Panama City to Apalachicola

We spent two nights at the PC City Marina, which was right next to the old section of town.  Wasn’t much happening at all in that part of town, so we walked to the few restaurants which were there.  Seems that everything has moved out to PC Beach.

At the eastern edge of St Andrews Bay, the
oystermen are using tongs to scoop the oyster beds.
A really hard way to make a living, but Sue's glad they do!

We did get our exercise walking about 4 miles to the county tax collector & back.  "What the heck for?", you ask.  Before we left New Orleans we finally scrapped the inflatable dinghy which was only 3 years old, but I had patched and sealed at least 4 dozen air leaks.  Since the Admiral refused to go to the Keys and Bahamas without a dinghy, we ran out to our favorite place to spend money (West Marine) and bought an inexpensive HDPE dinghy.  Even if it lasts only 2 years, it’s still a better deal than what we had.  But we had purchased it only days before we departed New Orleans, intending to title and register it whenever we could.  Panama City was the place.

A calm morning in Apalachicola, looking at the
US 98 Bridge over the ICW

Wednesday April 27 was windy (SE winds 15-20 mph), which was right on our bow, so we had 25 mph winds over the deck all day.  Luckily we traveled in the ICW, which was like a canal and river all the way to Apalach.  We have noticed that we’re not as hesitant about travel or docking conditions, as we were when we passed this way 3 years ago.  Maybe we have a bit more crusty salt on our skin.

Overlooking the Apalachicola River at sunrise

Obviously, a half dozen isn't enough!

We spent 2 nights in Apalachicola, eating lots of ersters, walking the eclectic shops in town, and preparing for our overnight crossing of the Big Bend “armpit” of Florida.  Looks like it will be a 20-hr run straight to Clearwater Beach.  These kinds of trips make the “pucker factor” increase exponentially.  Each crossing will be memorable, because it was either a trip through hell, or a stroll through heaven.

Back on the craft beer trail, we find the
Oyster City Brewing Company and their "flight of 8"

We found a botanical garden in Apalachicola
& noted this huge osprey nest at the top of the city's water tower.

UNDERWAY

After several days of heavy rains followed by several more days of high winds, King Neptune finally quit fussing & let the seas die down.  We saw our escape window from Seabrook boatyard in New Orleans & on Wednesday April 20 we turned in our landlubber ways in favor of our sea legs and a taste of salt air.

In the narrow ICW east of New Orleans, we
recognize this tow boat

We had Lady Luck on our side when the recalcitrant L & N Railroad Bridge rose up for our passage on our first call to the bridge tender.  That allowed us to travel the ICW to the Rigolets, which was several miles shorter that going out through Lake Pontchartrain. 

As we’re passing the tow boats along the narrow canal of the ICW, we recognize one of the tows boats as one we followed for several days down the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in years past.  You know you’ve been on the water a spell when you recognize the tows.  

A gaggle of pelicans waiting for their next meal

And then, as we entered Mississippi Sound, we passed a nice big Hatteras yacht that started to look familiar.  It turned out to be “Critical Mass” and some good friends from New Orleans Power Squadron, who were returning from a weather delay in Gulfport MS.  It started to seem like we knew most everyone we passed!

Crossing Mobile Bay, we meet one of the Navy's new
Littoral Combat Ships.  Using our radar, we tried to get
a bearing line (EBL), but our radar couldn't pick up a target
(can we all say "radar cloaking device"?)

We had planned to go to a Biloxi marina for the night, since our best friends from Chattanooga Power Squadron were at Keesler AFB tending to some medical issues, but we couldn’t make connections with them.  So instead, we continued on for over 100 miles total that day (and over 10 hours of travel) to anchor on the north side of Petit Bois Island, one of the barrier islands along the MS/AL coastline.

We crossed Mobile Bay the next day, and King Neptune kept things very calm for us.  We enjoyed the nice travel weather & anchored at a new cove which we hadn’t tried before (this is our 2^nd time passing through these waters, so we are looking for some new places).  We’ve been using our new anchoring bridle, a high-class, expensive addition which we thought would allow us to sleep better at night.

And, or course, we had to pass Lulu's near Gulf Shores
(Lucy Buffet, Jimmy's sister).  We didn't stop this time
for a cheeseburger in paradise.

We found some dolphins near Perdido Pass
(or did they find us?)

At the Pensacola Palafox Pier marina

On Day 3 we made Pensacola Palafox Pier marina, where we had stayed in April 2013.  We had the restaurants and beer pubs and farmers’ market all scoped out for our 2-day visit.  A serendipitous treat was the front-row fireworks show on Saturday night after the minor league baseball game (the Pensacola Wahoos) right next to the marina.

Weekends in Pensacola bring out some strange folks

At Ft Walton Beach, the locals are enjoying a
sunny Sunday afternoon

From Pensacola to Panama City was a 2-day trip through familiar territory.  When we were stationed in Pensacola in the military, Sue’s brother was stationed in Panama City, so we made this trek by car several times.  The powder white sand beaches were still gorgeous, but the Sounds were not as clear blue as 3 years ago.  Maybe the high winds had stirred up too much mud & silt.

Of note, when I refer to our travel notes from 3 years ago, we were buying diesel fuel for $4.00-$4.50/gallon, and happy to do so.  Today in Panama City, we paid only $1.96/gal (however, we took on about 200 gallons!)

After Panama City, we’ll head east to Apalachicola to eat some oysters (OK, maybe a lot of oysters) as we plan our big 20-hour overnight open water crossing of Florida’s Big Bend area.  When we did this crossing 3 years ago, we had a terrible trip.  This time, we have many more miles under our keel & the hopes of a fantastic weather window.

What’s Happening

Since Christmas, it’s amazing how busy we can be since we no longer have jobs!  But I guess that our “hole in the water” is actually a full-time job.

We made our trips to Chattanooga TN and to Ashland OH to care for Sue’s mother and uncle.  And there’s on-going communications & corrections to their medical and financial affairs.  So that accounts for SOME of Sue’s time.

I get to work through our TO DO list on the boat, starting with over 100 items for this past winter.  We got through the priority items and actually were able to work on some lower items such as cosmetic repairs.  And, of course, we hauled out the boat for bottom paint and an out-of-water survey for our insurance company.  And found the obligatory “OH CRAP” items to spend even more money and time in the yard.

Colorful CAT engine when I'm cleaning and painting it!

"Fruition" on the hard again.  My hole-in-the-water costs more
when it's out-of-the-water

One problem we found was a big crack in the fiberglass just above the
waterline, where either Sue or I (I'm not saying which) hit a log or debris.

But the main reason we spent the winter in New Orleans was to see our super wonderful perfect granddaughter (and her parents of course) & to try our best to spoil her.  Yes, she’s growing quickly (or are WE just getting older faster?)

At Mardi Gras World, we find two more revelers!

The Festival of Balloons, where EVERYTHING is made of balloons,
even Captain Hook.  Amazing stuff

Mardi Gras headress at the Festival of Balloons

And then it was time to start getting ready to go cruising.  Finish up the boatyard work, pay the bill (we almost had to sell our first-born child!), provision the boat, and watch for a weather window (the weather this winter has been cool and very windy).  Hadn’t spent the time I wanted on trip planning, but we’ll start out following the same path east that we did 3 years ago.  And after a week of lousy weather, the window finally opened.

At our winter marina, we prepare for yet another winter cold front
and high winds.  7 dock lines tied to this piling.

Our "last supper" in New Orleans...boiled crawfish, fried shrimp po'boy
from Parkway Bakery, and Barq's root beer (created in New Orleans)