We're in Clearwater Beach after cruising 185 miles across the Gulf all night in nice 1 ft waves most of the way and then a 2-3 ft chop for about 30 miles near Clearwater Beach. We left at 4 PM and arrived at 9 AM the next morning, which lets us maneuver the marked channels and get past the crab trap floats near shore during daylight hours. I couldn't expect better crossing conditions than we had last night.

Now the boat's washed, the dog's walked, we had a nap and we're here in beautiful Clearwater Beach. It's the kind of Florida I picture when I think "Florida".... georgeous palm trees, warm weather in winter, clear saltwater, and almost no bugs at all. This is the view from our bow at the beach marina.






When we left Apalachicols last evening, the dolphins came and surfed out wake and jumped merrily as if to see us off before sunset and our overnight cruise. Click this 15 second video and you can see two of them just having a great old time in our wake. The green can in the water is one of the last channel markers exiting "Government Cut" at Apalachicola.

There wasn't much of a sunset last night out on the Gulf, but we did get this nice pink glow just as one of the boats crossing the other way was coming in towards Apalachicola.








There wasn't much of a sunrise either, but we were sure glad to see it.













Tomorrow, we're cruising to my favorite marina: Marina Jack's in Sarasota. We'll be there for a week before we go to Marco Island.




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