Clearwater Beach, Florida

After spending eight yummy days in Carrabelle, we took advantage of the weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico over to Clearwater Beach, Florida. Loopers aboard American Pie and One Bay At A Time left port an hour ahead of us, as their cruising speed was just a bit slower than ours.  The dinner plate sized jellyfish just below the water surface were so beautiful! Dolphins launching high into the air just off our bow were so stunning! The enormous sea turtle Charlie spotted was larger than any we've seen scuba diving in the Caribbean thus far! After a voyage of 174 NM, 20 hrs. and 50 minutes, we all arrived safely in Clearwater Beach, Florida. We are docked at Clearwater Beach Municipal Marina, Clearwater Beach, Florida.

I smoked Salsa for fellow Loopers.

Smoked some pulled beef for us.

Thank you, One Bay At A Time, for the thoughtful iced coffee to help keep our crew awake for this long journey!

Our flotilla for the Gulf crossing, One Bay At A Time, American Pie, and Plane 2 Sea just before heading out.

Buddy Looper, American Pie, leaving Port.

Buddy Looper, One Bay At A Time, leaving Port.

Calm seas entering the Gulf.

Amazing sunset at starboard.

Stunning colors of sunset along port side. These colors glowed for a very long time! So drastically different from our starboard view,....double bonus!

The horizon was aglow for at least 30 minutes.

We enjoyed complete darkness for almost two hours before the large moon, just short of full, lit up the ocean for the remainder of the overnight crossing. The milky way with billions of stars was stunning. The harvest moon rose and gave us light all night long. No photos could reproduce any of this.

I highly recommend iced coffee for this stretch!

Our buddy Looper, One Bay At A Time, at sunset.

Beautiful sunrise.

Our boat, Plane 2 Sea, at sunrise while crossing. (Photo taken by One Bay At A Time)

Very few crab pots if you stay 20 miles offshore then turn east and set heading to 90 degrees to Clearwater. Thank you, Skip (Platinum Looper) aboard Easy Water for this knowledge!

Land ho! Clearwater Beach, Florida is now in sight!

Florida's famous white sandy beaches!

Shark!!!!

Hello-Kitty Jet-Ski.

Our new neighbors this week. They were not shy at all on our dock post.

Buddy Looper, One Bay At A Time, coming into port.

20 hours and 50 minutes later, a well earned celebration! Thank you, Charlie for the thoughtful celebratory bottle of my favorite bubbly! Charlie was amazing today, as always! What an adventure! So crazy beautiful! Life is good!