Frisky day on Choctawhatchee Bay

Day 205 … Sat, Nov 11, 2017 … 31.1 miles … 4:15 hours

Ft Walton Beach, Fl to Choctawhatchee Bay, Fl

Happy Birthday, Liz Finkle!! We called to wish you a happy birthday, but you had company. Too busy to talk!! We’ll try you again later tonight.

Couple pics from sunset last night at Ft Walton Beach …

As the captain said … “it’s quite frisky out here, today”. You guessed it the weatherman was wrong about the wind. We were on a larger body of water for most of the day, the Choctawhatchee Bay, but the boat handled it well and we were comfortable.

You know it is too breezy when the kite boarders are out in full force.

Not much scenery today … but, a much better distance from passing tows!!

Our anchorage tonight is at the east end of Choctawhatchee Bay, but still in the bay and near the channel tomorrow to head further east to Panama City for 2 days. We are out of the marked channel and safe.

Cally’s shore dooty tonight is at a boat ramp up a creek with a couple piers. Very popular with fisherman to put in their boats, kids fishing from the pier and locals out for a stroll.

WOW … that was Close. Too Close!!

Day 204 … Fri, Nov 10, 2017 … 35.1 miles … 4:30 hours

English Navy Cove to Fort Walton Beach

Off east we go … scenery similar all day on the GICW; dunes to our south with the Gulf of Mexico on the other side. When there is a bridge crossing from mainland to the barrier islands there is a lot of commercial & residential property.

On the mainland (north side of Santa Rosa Sound) we passed today, the scene is consistently residential.

Several narrow areas to transit today. The first area, we see a tow waiting.

Rip guesses he is waiting on a tow to exit before entering the narrow passage as they can’t pass safely especially with turns. So, we slow down to wait, too. We do pass the waiting tow as we are faster than him, so we go first as to not have to pass him later. As the west bound tow comes out of the last turn into wider water, Rip hails him on VHF for passing instructions. We are cleared to pass and he thanks us for waiting, as”this area isn’t to be messed with”.

THEN … we are faced with another tow coming out of a narrow passage. Rip slows so we meet him in a wider area; hails him on the VHF and is told to “pass on the 1’s”. That means we pass port to port (left sides). The tow should hug the red buoys and we will hug the green buoys. EXCEPT, as we get closer and closer … we see the tow is fighting wind or current or both and there isn’t going to be room to pass between him and the green buoy. There is a sand bar and 1’ water outside of the green buoy; NOT an option! Rip slows & threads the needle down the side of the tow. The aft/stern of the last barge HITS the green buoy we are supposed to go between it and the tow. The stern of the tug pushing the barge clears the green buoy and we slip past …. pics below.

THAT WAS CLOSE!!

Not sure how he thought we could fit between him and the green buoy when he HIT the buoy. Gees. GREAT job RIP!!

I didn’t take pics of the barge hitting the green buoy as I didn’t want to distract Rip.

This floating restaurant/jet ski rental shop is right by the dock tonight. I wanted to go over in the dinghy for Mexican … just because we could; but, we have too much food on board (that needs to be eaten) to eat out.

Our stop today is Fort Walton Beach town docks … FREE!! A nice park for Cally and, should we chose Publix grocery store and restaurants within walking distance.

Cute statue at the park.

Ice Cream truck came to the park … DESSERT!!

Lab Partners as rest at the dock tonight!

We Made it to Florida! English Navy Cove at anchor.

Day 203 … Thurs, Nov 9, 2017 … 29.9 miles, 3:45 hours

The Wharf, Orange Beach AL to English Navy Cove, Gulf Breeze, FL

After a week at The Wharf, it was almost hard to leave. Great place, nice amenities, thoughtful & attentive staff plus great place for Cally to walk, play with friends and chase balls.

We left the slip;moved over to the fuel dock for a pump out … then on east we went.

Firestorm stayed at the dock … Laurie & Mike drove to their home on St Johns River to check on the house. Larry & April (One Eye Dog) have crossed their wake (finished their Loop) and are staying behind to sell the boat & head home to California for the holidays. I cannot believe we will not see OED until they start Loop #2 and come by our house. Not sure when, or which boat, that will be … but we will leave the light on for them. Then, we passed where Steve & Debbie (Gypsies Palace) are for another 4-5 days having work done on the boat.

A few times today we were only separated from the Gulf of Mexico by dunes …

buoy marking a shoaling point, with current ripping by; but we are in deep water as we pass by.

As we passed Pensacola, several jets & planes were out for training and giving us a show. Too far away to catch anything special with the camera, but it was fun. The Pensacola Air Show is this weekend, so lots of practice time for the fly boys & girls. Below are shots of the Death Spiral ….

Anchorage for the night is English Navy Cove, by a park with beach and boat ramp for Cally’s shore dooty.

First trip to shore, Rip scored dinner from a fisherman coming back to shore!!

It is cool today, almost cold. We started the day in drizzle, clouds broke thru before noon with bright sunshine. Clouds have overtaken the sky again. Back to dreary conditions for us for now.