The Crossing

From the time you start to even think about The Loop, you hear about The Crossing:  the 10-30 hour passage from Florida's Panhandle to its West Coast.  For many Loopers in 8kt boats (ie those boats who cannot cross in daylight hours) this is their first overnight experience. It might also be their first off-shore experience.  From docktails to dinner conversation be it June or October the conversation almost always rolls around to the crossing, particularly if you have crossing veterans in your midst. Everyone wants to know how it was, what route they took, if they have any advice to share.

The America's Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) provides information,support and an online forum for members. Each morning I receive a report on questions and answers posted on the previous day's forum.  The questions range from good anchorages to good restaurants to electrical wiring to finding the perfect Loop boat. Beginning in late October a daily post is provided re: Crossing Weather. This year is is provided by a volunteer names Eddy. The difference between a good crossing and a bad crossing can be the weather. Flat calm waters and a full moon are the perfect scenario, and may the winds be ever in your favor.

Although the Cap'n has over 15 multi day off shore races under his belt, I have 2 off shore overnight experiences and we had our "Off-Shore Specialist" Al on board for our our crossing, we still spent a good deal of time pinpointing the exact best departure and arrival day, time and location.

As it turned out we had a great trip with relatively calm seas and a just past full moon. Although we knew there were several other Loopers crossing the same night we did, not a one came over the horizon or appeared on the AIS.

We left St. Andrews Marina, Panama City just after 7AM on Monday November 10th. About 1PM a sport fishing boat crossed our bow. About 2PM a gull hitchhiked a ride for about 5 minutes, about 3PM a few dolphins frolicked to starboard, about 4PM we saw a sail boat to port.  And that was it -- no more signs of human or sea life until we neared the entrance to Tampa Bay.  What we did see was a sunset that stretched across the starboard horizon, the moon rising to port ablaze in orange about 9PM, stars galore, and a peaceful sunrise. It was spectacular.

After taking the early evening watch so the Cap'n and AL could watch the Eagles game on tv, I took my first solo middle-of-the-night-when-everyone-else-was-asleep watch -- an accomplishment I am proud of. We all took turns on "secondary watch", ie, sleeping in the salon in case the watch captain needed assistance. Hamilton took it as his duty to sleep in the pilot house thru the night -- snoring slightly but still at the ready if the watch captain needed any help or happened to have a piece of cheese to share.

By 12:30PM on Tuesday November 11th we were in our slip at the St.Petersburg Municipal Marina. By 1:30 we were all napping.

This is where FREEDOM will be for about 2 months. It feels good not to have the daily "Where are we going tomorrow, how many miles is that, is there enough water in that anchorage, where is the next marina, what time should we leave?" conversation that has been our constant companion since we left Charleston in April. Now it is time to enjoy St. Pete. We arrived on a good weekend, the annual Rib Fest is taking place to our port along the waterfront and we have been able to hear the nightly concerts from FREEDOM ( Daughtry, Starship and Lynyrd Skynyd), To starboard, docks are being installed for the annual Boat Show scheduled for the first weekend of December.  But before that we have a few weeks of shore leave scheduled and we are busy putting the boat away and packing our sweaters before the drive north.........