When a boat does a crossing, it means it traveled from point A to point B across a body of water. Most of the time you think of a crossing as being a long distance by miles. For instance the crossing from Key West to Cancun or Turks and Caicos to Puerto Rico. But time can make a crossing long as well. We had been sitting in Key west waiting for the weather to calm in order to work our way back to St Pete. Yesterday the winds were the calmest they were going to get for the next 5 days so we went. The issue we had was the choppy seas left over from the gusty winds the day before. It would normally not have been an issue but the fact that we were towing a boat less than half our size hindered our ability to run at a seed that put us out ahead of our spray. We maintained a slow speed of 15-17 kts to ensure the tender we were towing did not purpose or bunny hop to bad behind us. The tender towed great at that speed but the sea spray was horrible on us. Every inch of the Blue Heaven was covered with a layer of salt. I tried to take a picture to show what it is like but the bouncing of the boat and the salt spray only showed a blur. The seas and wind in Florida bay kept its reputation. By the time we made it to Ft Myers the winds subsided and the seas layed out nice. The usual 7 hour trip became an 11 hour trip. By the time we made it to Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa bay, It was beautiful. We pulled in the tow line and the mate ran the Blue too the rest of the way home. The sun was setting to the west as I rounded the pins ( channel markers) of Passe Grille just in time to get a great shot of the sun setting in my wake. We got to the dock and did a 10 cent wash to knock off most of the salt. We were tired and I wanted a real shower. I think I showered for an hour to get all the salt out of my hair. ( sorry no pics)
Today we have been washing the boat for 3 hours and its still not done. Woooooo hooooooo Lots to do. I think we will start our project list on Monday.
When a boat does a crossing, it means it traveled from point A to point B across a body of water. Most of the time you think of a crossing as being a long distance by miles. For instance the crossing from Key West to Cancun or Turks and Caicos to Puerto Rico. But time can make a crossing long as well. We had been sitting in Key west waiting for the weather to calm in order to work our way back to St Pete. Yesterday the winds were the calmest they were going to get for the next 5 days so we went. The issue we had was the choppy seas left over from the gusty winds the day before. It would normally not have been an issue but the fact that we were towing a boat less than half our size hindered our ability to run at a seed that put us out ahead of our spray. We maintained a slow speed of 15-17 kts to ensure the tender we were towing did not purpose or bunny hop to bad behind us. The tender towed great at that speed but the sea spray was horrible on us. Every inch of the Blue Heaven was covered with a layer of salt. I tried to take a picture to show what it is like but the bouncing of the boat and the salt spray only showed a blur. The seas and wind in Florida bay kept its reputation. By the time we made it to Ft Myers the winds subsided and the seas layed out nice. The usual 7 hour trip became an 11 hour trip. By the time we made it to Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa bay, It was beautiful. We pulled in the tow line and the mate ran the Blue too the rest of the way home. The sun was setting to the west as I rounded the pins ( channel markers) of Passe Grille just in time to get a great shot of the sun setting in my wake. We got to the dock and did a 10 cent wash to knock off most of the salt. We were tired and I wanted a real shower. I think I showered for an hour to get all the salt out of my hair. ( sorry no pics) 
Today we have been washing the boat for 3 hours and its still not done. Woooooo hooooooo Lots to do. I think we will start our project list on Monday. 
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