December 3-5

We left our anchorage, passed by Pirates Cove marina  and  then proceeded to cross  Wolf and Perido  Bays and the Big Lagoon.  We saw some great looking beach houses.

The winds were picking up as we approached Pensacola Bay, which translates into bigger waves than the admiral likes. 

We saw several tug and fishing  boats coming in off the Gulf headed for Pensacola, but no other pleasure craft.  Crossing the Bay and getting  behind the protection of the Santa Rosa island seemed to take forever.  Finally at about 12:30 we reached Sabine Marina in Pensacola Beach, which we had called in the morning looking for a transient slip, because of the small craft warning.   Near the marine I saw this Pirate ship, which I’ve included for Jack.

   With the winds gusting; Andy had a difficult time getting us into our assigned dock, thank goodness, Mark, the harbor master was there to take our lines. 

Once Andy had finally stopped the boat, he went inside and could smell acid.  He checked the Port starter battery and found it to be cooked.  Not a good thing!  Mark was able to hook him up with a great mechanic, Patrick, who was able to direct him  to where he could get  a replacement from. The new battery was delivered about an hour later, and installed by the captain.   The winds continued to gust overnight and into the morning.  Here’s a view of the sky just before dusk. 

We decided we would stay in Pensacola Beach for another day or two, until the wave action subsided. 

On Friday morning, Andy called Patrick, and he stopped by the boat later to check on how we were doing, he gave the boat the once over and declared us sea-worthy.  We went  for a walk down the road and checked out the local eateries,  pubs and shops.  Here’s the view of Santa Rosa sound from the boardwalk.

On Saturday we went for another  3.5 mile walk down towards the beach and Fort Pickens.  In the evening we watched the Christmas Boat parade, which had about 20 entries.  I’ve attached some pictures,  they definitely have our Christmas in July boat parade beat.  There was fireworks afterwards.

We will leave in the morning and are headed to Choctawhatchee Bay and have booked a slip at North Light Marina in Niceville.

Update Dec 1-3

We left Saunders Tuesday afternoon after having the clamps replaced on the Turbo boot, which may have been the cause of the Oil mist in the engine room.

We went about 10 miles and pulled into Robert Bayou mile 165, just past Pirate’s Cove Marina.  We were sheltered from the winds, but did swing a little during the night.   There was also a sailboat anchored in the bayou with us.

We checked the engine for oil mist and there appeared to be none- so hopefully that’s the end of that issue.  We had planned to only stay one night, but when we realized we had internet courtesy of Pirate’s Cove we decided to just laze around Wednesday.  We had wanted to be somewhere with internet on Wednesday night, so we could hear the outcome of Duncan’s surgery.  Which we were told by Doreen had gone extremely well.

Our plan today is to continue heading East into Florida.

Sunday was a lovely day, very little wind and waves, so no excuses for not having pictures.  We left shortly after 9:00 and followed “Touch of Class” through the channel leading back to the shipping lane.

Here’s a  view of Mobile  in the distance, hardly a ripple in the water, not like Thursday when we arrived in Dog River.

Since it was a nice day we took our time going about 6-7 knots and enjoyed the sunshine.

We saw a fair bit of traffic in the shipping channel, and shrimp and sailboats farther out in the Bay.

At one point we had a couple of dolphins following the boat.

Here’s a view of us leaving Mobile Bay and another one entering the Gulf Inter coastal waterway.

We arrived a Saunders Yacht works  at 3:00 and tied up to their  dock.

It’s now 9:00 Monday morning, and a technician is already looking at our battery/electrical issue.