This is the final activity day of the rendezvous which was a 10 a.m. breakfast at the marina Dockside Cafe. Do partly to the high winds, there was close to 40 loopers at the meeting with only 4 or 5 couples on boats. Breakfast was pretty good buffet that started with bloody 
marys then eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, biscuits , gravy and of course the southern standby of grits. After this feast I worked on charting for the next few days and Ricki took a nap. Skip came over and we planned our trip to Carrabelle Tuesday to wait for a window that may appear Saturday to cross the Gulf to Clearwater. We have decide to go ahead and get across to the west coast of Florida rather than mess with the Big Bend that could take days or maybe weeks to get on south due to the weather. In January historically there are only 5 or 6 good days to get thru the Gulf and with one maybe showing up next weekend, we are going to go for it. There will be at least 3 boats here that will travel together across and we all travel at the same 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 MPH for the 180 mile trip so it looks like a 19 to 20 hour trip overnight. Tomorrow I will change all fuel filters and do final engine checks then both our boats need to pump out before leaving for Carrabelle on Tuesday. The 3rd boat in the group is a 47 ft Californian that is nothing but gorgeous. Nelson and Elizabeth have a relative on board that is a licensed captain who will accompany them to Clearwater so that gives us a little more feeling of comfort about the trip. Skipping Tarpon Springs is a result of what we have heard in the last few days. We learned that not only is the entry tricky but that it is covered with crab traps that have already snagged some of our loopers so we will go 10 miles further to Clearwater. We plan to stay in the Clearwater/St. Petersburg vicinity until the 20th then start working our way down the coast to Fort Myers around the 24th for a couple days then on to the Keys for a few weeks before heading to the Bahamas around February 20th for a few weeks. If things work out right, we will have one of our daughters and her family aboard late next week for a few days then will pick up the Hanna's in Fort Myers to go on south with us. Looking forward to having folks aboard for a change.
marys then eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, biscuits , gravy and of course the southern standby of grits. After this feast I worked on charting for the next few days and Ricki took a nap. Skip came over and we planned our trip to Carrabelle Tuesday to wait for a window that may appear Saturday to cross the Gulf to Clearwater. We have decide to go ahead and get across to the west coast of Florida rather than mess with the Big Bend that could take days or maybe weeks to get on south due to the weather. In January historically there are only 5 or 6 good days to get thru the Gulf and with one maybe showing up next weekend, we are going to go for it. There will be at least 3 boats here that will travel together across and we all travel at the same 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 MPH for the 180 mile trip so it looks like a 19 to 20 hour trip overnight. Tomorrow I will change all fuel filters and do final engine checks then both our boats need to pump out before leaving for Carrabelle on Tuesday. The 3rd boat in the group is a 47 ft Californian that is nothing but gorgeous. Nelson and Elizabeth have a relative on board that is a licensed captain who will accompany them to Clearwater so that gives us a little more feeling of comfort about the trip. Skipping Tarpon Springs is a result of what we have heard in the last few days. We learned that not only is the entry tricky but that it is covered with crab traps that have already snagged some of our loopers so we will go 10 miles further to Clearwater. We plan to stay in the Clearwater/St. Petersburg vicinity until the 20th then start working our way down the coast to Fort Myers around the 24th for a couple days then on to the Keys for a few weeks before heading to the Bahamas around February 20th for a few weeks. If things work out right, we will have one of our daughters and her family aboard late next week for a few days then will pick up the Hanna's in Fort Myers to go on south with us. Looking forward to having folks aboard for a change. 
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