Little Sabine Bay / Pensacola Beach

Thursday morning at about 6:15 the generator quit. I tried to start it but it died right away again. This usually means it has overheated. I made a quick trip to the cockpit and discovered the mass migration of jellyfish that was happening right under us. I've never seen so many jellyfish in my life. In every 10 seconds, six or eight jelly fish floated by. Yep, the sea strainer was full of jellyfish. Susan and I cleaned it out and by then the generator had cooled down enough to restart. One hour later it shut itself down again. Four more jellyfish in the strainer. We needed to get going anyway.

Mike the diesel mechanic had arranged for some guys to help us unload the outboard motor so another mechanic could see what damage was done by being underwater during the big storm. We met them and dropped off the motor and then started motoring back across Pensacola Bay to Little Sabine Bay where we intended to stay the night. On the way there Susan called around and found someone to fix the bimini. They met us at a marina in Little Sabine Bay and took all the canvas off. From there we went just a bit farther into the bay and anchored. This bay is indeed little and the majority of it, in the middle, is not more than a foot deep. People paddle board or row out there and then walk around. There is one corner that is deep enough for a sailboat to anchor.

Our first attempt to anchor wasn't a success. It just didn't feel like the anchor was holding well and we were in the middle of the channel a bit. We moved to a better spot and tried again with more success. Storms were coming again and we weren't real comfortable about the anchor so Susan suggested we set a second anchor. We hadn't ever done that before but I sure felt better sleeping last night knowing we wouldn't likely drag the anchor. Speaking of, I downloaded an app for my iPhone that notifies you if you move outside some parameters you set. It's called Drag Queen. Isn't that cool.

Once we were settled in and the thunderstorms were mostly gone the generator shut itself off again. This time it was sea grass. The strainer was stuffed full of it. And not just the strainer, it was from the sea cock all the way to the strainer. It took us a good 30 or 45 minutes to get all the grass out of there. No more issues so far but I saw some sea grass floating by a bit ago when I was up on deck.

Remember me saying I was sleeping well last night with the help of Drag Queen and two anchors? At 4:15 this morning the Drag Queen alarm went off. That's not an alarm where you just hit "snooze" and go back to sleep. I poked my head outside and determined we were just swinging the opposite direction than from last night, we weren't dragging the anchor. I reset the parameters on Drag Queen and eventually got back to sleep.

Today we got our canvas back and put it up. We walked over to Pensacola Beach and enjoyed the white sand beach and the clear water. We hadn't gone prepared to swim but we did anyway. It was wonderfully refreshing. On the way back we stopped at the Sandshaker for an original Bushwacker. The annual Bushwacker Festival is this weekend so we may be making our way back a few times. Today, but before the Bushwackers, Susan went up the mast in the bosun's chair again. The flag halyard was showing a lot of wear, as were the flags.  Not surprising after the wind we've had since we've been here. Susan replaced the flag halyard and we held off putting flags back up because we were supposed to get more thunderstorms tonight but it looks like they have all missed us.

The dinghy outboard is at a mechanic, hopefully we'll get it back on Monday so then once the weather cooperates we can head east again. That's it for now.

Take care.
Brian

Pictures from the National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola

We had some import issues with our water maker as it came from Trinidad and I didn't have a tax ID number, seems your social security number isn't enough. We got to the museum at 9:30 but had to leave again to get paperwork submitted. We got back just after 11:00 and stayed until they closed at 5:00. Six hours was not near enough time to see all we wanted to see.

 President George H. W. Bush trained in this plane, hence the 41 painted on the side.

Welcome home Daddy!

Part of the Flight Line Tour

Back inside with the Blue Angels.

Scary Day

Yesterday we went to the National Naval Aviation Museum here in Pensacola. It is definitely a "don't miss" place. We pretty much spent all day and still didn't see and do it all. Other than a few simulator rides and the IMax theater that shows four different films throughout the day, it is all free. I have some pictures that I'll share in the next day or so but for now I'm going to jump to today's excitement. We had to return our rental car at noon today so we hurried around and got some last minute shopping done. Went back to the tackle store to get a few more things, stopped by Joe Patti's to buy some more fresh fish and shrimp and stopped by the marina office to pick up the water maker and some other packages. Briefly on Joe Patti's... If you are ever in Pensacola, Joe Patti's fish market is both an experience and a great place to buy fresh fish and shrimp. Car returned to Enterprise. Never knew how Enterprise got its name. The owner of Enterprise flew jets off the USS Enterprise. Besides naming his car rental company after the Enterprise he has donated more than $3 million to the Naval Aviation Museum in order to have several exhibits built, including the one of the USS Enterprise. Besides that, they'll pick you up. And they did. So we loaded our goodies on the boat, filled up with fresh water, stopped by the fuel dock to pump out and we were on our way for our short trip to where we were going to anchor tonight. From then on things didn't go so well. As can happen, in a blink of an eye a strong thunderstorm built up and headed our way. We were pretty much in the middle of Pensacola Bay when it hit us. We were motoring and I was going slow but keeping the bow pointed into the wind. The wind was blowing about 40 knots and then all of a sudden it changed direction and came from the starboard side at about 50 kts. I couldn't get pointed into the wind fast enough and the wind pushed us over at about a 45 degree angle. There wasn't much for us to do but hold on and watch the wind rip our bimini in several places. Lightning strikes were all around us and very close. At one point I lost all my electronics except the radio, not that I could hear anything anyway. To say we were scared would be an understatement. The entire storm probably didn't last more than 30 minutes with the worse part being only 10 but it felt like hours. Once the worst was over we looked back and saw we were dragging our dinghy upside down. Somewhere in the worst of the wind it flipped over. For the longest time we thought the outboard motor was gone, at the bottom of the bay, but when we finally were able to regroup we saw it was still attached to the dinghy. It probably spent an hour upside down and under water before we got the dinghy flipped back over. We took the outboard off the dinghy and put it on the mount on the boat, gave it a fresh water shower under the cowling, filled the crankcase with as much oil as it would hold, took the sparkplugs out and filled the cylinders with WD40, Hopefully that will save the engine from any saltwater that did get in. To be honest, I'm not sure any water got in the motor but I don't see how it couldn't have. The very good news is we are fine. The good news is the boat is fine and didn't fail us in our hour of need. The fact that we need some outboard motor and canvas repair is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Oh, we did also lose the dinghy gas tank. Once all was taken care of we grilled shrimp on the barby for dinner. The sunset wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. That's it for now. Take care. Brian

Pensacola Blue Wahoos

This morning our mechanic did show up and we worked for several hours but ended up not having everything we needed to be able to get the exhaust hoses like we want them. The good news is they aren't in as bad shape as we thought so we're not having to replace everything. Mike, the mechanic, (as opposed to Mike and the Mechanics) is coming back Tuesday night so we can finish up the job. It changed our plans around some but not a big problem. We're going to stay at the marina until Wednesday now.

Susan, as some of you may know, is a huge baseball fan. Just so happens Pensacola has a Cincinnati Reds AA affiliate team, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. The stadium is within 15 minutes walking distance from the marina. Today there was a 4:00 game against the Biloxi Shuckers. We went but decided we are definitely bad luck when it comes to baseball games. Last spring we went to the Atlanta Braves' home opener. They lost. Last summer we went and saw a Frisco Rough Riders game. They lost. A month or so ago we went to see my niece's son play in a little league tournament. They lost both games we attended. Are you getting the picture? Yep, the Blue Wahoos lost 10 - 2.

Tomorrow we're renting a car and going to go do some much needed shopping. Tuesday we plan to go to the National Naval Air Museum. Hopefully on Wednesday will be able to pick up the water maker that is being delivered here and then we can be on our way. If the weather cooperates.

That's all for now. Take care.
Brian

Two weeks and more than 500 miles

And we're in Pensacola! Pensacola was one of our short term goals and we made it.

From Dauphin Island we motored into Mobile Bay, through Bon Secour Bay and back onto the GIWW. Until we got to the GIWW it was a rough ride, not scary but uncomfortable. The GIWW through Alabama and westernmost Florida is different than what we saw in Texas and Louisiana. It was closer to civilization but still very scenic. Friday at about 1:00 we anchored just off the GIWW not too far from Pensacola Bay. We dropped anchor just off of Redfish Point and dinghied ashore to walk the beach some, both on the GIWW side and the Gulf of Mexico side. The sunset pictures are from Friday night. Until a thunderstorm blew in we were also treated with some air force jets flying over us, mostly T38 trainers.

Saturday morning we took another dinghy ride, did a bit more exploring and took some pictures of a wreck that was washed up on the beach. We only had an hour and a half or so ahead of us to get to the marina we are staying at tonight so we were able to enjoy the area.

We found the marina, Palafox Pier Marina easily and with the help of Keegan the dock master were able to pump out the holding tanks, fill up with fuel and get in our slip, We had dinner with some good friends of Susan, Molly and Tom Bloetscher and their niece Amanda. Just as we were walking off the pier to meet them a fierce thunderstorm blew up. I have never seen wind like this. Tables and chairs went flying, sailboats tied up in slips were heeled over at 45 degrees. I would have sworn it was a tornado the way the wind was howling. Fortunately the building that houses the restaurant we ended up eating at is right at our pier so it blocked the majority of the wind from hitting our boat. We didn't lose anything but I saw hatch covers flying and a dinghy that was tied to the top of a trawler come dangerously close to being blown away. It was really amazing.

Dinner was great and we really enjoyed our time with Molly, Tom and Amanda. Eventually we're going to run into people that will tell us we're crazy and what we're doing is completely irresponsible, but that wasn't to be tonight. Thanks you guys and I truly enjoyed meeting you.

Tomorrow is Sunday and believe it or not we have a mechanic coming over in the morning to replace the exhaust hoses for both the engine and generator. This guy is so busy he has work scheduled out to October but he said he will work on Sundays for transients because he knows they can't wait around for months. That's what we are, transients. Somehow that doesn't seem to have the negative connotation it would have a year ago. Anyway, I really appreciate this guy going above and beyond to help us out.

That's it for now, hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.
Brian

Dauphin Island

Wednesday morning we left Ship Island and sailed for a short piece to Biloxi to top off our fuel tank. From there we motored out to deep water and then sailed for several hours. At some point during the afternoon the wind got pretty strong and we were moving right along.  We only saw two porpoise that day but we saw our first sea turtle. He didn't seem as excited to see us as we were to see him. He was swimming along, stuck his head up, saw us and immediately dove under water.

With our late start and stop for fuel we were really running late to make Dauphin Island, which is a barrier island just offshore from Mobile, Alabama. With the wind as it was we chose to sail around the north side, all the way around the island to anchor on the southeast corner. After we rounded the end of the island we motor sailed (used both the motor and the sail) and were hitting 8.6 kts at times. That's the fastest Good Morning Vietnam has ever gone with us onboard. A bit later is where we ran into a little trouble. One set of charts said the depth was 2 feet, another said 8 to 10. The sun was already setting and we decided to go for it. Fortunately we had plenty of water and we slowly motored into a calm and peaceful cove between Dauphin Island and Pelican Island. Only thing is, those two islands are now one. Still it makes for a great anchorage with water as deep as 12 feet very close to the beach.

We liked it here so much we decided to stay another night. We dinghied to shore and walked around for a while, until it got hot. We came back to the boat and had lunch, swam a bit and did a couple of chores including making plans for tomorrow. Of course we watched the sunset from the bow and wished Soli well until we see him again tomorrow.

Tomorrow we're going to head towards Pensacola on the GIWW. We wanted to stay outside and sail but there are going to be small craft advisories between here and Destin tomorrow so we'll go the conservative route, We should be able to make Pensacola tomorrow but we've decided to plan on getting where we're going by 2:30 each day. No more dropping anchor after sunset,  We want to allow enough time that if we're delayed we still have plenty of light. I have to keep telling myself we're not in a hurry.

There are four different aids we are using for our planning, besides the charts that are loaded into the chart plotter at the helm. Skipper Bob  - Cruising the Gulf Coast, Southern 2015 Waterway Guide, activecaptain.com and an iPad app iNavx.  At some point, each one of them has been more helpful than the others combined. If you pressed me on it, I'd say activecaptain and iNavx have been the most help. All that being said, I wish we had paper charts and we will the next time I'm somewhere like West Marine where we can get them.

That's all for tonight. I'll leave you with a picture of Good Morning Vietnam that Susan took today when we were in the dinghy coming back from shore.

Take care.
Brian

Today... We sail!

Yes! Today we finally put the sails up and sailed.When the diesel engine went quiet, it was great. We didn't make great time since the wind was so light but we sailed for at least two hours before the wind finally died all together and we turned the iron sail back on. For those of you that have been out with us I want you to know that Susan was at the helm and I put the sails up. This is not how it has been in the past. I actually had to work today.

It was a great day. We were out in the Mississippi Sound, away from land and with only the sound of the waves and birds. That and an occasional blow from a passing porpoise.  Today we must have seen two dozen porpoise (porpoises / porpi?), many of them right next to the boat. I don't think I'll ever get to where that isn't exciting. At least I hope I don't.

After our night at Half Moon Island we had many hitchhikers, biting flies. We don't have a flyswatter on the boat but Susan and I both took one of her flip flops each and did what we could. She'd already killed 4 or 5 before I got my first one. I'd like to say I caught up with her on the scoreboard but it would be a lie.

Today we sailed and then motored to Ship Island. Ship Island is the home to Fort Massachusetts, a fort from the war of 1812 and the Civil War. Today was a day like we envisioned and hope to have many like. We sailed, we dropped anchor next to an island with white sand beaches, we took the dinghy ashore to walk around and we swam off the back of the boat. Not a bad day. No, much better than that, a great day.

We were treated to another great sunset tonight but I didn't get any pictures so I'll leave you with pictures I took of last night's sunset along with picture Susan took of some porpoise and our sails.

Take Care.
Brian