Gulf Crossing

We've made the crossing many times before but each passage is unique.  This crossing was not the worst nor the best.  We started off with a light wind but coming from a good direction for motor sailing.  We both prefer to sail only but taking 3 days to cross with weather coming didn't seem prudent.  Alas, as we came farther across the gulf the wind dropped off even further and shifted causing the waves to also come from a different direction.  This confluence of conditions led to a rocky-rolly motion.  While this might be nice when gently rocking a cradle, not so nice on a boat!  This lasted for about another 16 hours but finally things improved and we were able to sail the last 5 hours in relative comfort.  The saving grace of this crossing were the milky way on full display and Blue Moon being the play toy of several large pods of dolphins.  The moon set early so we both gaped at the brillian display of constellations.  We stood short, two hour watches so we were able to track the movement of the stars across the sky.  Of course, sunrises and sunsets at sea are spectacular, especially with no storm clouds on the horizon.  We came in well after dark after about 32 hours out.  Ordinarily that is not a smart thing to do but the way in is well lit with bouys and we are familiar with St. Joseph's Bay.  We went straight to a lee shore, dropped anchor and gratefully went to sleep.

You can see how close the dolphin come to the boat.  We'll have 5 or more playing
in the bow wave.  Several gave us a good show by jumping high in the air.

It's so hard to capture the beauty of these mamals.  That wake in the water is from
its tail.

I will never tire of these magnificant creatures.  BTW, the yellow line running down the side of the boat are
called jack lines.  When offshore we always wear our life jackets and use tethers to clip ourselves
to the lines that run from the bow back to the cockpit.  That way a sudden shift of the boat doesn't throw us
overboard. 

Clear skies let us practice our sextant work.  I took the sights and David
worked the problem.  We came within 7 miles of our actual location which is
actually pretty good using the Local Area Noon method.

No green flash but it was our treat to watch.  This was our second sunset this crossing

This range mark really lit up the night on our approach to where we anchored.
It looks so different in the daylight!