The Jump

Going across the gulf from Apalachicola to Tarpon Springs is called “The Jump” in Looper lingo. After much discussion with folks from three other boats we decided to leave Apalachicola at noon but there was still a fairly thick fog lingering, however with no weather windows in the foreseeable future we decided to wait just a bit more then head out fog or no fog. At 12:45 we pulled out of the Water Street Marina (29.732043, -84.987860) and four boats moved in single file ever so slowly, due to the persistent fog, toward Government Cut (29.613685, -84.959052). This cut is a pass between two long narrow islands which was dredged earlier this year, so we knew the depths would be good enough for our small fleet. The lead boat, Tango Papa, worked his way forward using his chart plotter and radar to locate bouys and markers to keep us all in deep water, the channels in some of these areas are bordered by 1 to 2 foot depths. We finally reached the cut at 2:15 and safely found our way out to the gulf, but we were still in a heavy fog for the next hour or two. Once the thick stuff disappeared we had several hours of blue skies and 1 to 2 foot wave action bouncing us around, bumpy but not to uncomfortable. Around 6:30 darkness had swallowed us like small gnats in a sea of stars, by 8:00 the Milky Way was again visible as a faint white river stretching across the heavens; this is when you lay on your back and pretend you're in a spaceship headed for new adventures in a place far far away. By 9:00 Kim and I were pulling shifts, one sleeps as the other drives... as I've mentioned before, Overtime does not have an autopilot which means someone is constantly manning the wheel as if driving a car. To make matters even more difficult, there is a lot of play in the wheel which means you can change course without the wheel moving, therefore you have to keep an eye on some target in front of you. My target for this trip through fog, darkness and open waters was Kharma, much thanks to our buddy boat for making our trip much easier, without a target we would constantly be over-correcting while using the chart plotter to keep on course, we would have made it but it would have been a lot of work. Morning light arrived shortly prior to the Sun's blinding glare obscured small round floating objects call “crab pots.” Actually the crab pots are laying on the gulf floor while small ropes keep each attached to floats for retrieval. We started seeing these balls/floats about 3 miles prior to reaching the channel (28.151063, -82.859128) which would lead us into Tarpon Springs and our destination, Turtle Cove Marina (28.152620, -82.762343). They are well known obstacles to boaters because if you run over one the rope will most likely wrap around your propeller shaft and screw your day up. Our approach to the channel had us heading directly into the Sun which made it nearly impossible to see the balls/floats. We took to a zigzag approach crossing the Sun's glare while looking for the little bastards, but they were in silhouette and as dark as the water they sat in. We managed to win the battle by keeping a slow pace and a sharp eye. After a slow ride through the channel leading back into Tarpon Springs with boaters who didn't know what “No Wake” actually means, we reached the marina. The time was 11:13 am on 12-29-16. It had been a 22 hour and 32 minute trip.... maybe, my math may be wrong because I'm very tired.

Kim's Korner:
The “jump” causes more anxiety for a looper than anything else. We have heard horror stories but ours went very well. We took our Dramamine in case we got sea sick and we were rocked quite a bit even though looking at the sea, it looked fairly smooth. Morning brought very calm seas which were very welcome. As many crab pots as we dodged, I'm expecting some really wonderful crab here! ...Pictures