We left Panama City Sun Harbor Marina at 7am as it was going to be a full sprint to get to Carrabelle Florida, refuel, and join other Loopers crossing the Gulf at 3pm. We left the Marina and within 30 minutes we were up on plane at 17-19kts all the way to 2pm. We only slowed down where we had to in no wake zones. Otherwise we were running hard to make the weather window tonight. As we made the jump from Apalachacola to Carrabelle, I decided to skip refuel in Apalachacola and go the extra 5 miles in and 5 miles out of Carrabelle to refuel there as fuel was $1 a gallon cheaper. We actual passed some boats that were heading out for the crossing that we would meet up with later. After a short stop and refuel, we headed back out to the Gulf again at top speed to catch our group that was an hour ahead of us. The group was traveling at 7kts, so at 17kts, we caught them in about 30 minutes. We then finally throttled back to 7kts and rode with the group into the night. The first few hours were rough with 1-2ft waves, but then settled down to less than 1ft waves. Around 11pm the sea went flat and we had a super smooth ride in to the west coast of Florida. The group was heading to Tarpon Springs and I wanted to go to Crystal River that is about 50 miles north of Tarpon. So at 2am just after the spectacular moonrise, we cut east to Crystal River. We got there close to shore 10 miles out in 40' deep of water and I did not want to hit any crab pots in the dark so I decided to kill the engines at 5am and I slept for 2 hours until 7am. Yolanda and Momma Donna were sound asleep since 11pm. Mom did pop into the flybridge at 4am, but we both retired at 5am for some needed sleep. At 7am we fired up the motors and headed in the last 20 miles to drop anchor around 11am in Kings Bay of Crystal River. We had a great smooth ride across the Gulf and the boat and passengers all had a good safe ride.
Panama-Carrabelle: Duration: 6:00. Distance 82.5nm Avg. Speed 14.4nm Max Speed 20.5
Carrabelle-Crystal river: Duration: 21:21 Distance 140.5nm Avg. Speed 6.7kts Max Speed 17.4kts
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| Moonrise 1:42 am |
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| Queen Yoli at Kings Bay |
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| On the Hook in Kings Bay Crystal River |
