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Our Gulf Crossing was fantastic and smooth. The last two crossing's we made were done in a 20 hour run. This year we did the crossing in two days. The first run was from Tarpon Springs to Cedar Keys, a 70 mile run. The second day was from Cedar Keys to Dog Island, just outside of Carrabelle, a 116 mile run. This is how flat and calm the gulf was. It was certainly a nice run to end this part of the journey. 
On our second day of the Gulf Crossing, we picked up a couple of "hitch hikers". The white bird circled our boat about 4 times before landing on the bow. She/he stayed with us for 50 miles. The little black and orange bird was all over the place. She/he landed on Jess's head and sat right next to my leg on the flybridge. We had swatted alot of flys while underway (and I never believed I would do this) but I collected them and fed the bird. The bird just set there and let me put them down right in front of her/him. Pretty cool and very entertaining. 
When we made our Gulf Crossing, we went through Apalachicola heading west to Panama City. There's a restaurant in Apalachicola that has the "best" fried oysters! There is a stretch of waterway that goes through "cypress and low swampy area" called Harrison Swamp. Very beautiful area. 
There is 16 miles of transit through a landcut known to some as the "Grand Canyon". This is between Panama City and Destin, Florida. It's very narrow but very pretty. 
Perdido Key, Florida. Our marina that we stayed at was right next door to this beach/condos on the ICW. We were able to visit my sister Cathy and her friends. They hosted a great "crawfish-boiled shrimp" dinner for us and loaned us her car to replenish the boat. 
We just left the Industrial Lock entering the Mississippi River. New Orleans is in the background. We had an "incident" in the Industrial Lock (a 10ft. lift). As we were securing our lines, the bow was swinging out from the wall (wind and current) and the lockmaster released our bow line. Jess tried to swing the bow back to the wall but the current/wind was to strong. The boat made a 90 degree turn in the lock. I screamed to the lockmaster to release our stern line (fear of cleat ripping from the boat) and when he released it, we went back out of the lock and came back in. Second try was good but we were so frustrated and embarrassed. I told the lockmaster that we looked pretty stupid....he replied "what makes you think so". HA HA HA. We cruised five miles to the Harvey lock which takes you back to the ICW. Our highest cruising speed going "up river" was 4.5 mph. Plus, our port engine overheated so we had to run one one engine. Then, we had to hold the boat in the Mississippi River for two hours waiting to get into the Harvey Lock. Not a pleasant day at sea. 
St. Ann's Cathedral in the French Quarter. My mother was born in the French Quarters and years later lived right down the street from the Cathedral. 
We are cruising through Larose, La. There are so many boat yards along the ICW that repair - paint the huge boats that go offshore to rigs. Pretty impressive. We are getting closer to Texas and I will do one last blog when we arrive in Port Aransas. If all goes well, we should arrive in Port Aransas May 15th or 16th. It has been so much fun, incredible journey but we are so excited to get back home to family. 
