Gulf of Mexico Crossing

Ambler Isle
V and S
Wed 28 Jan 2009 17:54
27:47.044N 082:46.462
We just finished an exhilarating 32 hour crossing from Panama City, Florida to the Tampa, Florida area. It was 210 miles of nonstop travel. We took turns sleeping and keeping watch. The seas were flat calm the first 10 hours. Then they built to 1-3' for the next 8 hours. This is still very comfortable for us. The last 10 hours the seas settled down and were flat calm when we arrived. We saw almost no traffic, although at night some shrimp boats come out and we saw them in the distance. Only the radar blips and the faint boat lights are visible during the dark of the night. During the day we fished, and brought in two large bonitos. We released them because they are not the best eating. Valt was treated to a "dolphin event" during his watch. One hundred dolphins, many of them juveniles, leaped out of the water as if playing joyfully. It was a wonderful crossing, but we were happy to get into our safe anchorage and go to bed. We hope to visit Jim and Jamey, friends we met in the Bahamas last year, and also Bruce and Carla, also from our Bahamas visit. Both couples live near our anchorage and we can dinghy to their homes. Great to be in warm enough weather for a dinghy ride.