Crystal River

Manatee Flossing on a line

Crystal River is known for swimming with the Manatees. We did not swim with the Manatees, but we did go on a two hour pontoon boat tour to see them. We could have easily done it in our own dingy, but the guide Tommy B. was really informational, and it was a much better way to get Mom out as I don't think three of us in the Dingy would of been a good idea. We saw lots of Manatees, and opted not to swim with them. We dropped anchor in Kings Bay here in Crystal River Sunday and we planned to only stay a couple nights, but the winds picked up which would have made for a bad day on the water to Tarpon Springs our next stop. So we stayed 3 nights on Anchor in the Bay. We went for a dingy ride and walk into town, I did some boat projects, Momma Donna caught up on some reading, napping, and soaking in the bay view from our waterfront patio. It is Tuesday Night as I write this and I had a full day working on the boat, also did a pump out at Pete's Pier Marina, Mom scored a Pete's Pier Jacket, and we topped our fresh water tanks off for some showers tonight. We leave at 0700 at sun up so no late night for us, bedtime for us weary travelers of the water.

Below are some pics from my new insta360 underwater camera. pretty cool pics. But most did not turn out well in the river where the water was mirky. Close to the natural springs where the water was clear these pics came out pretty nice.

Tour Guide Tommy B

Gulf Crossing

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

Moonrise 1:42 am

Queen Yoli at Kings Bay

On the Hook in Kings Bay Crystal River

Looping Again

 

After a couple weeks off for the AGLCA Rendezvous and a week long cruise ship excursion, we are back on the boat to start the next leg of the Great Loop adventure.

Today we decided to head out a day early and cancel our stays at Sportsman and Emerald Coast each of 3 days. We have a weather window to cross the Gulf on Friday in just 3 days. We turned in the rental car, loaded up with groceries and hit the water. We also picked up Mom from the Pensacola airport yesterday for this leg of the loop across the Gulf. So instead of seven easy days to Apalachacola to wait for a weather window, we need to cover 240 miles in two days to get to Carrabelle to meet up with 12 other AGLCA club members that will be crossing the Gulf as well. So our goal today was to get to Panama City sun Harbor for 109 miles. We pulled out at 8am and averaged 14.2kts to arrive by 4pm for a full day on the water.

Distance 109nm   Duration 7:53  Average Speed 14.3kts   Max Speed. 22kts

Day 2-7: Caribbean Adventure

 

We board the Windstar Star Pride today that carries 312 passengers and 150 crew. It is a smaller cruise line but with all the same amenities, just not as big and plentiful as a large Princess type cruise that holds 4000 people. We have 28 in total in our group, we dine, hit the pool, and do numerous. beach excursions from ATV to snorkeling. Our itinerary was St. Johns, St. Barth, St. Martin, St. Kitts, Jost Van Dyke, and our final day in Virgin Gorda at Prickly Pear. We all had too much fun, food, and sun for sure. All had a great time celebrating Nan Starr's 70th Birthday.

Our Balcony Suite

The guys with their Shark suits, Capt'n Hats, and birthday girls Nan, and Kathleen

The Girls on the Beach

The boys and Bday girls

Official Shark Suit

The Soggy Dollar Bar/Beach

Tender Ride to Beach

St. Kitts

Pool Time

Birthday Party Night at Candles Resturant

Bday party gang at dinner

Super Yacht parked next to us in the bay

Sunset Tender ride

View from Yacht Club at bow of ship

ATV riders AlanYoli

ATV riders Nan & Tom

Beach excursion

Hot tub on bow of ship