Tarpon Springs, FL

 The main purpose of moving over to Apalachicola from Panama City in 'testy' weather on Sunday was to be in place for a good weather window for crossing of the Gulf of Mexico. Yesterday and last night were forecast to be favorable for the crossing.
  Apalachicola was a quaint little town that was much like most places we stopped in during our transition across the Gulf coast states.  It has seen it's time and was in a state of depression.  The towns people we met, or had business with, were some of the friendliest people you would ever want to meet but the economy of the area is on it's tail.  The personnel at the boat yard we were in couldn't have been more helpful.  They told us that even the number of boats doing the great loop has dropped off considerably. We walked into town with our fellow loppers from Toronto and had a superb dinner in a neat little restaurant where we were the only customers.
  We finished our boat chores this morning and decided to make the leap over to the west coast of FL, by-passing the 'armpit' of the gulf and go directly from Apalachicola to Tarpon Springs - a distance of 155 SMiles.  We coordinated our plans with the boaters from Toronto and we departed Apalachicola at 0937 hrs on Tuesday morning.  The seas were running at 1 to 2 feet when we left and we made it through Government Cut and pointed the bow towards Ancelot Key off the coast of Tarpon Springs.  It wasn't long before the seas subsided as predicted and we had a good overnight crossing, arriving at a dock in Tarpon Springs at 0905 hrs this morning - almost 24 hours later.  The winds became light but an overcast made for a very dark night - no moon, no stars.  We heard other Great Loop boats on the radio through the night who were also making the crossing from other starting points along the Gulf Coast but we never saw any other lights except for a barge passing us in the opposite direction about 3/4 miles off of our starboard - we had him on radar and had radio communications.
 Again, the pilot house proved to be an advantage.  Sue and I alternated on the helm while we each caught brief naps on the pilothouse bench while the other tried to stay awake.  Traveling with another boat a half mile away was comforting.  Our boat gave us a few moments of concern soon after we got underway but it just so happened that Sue as on the phone with the Raymarine tech in Corpus Christie at the time discussing past problems and we were able to resolve our problem with the tech's help and continued underway.  Otherwise the boat performed very well and sipped fuel for the crossing.
The main reason for picking a morning departure from the coast was so that we arrived on the west coast of FL after the sun came up.  The waters on the approach to Tarpon Springs are VERY shallow and full of fish and crab traps and daylight is a must.  Sue and I can say (and our Canadian friends, also) can say that we are all glad that that phase of our adventure is history.
 After a catnap at the dock we walked into the tourist area of Tarpon Springs with our Canadian friends for a sightseeing excursion.  We were all feeling the after effects of our all night experience and returned to our boat for an early happy hour.  We agreed that tomorrow we would we would go back to town for a Greek lunch and maybe even a sponge boat tour.  After all, isn't that what Tarpon Springs is famous for?  Also, we had or mail forwarded to the marina we are in and hopefully it will arrive tomorrow so that we can continue south along the west coast of Florida (weather permitting) on Friday.
  I think I already mention that the Gulf Coast ICW ends just after Carabelle/Apalchicola and picks up for a short distance just south of Tarpon Springs and continues to the Fort Meters area. The 'armpit' I referred to is the area in the north east corner (coast) of the Gulf of Mexico which includes Tallahassee.  Most of the boating in that area is in open water and offers very few marinas or anchorages to duck into overnight. Hence the long overnight crossing.

Y'all stay vertical,
Capt'n John and First Mate Sue