Completing the Great Loop

On Thursday, November 5 at 1:06 p.m., with an escort of dolphins at our bow, C.A.R.I.B. II "crossed her wake" (intersected the route she took when starting the Great Loop in 2014) in Tampa Bay and completed the Great Loop. We--Lon, Pat, and geriatric wonder cat Zipper--are now officially "Gold Loopers."

Dolphins swam alongside our bow in Tampa
Bay just before we "crossed our wake"

Our chart plotter 5 seconds after we crossed
our wake, and just before we made the left turn for
downtown St. Petersburg

Lon switches the burgees from white (Loop in progress)
to Gold (completed the Great Loop) with downtown
St. Pete in the distance

Pat also needed a moment to savor the
accomplishment

Getting to this point involved a very challenging couple of days. Panama City gave us a nice 3-night respite as we checked weather reports and confirmed that conditions seemed fine for an overnight crossing of the Gulf of Mexico from the panhandle to Tampa Bay on Tuesday-Wednesday (November 3-4). We left St. Andrews Marina at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Our "float plan" took us down the ICW to Appalachicola. Aside from some fog that developed as the sun rose, the 8-hour cruise to Appalachicola was uneventful-winds were light and the waters smooth.

Preparing to leave St. Andrews Marina just before
sunrise on November 3.

Whether as a result of past hurricanes or for other reasons, we saw quite a few derelict/sunken boats along the way.

Derelict 1

Derelict 2

Derelicts 3 and 4

Mid-afternoon we passed by downtown Appalachicola and into a glassy smooth Appalachicola Bay on our way to Government Cut, the entrance into the Gulf of Mexico. It was cloudy and there were a few showers ahead of us, but nothing large or even close to severe.

Passing through Government Cut. The Gulf of Mexico
is to the right in this photo

We had previously decided that we would shorten the crossing by making Clearwater Beach our destination rather than St. Petersburg. 170 statute miles at 8.5-9 miles per hour meant we were looking at a 19 or 20 hour crossing.

We encountered rolling swells on the Gulf that seemed to diminish in intensity as we continued. The marine forecasts had indicated that should be the case. However, two hours or so into the Gulf crossing things got "interesting", and on a trip of this kind "interesting" is not a good thing. The swells did not continue to diminish. They were not particularly large, but they were more closely spaced than predicted and as they seemed to be coming from different directions, we were being rocked every which way. Lon went below to do an engine room inspection, and the combination of the enclosed space, engine room smells, and a boat in "rock-and-roll" mode put him on a fast track to being seasick. Just that quickly, the not-so-intrepid First Mate got a quick promotion to Captain, and spent most of a very dark night staring at the radar and making sure we stayed on course. Lon was able to take the controls for brief periods of time, but it was a very long night. Zipper had the best of it--she slept in her favorite drawer nearly the whole time. The moon and stars were out for a while, but it was hard to appreciate them because of the way the boat was moving. We were extremely glad when the first hints of dawn appeared.

Better late than never, the seas finally calmed down when we were a couple of hours away from Clearwater Pass. The final challenge of the crossing was dodging lines of crab pots during the last hour while cruising into the sun. With a sigh of relief, and after 28 total hours of cruising, we docked at Clearwater Beach Marina and got some much-needed rest.

On Thursday, November 5 we cruised the final 37 miles down the intracoastal waterway to our home port of The Harborage Marina in downtown St. Petersburg. It was wonderful to see the familiar sights along the way.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay

Approaching downtown St. Petersburg

And so, the saga ends in St. Petersburg. We are very glad to have had the experience. We learned a lot about other places, other people, and ourselves, but we are looking forward to settling back into life in St. Petersburg. We'll continue to live on the boat for the foreseeable future, a future which is full of possibilities that will reveal themselves in due time.

Gold Loopers Lon, Pat, and Zipper at home in
St. Petersburg

Before signing off on this final Great Loop blog entry, here are a few trip stats for the past couple of years:

2014: 4172 miles in 98 cruising days (157 calendar days), 112 locks, 1424 gallons of fuel

2015: 2062 miles in 32 cruising days (57 calendar days), 42 locks, 925 gallons of fuel.

We also cruised 341 miles during our time in St. Paul.

Grand Totals: 6575 (statute) miles, 154 locks, 2349 gallons of fuel, 130 cruising days over 214 calendar days, countless memories, extreme gratitude for a safe journey.

Thanks for following along with us. Time now for Pat to find a new hobby!