Is it really the holiday season if you’re not a little exhausted and running on fumes? Despite our big accomplishment of crossing the Gulf last week, we had a dock waiting for us at a great price in Cape Coral so that we could drive home for the holidays. The only catch? It was three full days of cruising away. 

Even after pulling into Tarpon Springs at 11 p.m., we were up raising anchor and on the move by 10 a.m. the next morning. Our goal destination for the day was Gulfport, which is just south of Tampa, setting us up nicely to cross Tampa Bay the following day. We knew right away we were back on the Florida Intracoastal Waterway due to the nonstop boat wakes that knocked over our small Christmas tree more than once. We laughed because that tree survived the entire Gulf crossing, only to be defeated by a single big ICW boat wake.

That night, we celebrated our Gulf crossing with a nice dinghy ride through waterfront backyards decked in Christmas decor and a delicious meal at Tiki Docks. It was just enough of a pick-me-up before our 60-mile move the next day. 

We started the day by crossing Tampa Bay, which can definitely be rough on a bad weather day, but we made it through unscathed. The rest of the day was uneventful and brought us to Englewood, where we anchored again for just one night. Unfortunately for us, the wind picked up rather quickly overnight, and we were unable to cross Charlotte Harbor (which is similar in size to Tampa Bay). Instead, we spent an evening exploring Boca Grande, a barrier island in southwest Florida. 

After a short rest day, we crossed Charlotte Harbor, which still had some residual wind waves, making it a less-than-smooth ride. Nevertheless, we persisted and finally arrived at our reserved dock, where Northern Attitude would be stationed for the next two weeks. 

We’ve since made the drive back home to Iowa, where we’re thoroughly enjoying all the family time. It was fun driving through Paducah, Kentucky, and Peoria, Illinois — both of which we crossed a few months ago along the Loop route. 

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday, and we can’t thank you enough for tuning into our posts each week this year! Cheers to continuing the adventure!