Panama City Beach, Florida

Rock Chalk was lonely. We have been in Austin since early January, while the boat sat at Bay Pointe Marina in Panama City Beach, Florida, patiently waiting for our return.

While in Austin, we purchased a townhome in Lakeway. It is just across the 18th fairway from our old home that we sold in early 2011. But this is a much smaller home, where everything outside is maintained. So we can truly lock and leave to spend as much time as we want on the boat. Finally we have a place for all of our stuff, and it is a very comfortable place to come home to when we need it.

Now we are anxious to continue our Loop. All of the Class of 2011 Loopers are far ahead of us. We hear from them and most are in the Keys, or preparing to head to the Bahamas. But we intend on getting south over the next month, and we think we will catch up with many of them before they head off to new destinations.

Tomorrow our plan is to leave Panama City Beach and cruise 45 miles south to Appalachicola. Then from there we plan to move a short distance to Carrabelle where we will wait for a nice weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Tampa. It is 170 miles from Carrabelle to Clearwater, so even going fast, that trip will take 12-14 hours. To assure a noon to 2:00 pm arrival in Clearwater, that means we need to leave around midnight and cruise through the night and the next day. It should be fun and exciting, as this will be our first overnight passage of the Loop.

It is raining here today, and more is on its way. We need to let these fronts pass through and the Gulf settle down before we attempt this crossing. Unlike my sailboat passages in the past, you like the good wind and 5 ft. waves are no big deal. That would not be a very comfortable crossing for a power boat, so we will wait for winds less than 10 mph and the seas at 1-2 ft. Lets hope. I will keep you up to date.

Marc