Shortly after the New Year boating friends from points north began arriving here on the Gulf coast (via car) to escape the winter for a bit. Many of the Pier 5 gang from GTB come down and it was great to see them all for a bit. Other friends are "future loopers" Ed & Kyle who are down along with Kyle's parents. They have an awesome condo on the beach and we had dinner there one night.
One last dinner and sunset at the Tiki bar and it's time to pry ourselves away from Orange Beach (for now).
We left for Sandestin on the 18th as planned....maybe that should have been a clue. The forecast was for light winds with fog burning off by 0900. We moved to the fuel dock to top off and, sure enough, the fog was gone when we left. We still hit a few patches along the way but it wasn't bad all the way to and across Pensacola bay. Approaching the bridge to Pensacola Beach I could see the fog developing ahead and hoped it wouldn't last too long.
About an hour later this was our view.....
And things didn't improve at all for the rest of the day. This was our first time operating this long on only instruments....a bit stressful to say the least. One good thing was (I kept telling myself) no other fool is out here today without running AIS. For the most part that turned out to be true. We did meet a tow that had gotten a bit out of the channel and run aground!! We crept by at dead slow to be sure we were well out of the way. We could hear his engines before we ever saw the barge. All in all between radar and charts we did fine and pulled up to a free dock at Fort Walton Beach ready for a beer!
Our goal for the weekend was Sandestin FL where looper friends Melissa & Tim have their boat, Near Miss. We got in on Friday with the plan of staying 2 nights but the weather forecast wasn't looking good (again). The storms that passed through the south last weekend came through this area. Choctawatchchee Bay runs west-east and can get stirred up quite a bit in winds from the west.
They took us to a local watering hole on Sunday to watch the Packers playoff game. This place is a huge Packer bar with everyone (except us) wearing green and gold. I understand we are no longer welcome there after the outcome.....
We had great fun on the visit and didn't mind the 2 extra nights at all. We left Tuesday morning under much better conditions.
On the way west we decided to stay at The Wharf complex since the price is good and it gives us an easy run to Mobile Bay. We got in on Wednesday afternoon and found that GTB friends were playing at the Hot Spot that night...what are the chances?!?
One downside from all these snowbirds is they bring down the northern germs....Jill came down with a cold about the day we left and it finally got to me 2 days ago. Our planned 2 night stop at the wharf is now on day 5. We both seem to be getting better but the run to Biloxi is a long day and we don't want to be "out there" feeling bad. The winds should be dropping overnight and with any luck (and a good nights sleep) we'll be on our way by 0730 CST...or Tuesday...who knows.
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