US 331 Bridge Anchorage to Pirates Cove Marina

We departed the anchorage about 7:30 heading mostly southeast to the cypress swamp canal that links the Chochtawatchee Bay with West Bay, St Andrews Bay and Panama City. This route took us through the Grand Canyon of Florida an area where the canal banks exceed 30 feet pretty high for Florida. Once into West Bay we saw several dolphin playing and a few swam in our bow wave. We stopped at St Andrews Marina for fuel and then on to Pirates Cove Marina close to the Biltmore Beach. This afternoon we walked on the beach with clear skies and 85+ degree temperatures. We went to Schooners for a libation and some supper and watched the sun set. Because of the time change and because we are still in the Central Time Zone the sun set about 5:00, we finished our supper and drinks and were amazed to return to the boat by 6:15, I thought it was bedtime. All in all a beautiful day on the water and a great walk on the beach. 

The Cypress Swamp

Grand Canyon

Some Rock and some Sand

Trees and vegetation

Lots of Layers

Lots of Sand

Exiting the Canal

Dolphin Look close

Swimming in the Bow Wave

Just breaking water

Lots of Birds

Panama City Harbor

A new Crane Ship heading out for sea trials

Pirates Cove Marina, lots of room today

The Beach

Enjoying a libation!

Sunset at 5:00

Palafox Marina to US 331 Bridge Anchorage

Last night the rain and wind started hard about 3 am and we all woke up.  The boat rocked so hard that the rum locker even slid out of its normal spot, and we cannot tolerate that!  In any case the wind finally abated after an hour or so and we all got a little more shut eye before the early light woke us up (time change).  We shoved off about 8:15am in a slight drizzle, but it soon got much nicer and turned into a beautiful, and very calm, day.   We needed it - after much rain over the weekend, and a dreadful Packer loss on Sunday night.

This was a great day traveling and the kind of day you dream about, on those days when you are not lucky enough to be on the water.

We made 67 miles and anchored out in a very nice quiet anchorage on the east side of a causeway.  Carol whipped up a gourmet  BBQ dinner.   A really good day....... by Doug Timmel

Military Radar Dome on the barrier island

House on the barrier island

Highrise on the mainland

Local Marina

Cloud formations all day

Doug continues to complain about the stress of this trip, hmmm!

Another successful day!!

Pensacola

Lots of rain last night and all day today, a good day to be indoors. This morning we worshiped via podcast at our home church in Racine, Mt. Pleasant Lutheran Church, the podcast and bulletin is available online and we enjoy hearing and participating in the service. We spent the balance of the day at the National Naval Aviation Museum a favorite when we are in the panhandle. The museum has over 1000 planes and currently has about 80 full reconditioned planes on display that covers the entire history of flight. Some of the new exhibits include a 4D adventure with the Blue Angels. Tonight we are watching the Packer Bronco game, not going very well so far.

Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels

Restaurant from Cubi Point officers club in the Philippines

Air Squadrons stationed in the Philippines

Dennis tries a cockpit

Doug does his Nixon impersonation

Great displays of aircraft

Pensacola, FL

Happy Halloween from Pensacola Florida!

Dennis drove all the way to Panama City (200 miles RT) to get a replacement GPS, while Carol and Doug enjoyed a hot day in Pensacola.   We took a mid-morning stroll to the downtown Farmers Market which was about six blocks long.  It was filled with bakery, honey, vegetables, crafts, music, and friendly people.  Much was considered, but little was purchased - a pan of homemade cinnamon buns being the sole temptation.  But we did take some nice pictures and our favorite was the dachshund in costume. 

After that we did find the historic old town Pensacola which had a number of museums and restored homes and churches.  Although Pensacola was first founded in 1559 (!) the buildings dated from the late 1600s to 1880s.  Very nice with a great old fashioned town square with towering old chestnut trees.  

After that we did stick our heads in the Pensacola Museum of Art but did not visit due the fact that hunger called.  We ate at the coolest restaurant called Al Fresco of Pensacola which is a series of old Airstream trailers which are set up in a small park, like food trucks, and you eat outside.  The selection ranged from toasted cheese (Doug melted for these) to Shrimp tempura (Carol dove into these) and BBQ and Fish Tacos.   A fun meal in a great setting, and recommended by Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives TV show.  From there we walked back to the marina, and of course, an ice cream stop topped off the meal.

Back on the boat Carol and Doug read and took a nap from all the stress.  Dennis arrived with the new GPS (still did not work), the weather started kicking up so we decided to do the only thing we could, and go out to EAT.  We went to Shuks which, guess what, specializes in very fresh oysters and we slid quite a few down.  After that, we were lucky to be in town for a BOZ SCAGGS concert which was sold out.  Really a great show and an enthusiastic audience in a beautiful old theater, right downtown.. Boz played nonstop for almost two hours, which is not bad for a 71 year old rocker. Speaking of rockers, the boat is rocking pretty well tonight, and we are expecting hard rain and wind tomorrow, so we will stay here another night. Pensacola is a good stop and much is walkable from the Marina.  

 

Nice Costume

Beautiful Flowers

Performers at the Farmers Market

Doug getting trailer food

Boz Scaggs in Concert

The Wharf to Palafox Pier Marina, Pensacola, FL

We departed about 9:30 with quite an adverse tidal current keeping our speed down to 6.6 mph that would usually be 7.8 or so. Later in the day that effect would reverse and we would see 8.3 mph, tidal flow usually reverses about half way between openings depend upon their size. The two openings controlling the flow today were the Mobile Bay opening and the Perdido Key opening and later the Pensacola Bay Inlet. Lots of Navy Jets flying over the Bay as they practice flying together, Pensacola is the home of the Navy Flying Team, the Blue Angels. We arrived at Palafox Pier about 2:00, picked up a rental car for the weekend, and visited the downtown for a while. As we walked downtown and passed the Saenger Theater, Boz Scaggs is playing tomorrow night and three tickets were available, so we are going to a concert. We plan to be here until Monday we expect Sunday to be a rain day and we want to watch the Packer - Bronco Game Sunday night. There is a boat in the harbor called the Nor Goliath, a supply ship for oil rigs and other off shore tasks. It has a 70 meter boom and dwarfs anything else in the harbor,sleeps 314 people, has a workout center, a pool above the bridge, and a dining area that can serve 150 people. We watched a heron fishing here in the marina and saw him catch a fish by standing on a fender, extending his body downward and snatching a fish from the water, way cool. Tonight dinner was at Jaco's here in the marina, good food but a bit noisy. 

Crossing into Florida

Yep, Florida

Cleaning up from fishing

Still a little commercial traffic

The Naval Air Station

A new Littoral Combat Ship built in Mobile by Austal

Nor Goliath

A giant crane

The Old and the new

A pink fountain for Breast Cancer Awarness

Saenger Theater

Tomorrow night!!

Fishing is challenging 

It takes intense concentration and patience 

LuLu's to the Wharf at Orange Beach

We traveled about 3 miles today on the AICW to the Wharf Marina. This marina has changed quite a bit since our last visit in 2013, we are in the main part of the marina now directly in front of the large condo building and at the very end of the main street, with great access to town. Carol did some laundry and I discussed our transducer problem with several Garmin techs, we hope we have a solution and they will ship a second chartplotter in the next day or so. We did some retail therapy this afternoon and visited many of the quaint shops here at the Wharf. Tonight we ate on the boat with grilled pork tenderloin that was very tasty. We were surprised by a light show on the main street with music and a theme, it lasted for 15 minutes and a second show began about 15 minutes later, music and coreographed lighting, quite different. The Wharf would like to be a destination spot for both the locals and visitors alike and a new Marriot is being built here near the marina. The weather was clear, a bit of wind and nicely warm about 80 most of the day.

Across the canal from LuLu's

LuLu's from the AICW

The Wharf Marina

At Sunset

Main Street at the Wharf

The light and music Show

And even a Ferris Wheel

The Wharf