Island & Galati Yacht Basin Marina.  Being short on fuel & water we tied up at the fuel dock & settled in for the night about 9:30PM.  The end of our crossing, we had traveled over 245miles. 

GALATI YACHT BASIN

We were exhausted.  A glass of wine to toast the successful completion of our first overnight passage was first, then sleep came quickly.