We got up before sunrise and prepared Salty for the long day ahead of crossing the Big Bend. We left just after sunrise and headed out through the Apalachicola Channel, then through the St. George Sound towards the East Pass, just before Carrabelle. The water was a bit choppy - choppier than we had hoped and we were hoping the water might calm down before we got into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The crossing of the Big Bend brings us out for the first time into open water where we are 50 miles or more from shore, with little guarantee of VHF contact with the Coast Guard in case anything goes wrong. You can really only do this stretch if you have calm seas - and can only do it in daylight if you have a vessel that can travel in excess of 20 mph. We had wanted to head to Tarpon Springs which is the closest major port - but after calling three marinas, all transient slips were alleged to be fully booked all around. So we decided to head further south to Clearwater Beach Marina - a further journey, but the sunny clear skies and our speed would guarantee an arrival by late afternoon.


Once we got out of the East Pass into the open water, there were swells and waves of 2-3 feet - but we were able to travel at 28 mph or so - but with lots of choppiness. We had thought we had stowed everything that could move, but a few glimpses into the salon showed that papers and cushions and other stuff had been tossed and shaken about, but nothing serious, nothing broken.


About 50 miles out on the water, we heard a tremendous bang - and thought something big and heavy in the cabin had fallen. After checking the interior and the engine room and seeing nothing out of place, we were puzzled as to where the noise had come from. Then we heard several more loud bangs - ominous because they were so loud. Then, after another loud thud, we saw that the radar post had snapped off on the roof of the bridge. The radar post been placed on a hinge before we left New York so that we could pass under low bridges giving us a clearance, when folded down, of 18.5 feet, as opposed to 21.5 feet, when up - allowing us clearance to transit Chicago and parts of the Erie Canal. Now here, It was the hinge that failed - the welds in the hinge, not the pins holding it down, had sheared cleanly off in the choppiness of the Gulf.


The boat was rolling about in the 2 foot swells, which feels like its swaying a whole lot more when you're on the bridge roof. Evan stood up in the skylight window and grabbed the radar assembly which was hanging on merely by a few thin electrical wires. The post had been slamming around on the roof, had in its initial fall smashed the satellite dome and slid back and forth between the GPS and radio antennas. Good that we caught it early -otherwise the radar post weighing over 70lbs would have pulled out the wiring and gone "plop" into the depths of the Gulf. We quickly grabbed some wire-cutters and tied a rope around the radar post - and then cut the wiring and lowered the radar down by rope to the aft cockpit where we grabbed it and brought it aboard. All the while the boat was rocking in the swells, luckily with the auto heading on, which kept us going slowly into the waves instead of rolling too much about.


I guess that was our penance - and the sole "adventure" of the crossing for us - and in retrospect, I'm glad it was only that. Others that had done this trip in slower vessels overnight the night before, had run into 3-5 foot waves, suffered seasickness (dogs, cats and people), lost engines and on one boat the waste tank leaked its contents into the cabin. The rest of our trip was without event - just 2 foot waves for several hours more, that diminished to 1 foot waves for the last two hours of the transit. The sight of Clearwater Beach on the horizon was a relief - so the dozens of crab pots in our way, were a minor nuisance knowing that we'd soon be tied up in a much warmer southern Florida port than the one we had left.

We entered the Clearwater Pass without event and following the channel went under the bridge, and turned left into the Clearwater Beach Municipal Marina. Glad to have that behind us!


The weather caught up to us a few days later in Clearwater Beach with winds and rain every other day. One day there were gusts up to 40mph and the fixed docks didn't help with the feeling of being back at sea day and night - getting knocked about. Otherwise the iffy weather (far better, moister and milder than the Panhandle) was interspersed with sunny clear days but temperatures barely got above the low 70's - seems we aren't in the tropics yet. There were a lot of nice restaurants in an around Clearwater Beach (Marina Cantina, Bait House, Ocean Hai, and Sandpearl Resort) and the most amazing pure white sand beaches. In season, this must be a beautiful spot - but we were glad to be approaching southern Florida after this brisk fall weather!