Pensacola to Apalachicola

Friday, November 14, 2014

Bright sunshine makes a world of difference after a day of cold wind and rain. It was still cold and windy but we were ready to move on. The wind was from the north and as long as we were headed south out of Pensacola Bay we were fine, meeting up with our travel companions for the day on Raydiance.

But when we turned to the east to enter the ICW the waves came on our beam and we rolled a bit. Suddenly everything that wasn’t fastened down or already on the floor, landed there. It was a good shakedown, literally, to remind us how we have to prepare for rough conditions.

Approaching the bridge to Pensacola Beach -
yes, those are whitecaps
 

 The rest of the trip was uneventful and pleasant as we went through the ICW to the town of Fort Walton Beach. We headed up the bay and spent the night at the small marina at Eglin AFB at Bens Lake. Raydiance came with us and we played a domino game of Mexican Train after dinner.

Captain’s Log November 14, 2014

Departed: Pensacola Shipyard, FL 7:50 a.m.
Engine hours: 7.1 hrs.
Actual hours: 6 hr. 20 min.
Miles covered 50.06   
Arrived: Bens Lake, Eglin AFB Marina 2:10 p.m.
Nice cruise though a little rolling crossing Pensacola Bay, but got a Blue Angels send off when they flew right over our boat!
Wx: Very cool morning 34 degrees, clear, wind north 15-20 – decreased to 10 while docking at destination

Saturday, November 15 - Tuesday 18, 2014

We left by ourselves the next morning because our friends weren't going very far and they wanted to leave later. We were headed for Panama City and as we got in the bay we met another boat, Sundowner, with John and Karen on board, which was going there also. It turned out to be a very nice day and we had a great cruise.

Leaving Bens Lake just after sunrise
 

 

We have entered the "Big Ditch" part of the ICW on the way to
Panama City
 

 Captain’s Log: November 15, 2014

Departed: Bens Lake, Eglin AFB Marina, FL 7:00 a.m.
Engine hours: 8.1 hr. – 62.91 statute miles
Actual hours: 8 hr.   
Arrived: Panama City Marina, FL 3:00 p.m.
Wx: 35 degrees at departure, clear skies, NE wind 1-2’ quartering on the bow. Day gradually warmed to 65 degrees, wind died, skies stayed clear.

The day after we got to Panama City a cold front went through and we experienced some of the coldest weather on the trip. We stayed two days longer than we had planned but there was no hurry as There was no opportunity for us to cross the Gulf yet due to the high winds.

Our mascot, Chris Croaker, had to wear a scarf when it got so cold
 

The dock fingers at Panama City Marina were very narrow and I always felt as if I was walking the plank - not to mention the huge piling you had to get around to get to the end.

The wind was blowing so hard that the flag was right out straight and
we really had to bundle up
 

After dinner at the Mexican restaurant - dressed for the walk back
 

All of us transients at the marina decided to go out to a local restaurant for dinner. With the wind chill it was a cold walk into the old part of town but the spicy food and good company warmed us up.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

It was still cold when we left Panama City, but the winds had died down and we took the ICW all the way into Apalachicola.

We encountered a house being propelled along
 

Captain’s Log: November 19, 2014

Departed: Panama City 7:05 a.m.
Engine hours: 7.8
Actual hours: 7 hrs.  55 min
Nautical miles covered: 61.52
Arrived: Apalachicola, FL, Water Street Hotel & Marina 3:00 p.m.
Wx: cool, clear, on departure, 30 degrees, winds NE at 10- nice cruise, no issues, had tide pushing us most of day til last 2 hours

A few photos from the marina at Apalachicola:

Before sunrise, taken from the bow of our boat
with our neighbor's dinghy ready on it's davits
 

Reeds across the river at sunrise
 

A shrimp boat pulling into the river on a very calm morning
 

There are lots of pelicans nearby
 

Today is November 23 and we are still waiting for a break in the weather with calm seas so we can cross the 170 miles over the Gulf to Dunedin on the Florida west coast. We plan to do it in a 22 hour overnight trip so conditions have to be ideal.

The first couple of days were nice here and we did a lot of walking and exploring. We are in a lovely place in Apalachicola, have been eating good seafood, more of our looper friends are gathering and we are trying to make the best use of our time. It looks like we will be here at least four more days, through Thanksgiving, and as soon as this stormy weather passes we will be on our way.

Today a line of thunder storms passed through and there was a tornado watch but nothing came of it. Will keep watching the gulf weather buoys and wind reports and we hope to have a whole flotilla when we leave.