I took foul weather gear but didnt need it till we got just south of Louisiana and a cold norther blew through. (I was comfortable in 45 degree Virginia wearing shorts) The lovely perfect calm of the first week down the East coast from the Chesapeake was the opposite of what we got in the Gulf crossing. When the front blew through we got 30+mph winds (with some big gusts) along with 10 foot seas. One night the seas were breaking over the top of our cockpit roof. In the distance you can see the many bright lights of an oil rig standing a hundred feet tall above the Gulf. Then a massive wave rolls up and everything goes black as it blocks your view. Next it either lifts the boat up and rolls it on it's side as it passes under her, or crashes down on the deck. One particularly massive wave hit the top side of the hardtop roof and sent a 'bucket worth' of water inside all over me. An eye opener in the pitch dark at ten pm.
This photo is our radar when we got close to Galveston. Each blip is another boat we had to dodge. It got a little intense for a few hours.
note: I apologize for the batteries dying on the SPOT during our crossing. I replaced my 4 triple AAA's before this trip and they just died. The 'funny' thing was that Rod's (second spot) had his batteries die the day prior. Rod's spot died and I watched him change batteries. (I 'knew' I was ok because I had fresh batteries.) then the next day my spot started blinking funny and we figured out MY batteries were dying. what we didnt realize was, mine died for two days. So, EVERYONE I am now aware it was a time of tension ashore while you all figured it out. On the boat, there was zero tension and a calm blissful ignorance throughout.
