November 10th to November 13th
Tropical Storm Ida gave us no real problems. We were protected from the Gulf swells by several layers of obstacles: we were in a harbor, which was behind a long jetty of land, then came the Intracoastal Waterway, then another jetty of land, Pensacola Beach. Every time I walked Louie outside on Tuesday night and Wednesday, I wondered if we were going to be blown off the dock. We had wind gusts of more than 50 mph, and the boat rocked quite a bit. It was uncomfortable, but around 7:00 p.m., I decided to stop fighting the motion and just go with it. I kind of had no other choice. I made our linguine and clam sauce as planned and we ate without spilling it all over ourselves.
Roger had stowed away nearly everything on the outside of the boat. But he was up all night, checking lines and adjusting the fenders, and he saved 2 of our window screens before they blew away. I slept like a baby – 9 hours! I don’t know how that was possible. The winds kept up all day long on Wednesday and we waited until today (Friday) to leave the marina.
On Wednesday, we rented a car for the day and drove around Perdido Key and Pensacola Beach. There was quite a bit of flooding in the area and part of the road along the beach was closed. Roger made the mistake of reintroducing me to civilization. We stopped for lunch and then went to a fish market. Then went to a Starbucks, and when I got back in the car, I whined, “Rog, I wanted to stay there….they had the Starbucks music on, and the Thanksgiving blend aroma…I wanted to stay.” He said, “Hurry up, we need to return the rental car!” So much for my brush with civilization. See what you guys take for granted?
On Thursday, the Blue Angels were practicing for their last air show of the year. I guess they always end their season with a trip back to their home base in Pensacola. We completely lucked out because we had front row seats for their practice yesterday right from our boat! We stood outside the boat for a couple of hours watching them fly over us. It’s impossible to describe the excitement we felt when we heard and saw them so close to us. We were yelling and I was jumping up and down like a kid! You could even see the guys in the cockpits! Check out the pictures. What an experience -- those pilots are amazing!
This morning we are underway again, heading East across the Florida Panhandle. We have 3 or 4 days of traveling before we decide our next move. We will go to Carrabelle, FL and evaluate the weather and the seas so that we can decide if we will cross over to Tarpon Springs (which is just north of Clearwater), or if we will bushwhack our way along the coast to get there. The advantage to going directly to Tarpon Springs is that it is quite a bit shorter in distance. The disadvantage is that it means going on open water in the Gulf of Mexico and we will have to do it OVERNIGHT without stopping. I’ve never done an “overnight” before, so I’m a little intimidated, especially because we will have to alternate 2-hour shifts at the helm. One of us will sleep while the other drives the boat. Louie will have to hang in there for about 20+ hours while we cross, if we decide to go that route.
Once that is done, we will really be on the East Coast of the U.S. and I can almost guarantee that is where the boat will stay. Neither of us is interested in repeating what we’ve done since our start on August 25th! It’s been okay, a good experience to do ONCE, but a little too rustic for us. It was really clear to me last night, when we were talking to another boater who is a veterinarian and he was telling us that a week ago he was worried about confronting any of the 6 different kinds of poisonous snakes that are indigenous to Alabama. The memories of those dinghy rides to the shore flooded back to me and scared the living _ _ _ _ out of me. No kidding, I’m serious. Ignorance is bliss, but NOW I KNOW – and when the vet tells you himself, well, you listen!
In about a week from today, we will have to leave the boat in one place for a week while Roger goes back to Indianapolis for a meeting on the Monday before Thanksgiving. I’m not sure if Louie and I will go back with him or stay with the boat. Things are pretty well up in the air. He is going to drive one of our cars back so that we will have our own transportation while we are in Florida this winter. This will give us some flexibility and the opportunity to move around and visit friends too. Oh yeah, and watch out, Starbucks, here I come!
No comments:
Post a Comment