The ‘gulf crossing’ is one of the most highly anticipated sections of the Great Loop. Loopers need to make a choice of routes to get from Florida’s panhandle to the west coast of Florida. The two route are quite different: ‘the crossing’ – a single 150 to170 mile crossing from Carrabelle, FL to Clearwater or Tarpon Springs or the ‘big bend’ – a 260 mile crossing that is spread out over several stops and days along the coast.
From the start of our trip, we had planned on taking the ‘big bend’ route. Only about 20% of loopers take this track. The timing of the overnight route has a few sticky points. Due to the prevalence of crab pots near Tarpon Springs you need to arrive mid morning on the west coast so that the sun is high enough to help us see them in the water. Arrive too early and it’s either dark or blinding driving into the rising sun. This means for our slow boat, we would leave Carrabelle, FL around 4:00PM to cruise to Clearwater making this 18-20 hour cruise, mostly in the dark. Folks still choose this because the big bend route is very shallow and offers few marinas with amenities. Since we are fine anchoring, and were interested in exploring some of the small towns along the bend, we had decided we were fine taking the big bend route.
A wrench was thrown in our plans when hurricane Helene hit the area, followed by hurricane Milton the previous fall. Unfortunately, these forces of nature destroyed the few marinas available and left unmarked shoaling in its wake. (For these reasons, we had slowed our forward movement and decided to stay in Alabama for the holiday season.) So once we started doing research and studying the weather we put the long haul (crossing) back on the table. Tracy was not a fan of the overnight crossing but we continued to consider all our options and talk to lots of folks.
We could have spent lots of time in the panhandle exploring, but the cold temperatures had us pining to get south. Mother Nature was not just throwing some highly unusual cold temperatures our way but also some nasty marine weather. So, after checking the weather hourly for days and making a new plan every half hour, we decide on a unique, abridged route between the crossing and big bend and found our weather window! Let’s do this!
Our first leg was to stage for our two day trip starting at Dog Island. Since it was only a three hour cruise from Apalachicola we left later in the day. First, a delicious breakfast at The Wilson Cafe, then a quick cruise before the dropped the anchor and enjoyed a restful evening and delicious dinner of salmon that we bought at the local fish market in Apalachicola.
Day 2, we set our alarms for 4:15 and checked the weather – again! We had a three way call with our buddy boats and one dropped out while the other was still on the fence. The problem with our plan was day 2 was not looking great and staying two nights at the anchorage we picked was also not a great option. Still, we decided to pull up the anchor and go for it, so at 4:45 we left St. George Sound and started to inch our our way into the Gulf of Mexico. It was a blessing with the moon shining and illuminating the sky, just a gorgeous time.
The sunrise was gorgeous and the seas were as promised. It was a long cruise but nothing to complain about. For the first time, we spent some time driving from the inside.
It was a tad cold but just a beautiful day.
From studying many weather Apps for days, we knew day 3’s route could have some rough wind and seas. We were hunting for warmer weather. Knowing the weather was going to get worse and it would be days/weeks before we had another weather window, so off we went. We still felt it would be better than an overnight crossing.
We made a plan with our buddy boat to start engines at 6:15 and anchor up at 6:30. This had us leaving 90 minutes prior to sunrise. Once our alarms went off and we looked outside, we noticed no moonlight, so we quickly moved our departure time back 30 minutes.
Once our anchor was up and the sun started to rise, more problems popped up! Our compass bearing was quite off meaning our auto pilot cannot be used. While we moved slowly, Tracy kept us on course, out of the shallows all while looking for crab pots and Bob tried to fix the compass. After trying a few things, one finally worked! Great! auto pilot engaged!
Then the winds whipped up! Ugh, one of the worse rides ever! Once again, we kept saying, “the boat can handle more than us!” It was extremely uncomfortable and for Tracy a bit scary. Waves hitting the boat were reaching us up on the fly bridge. After rechecking weather Apps, we decided to make the ride a bit longer and try hugging the coast for more protection. The change of course, seemed to help a bit.
At one point, Tracy moved to get something and went flying whacking her head on a hand rail. Luckily, she only ended up with a slight headache and little bump. Luckily, after a few hours, the wind laid down a bit and the ride got better, We spent the remainder of the cruise a little bumpy and dodging crab pots.
After Mother Nature kicked our butts, she did provide us with a wonder dolphin show!
We survived the bumps, rocks and rolls but our flag did not along with our glass vase holding our sea shell collection and a coffee cup.
Virtually impossible to take photos of this trip! The little white ball in the water is a crab tap, luckily this one was white some are black. Even with keen eyes they are impossible to see. Also, no rhyme or reason to how they are placed. It seems they drop them from a helicopter and they land where they land.
In the end, we said, “it was only a couple of hours and it was not dark.” Never once was safely an issue just comfort!
Three Sons and Jamin’ were safely tucked in at Tarpon Springs City Marina for a few nights. After a cocktail and hot shower, a celebratory dinner of delicious Greek entrees was enjoyed!
Segment Stats
- Apalachicola, FL to Dog Island, FL
- Saturday, January 11, 2025
- Cruising Time: 3 hours
- 23 Nautical Miles
- Route: Apalachicola Bay to St. George Sound
- Weather: Sunny, Temperatures: 59-36, Winds: NNE 6-13mph (Traveled later in day waiting for winds to subside.)
- Anchored at Cannonball Point, Dog Island
- Dog Island, FL to Cedar Key, FL
- Sunday, January 12, 2025
- Cruising Time: 11 hours 53 minutes
- 94.4 Nautical Miles
- Route: Gulf of Mexico
- Weather: Sunny, Temperatures: 38-53, Winds: NW 5mph (Left at 4:56AM to arrive in daylight on the other side.)
- Anchored at Cedar Key Northern Channel
- Cedar Key, FL to Tarpon Springs
- Monday, January 13, 2025
- Cruising Time: 9 hours 7 minutes
- 71.8 Nautical Miles
- Route: Gulf of Mexico
- Weather: Cloudy/overcast, Temperatures: 52-70 (yes!), Winds: ENE 18-28
- Docked at Tarpon Springs City Marina
