out of St. Pete & on the high seas

We finally got underway Wednesday Dec. 22. at about 2:30 in the afternoon. All morning we filled water tanks, stowed last minute purchases and tied everything down to make ready for sea. The journey really starts now. Our departure was timed so we would be in open water before dark and we passed under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge out of Tampa Bay at sunset. Dolphins escorted us briefly as Crossroads entered the Gulf of Mexico and the sky grew dark. The plan was to head down the coast to Boca Grand pass and anchor there in the morning. A strong, cold north wind had us flying along at an exhilarating 8 knots instead of the estimated 5. Boca was abeam at 3:00 a.m. so it was still way to dark to go in and we decided to head to Naples instead. The anchorage at Naples sounded hard to find with out having to be towed off an unmarked sand bar so we skipped it too & finally anchored off Marco Island [N25d58:700,W81d44:220] at about 3:00 pm - a nice run for 24 hours. Capt. & crew were exhausted from only getting a couple hours of sleep and steering in rolly seas all night so bedtime was 7:00pm. It was easy to sleep the clock around and fortunately it wasn't until noon that the marine patrol informed us that we were actually anchored in the channel. They were nice about it though & let us move 100 ft north to get out of the way. At 5:00 that afternoon we headed out again - bound for Key West.
Some of our loyal readers have asked why we keep leaving in the late afternoon and sailing all night. To get out of the anchorage and the channel to open water we need daylight. Once we are off shore it can be dark, as there is not much to hit out there. Our departures and arrivals are timed for daylight and we just take turns sleeping and steering in about 3 hour shifts.
The nice fast north wind was now gone and about to be replaced with wind out of the south - yuck, that's where we're headed. We motored for 22 hours (way to go Carl - our Perkins engine) all the way to the mooring field at Key West. The dinghy motor was installed and all the legal gear to make it an actual vessel was put aboard. Florida treats dinks like all other boats so we must carry life jackets and a light and have current state registration. We hit the town on Christmas Eve and stopped at the first place we came to - a great Irish pub. Finnegan’s Wake had everything that 2 tired sailors needed. It was close to the dinghy dock and had good beer and incredible food. Michele had a big hardy burger and I had the best bacon wrapped, mushroom gravy-covered meatloaf I have ever had (sorry Mom). Eating our way through Key West is going to be fun!
-Glenn