Tarpon Springs at Long Last!

Yesterday turned out to be a cold, damp day.  So we didn't go swim with the manatees.  We fueled up the boat, took showers, and got ready to go.  We left Crystal River.  We anchored outside of the channel that leads to the Crystal River power plant.  There's a jetty on the north side of the channel that blocked any waves headed our way.  So we had a breezy night, but felt pretty secure.  After the wind died around 10:00, we slept like babies.
Got up before the sun this morning.  We were ready to make the final run to Tarpon Springs.  Pulled up anchor and headed out.  Pulled up the sails, and the GPS told us we were going 7.4 mph!  Oh boy!  We turned south and tried to use our whisker pole to keep the jib out (otherwise it flopped around).  At one point, we had to turn more west to avoid shallows.  This put us at a different angle to the wind.  Apparently it put too much strain on the whisker pole, and one of the end fittings snapped.  Couldn't believe it.  But we managed to sail just fine the rest of the day without it.  It would have been nice to use it the last part of the day.  The wind slacked off and wasn't enough to keep the jib full.  It just dangled there all sad until we took it down.  We averaged 7 mph for most of the day.  We were psyched!  We estimated it would take about 11 hours to get here, but it only took us 9!  How awesome is that!?
There is one drawback to going so fast.  Hard to believe, I know.  Remember when we were towed into St. Marks, and the wake rode up our transom, over the drain holes, and right into the cockpit?  Well, with the following sea and high speed today, the same thing happened.  We were going too fast!  We never had more than an inch or so, and we were happy to put up with that for the speeds we were getting. 
And we had dolphins!  So many dolphins!
The final leg of the Gulf crossing is complete.  The next 150 miles will be ICW, which means protection.  If we can average 52 miles a day until Dec 27, we can still make it to Marathon on time for Christmas in the Keys.  We can do it!
We're so happy to finally be here!  We left Apalachicola 2 weeks ago, expecting to be here in 4 days.  We never imagined it would take so long.  Engine trouble and uncooperative weather have delayed us 10 days.  But hey, we have stories.  And memories are made of the times that went wrong, not the uneventful ones.  I wouldn't mind if the next week were uneventful, though.  I'd love nothing more than to bore you to tears.
Cheers!  Southbound tomorrow!