The crew of Sunny Ray just crossed the Gulf of Mexico and arrived at Anclote Key Thursday morning the 7th of June. We were exhausted! We left Port Aransas, Texas on Memorial Day, the 28th of May.
We were entertained by many groups of dolphins. These were about 3 days out from Port Aransas. The kids named these 4. They stayed and played in our bow wake for quite awhile until they were distracted by a dead fish on floating seaweed.
Oil rigs dotted the horizon in Texas and then near Louisiana, it was dominated by them. The oil rig complexes were cityscapes in themselves. About the 4th day out Dan & I, being pretty tired, decided to head towards Lousisiana just below New Orleans to find a place to anchor. That night Dan danced around thunderstorms on his watch, avoiding all of them. In the morning we saw our first funnel cloud starting to form.
Fortunately, it went the other way. We continued north til about 50 miles away from the coast and with the tons of traffic, oil rig obstacles and not many definite anchorage possibilities, we headed back out to sea. That was stress relief! The next day was wonderful sailing. And then, we were becalmed.
We finally hit the blue, blue water when all oil rigs were out of sight. So blue it looked purple to me. Dan took a picture of the water and you can see the trampoline on the boat...
The water was so very clear.
Dan and Ray caught an amberjack(?) tuna! Yum Yum.
Then, the next day, Dan caugt a wahoo and let it go. This tuna and the smaller one caught the day before has provided us much pleasant dining. John, the 2 biggest were caught on the pink lures you gave Dan. Thank you!
The next evening.... we caught the current! I felt like I was flying through the desert because there was nothing but slightly wrinkly waves on either side and we were going fast! It was wonderful to have the moonlight and hope we will always be able to plan for that on crossings.
Moon Goddess
Three days away from Florida is when thunderstorms started cropping up. The first hit us by surprise with all our sails up. We ditched them in a hurry and haven't found anything broken yet. After the first 3 minutes of incredible gusts, it calms down. We got to experience being in about 5 storms in those 3 days. The boat makes so many eerie noises when it is heaving and lurching around. Dan thought he heard the radio when it wasn't on several times. I kept hearing people call me. The kids are real troopers. They did not complain about the motion. They were very helpful. Ray is getting the hang of the sequence of setting sail and all the maintenance of sail. Dale has shown herself to be a natural in steering. She really likes to bark orders too!
My sailor kids
Thunderstorms make for extra special sunsets
The wind created by the storms benefited our progess. As you can tell by Dan's happiness.
Sailing and sailing along
After the first storm, I notice Dan' glass he keeps by the helm, was half- full. Dan's water collection system. Works pretty good.
Right now we are in a very nice marina, called the Port Tarpon Marina. Today we took the dingy Olivia upriver to downtown where the yummy Greek restaurants are and all the natural sponges hanging everywhere.
Well, now there are more repairs to do. We hope to head down to St. Pete soon. Then to Ft. Myers to see my wild and wonderful Aunt Jeanne Powder and fabulous cousins. And on to the East side...
Catch you soon. We miss you all!
Marty
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