Good Weather News, 12-14-2014

December 14^th, Sunday, Good Weather News

Today, the temperature reached a high of 60, and tomorrow, Monday, promises a high of 65 with sunny skies.

Even more promising, was the unexpected report that the Gulf of Mexico was to be calm toward the end of the week. Previous reports indicated that the best time to cross the gulf from Carrabelle to Clearwater Beach on the western coast of Florida was to be today and tomorrow, and then the weather would kick up the waves and the potential for storms. It appeared the hope for another crossing opportunity could be a week, maybe more, away. So the news that we may be able to cross at the end of this week is very welcome, and surprising, and means we may be able to make Christmas Eve dinner with our friends in Bradenton.

With the temperatures in the 60s, we could would make the trip to Carrabelle without freezing! 

So we swung into action, did a final load of laundry, did some quick stocking up at Publix, our now favorite grocery, and returned the car by 4:30.  We planned to leave early on Monday morning.  Our goal was to anchor out Monday night, dock at the Moorings of Carrabelle Tuesday night and Wednesday.  And prepare for the gulf crossing on Thursday morning.

Out of all of Kathy’s fears, crossing the gulf was the big one.  In our boat, the crossing would take 30 some hours of straight motoring. Best to take advantage of the fair weather forecasts and get it over with.

National Naval Aviation Museum 12-13-2014

Saturday, December 13, 2014

We headed out in our rental car to Pensacola and the National Naval Aviation Museum.  Using Kathy’s phone GPS,  we charted our route, and discovered that it would take us 3 hours to travel the 100 plus miles…whether by freeway or local routes!
So we took the local routes there, and the freeway back.  And lo and behold, it took the 3 hours either way!

The first realization that we were, after all, at a military base, was going through the checkpoint. A stern man  in, of course, aviator sunglasses, and packing a weapon stopped us and asked to see Tim's ID.  Intimidating, to be sure.  ]

We wound our way to the museum itself.

It was amazing.  First of all, it is free.  There were IMAX movies for a fee. We would have liked to have gone, but by the end of the day, we just ran out of time.

Just as we started to talk to one of the folks at the reception desk, we were informed that the trolley ride out on the tarmac was about to begin, just in case we were interested.

We hopped on the trolley, and were treated to a tour of all the airplanes that were either operational, or were being worked on.  The tour guide was a Vietnam era ace who had flown many of the planes.

After that, we returned to the museum itself, were informed that a guided tour of the museum would start at 1 PM, and we had about enough time to wander through the second floor, which was not part of the guided tour.

The second floor included several flight simulations…neither of us had the stomach for those, and the cockpits of several fighter planes.  All of which you could get into and sit.  Boy, were they small.

One of the exhibits included the actual raft that the crew from "Unbroken" lived in before being captured by the Japanese.  How tiny that was.

Actual raft that Louis Zamperini and crew lived on for 47 days

We wandered down to meet our tour guide, and was he a kick!  We figured him to be about 70 years old, and he had on his bomber jacket and all of his medals.  His name was Captain Billy.


Captain Billy making a point



Taking the tour with Captain Billy

He was very knowledgeable and very entertaining.  The exhibits spanned the time from earliest flight to modern days.  All of the planes were actual, and not reproductions.

And unlike so many museums where the “do not touch” rule is enforced, folks were encouraged to touch most of the exhibits.

A part of the Blue Angels' exhibit

A few interesting facts that we got from Captain Billy:

• The wings on early planes were made of fabric
• The tradition of fighter pilots wearing a silk scarf came from bravado.  It was unmanly to wear a parachute.  Not so unmanly to use the parachute fabric to clean oil and debris from one's face.  Hang the fabric around your neck, and it looked very natty.  The fashion caught on!
• When the exhibit of the Blue Angels was hung, it was criticized, because the planes in the formation were not close enough.  The fact was that the museum couldn't hang them as close as the planes actually fly.

While it made Kathy sad that so much was put into the effort of warIt was a high point of our trip. If you ever have the chance to visit, do so

And on the way home to our marina, we were able to see the tail end of the Panama City Boat Parade as the decorated boats made their way across the harbor.  A lovely ending to a lovely day.

More plans to be made tomorrow.

Change of Heart in Panama City, 12-12-2014

Friday, December 12, 2014

We woke early, made coffee and tea, and talked a bit about the next part of our journey.

As we talked, it seemed that the tail was wagging the dog, or in this case, that deadlines were making us move, as opposed to common sense, or the things we could experience along the way.  We had a full day planned for today, what with laundry to do, errands to run (somehow Kathy had lost her foul weather jacket, so a trip to West Marine was in order).  Packages were being delivered to the marina on Friday. And, one of the activities that was on our list of things to do was to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL.

And the weather window to cross the gulf from Carrabelle, Florida to Clearwater Beach appeared to open on Sunday the 14th.  While in theory, we could have gotten to Carrabelle, some 100 miles away in time to make the crossing, we would have been traveling in the dark, and would have been exhausted, and not in good shape for our 30 some hour sojourn across the gulf.

Our friends in Bradenton told us that we will celebrate the holidays together when we get there and encouraged us to be safe.

The decision was made to keep the rental car through Sunday, visit the Naval Aviation Museum on Saturday, and s-l-o-w down.

So, West Marine was visited purchased, errands run, and we planned for Saturday at the museum.

The folks of the marina told us that every Friday evening in December, downtown Panama City hosts Dickens Evening.  All the shops are open, there are food vendors.  The town is decorated.  It helped get us in the holiday spirit, and downtown was packed!



Kathy in front of the Panama City Christmas Tree



But we think that the most amusing, and popular, feature was the ice slide.  Now understand, the temp high for the day was 78, and the low was 58.

Love the saucer...and the reindeer hat!

And the periodic snow fall around the ice slide. They threw ice into a machine and made ice crystals and shot it over the crowd and replenished the ice slide!

Snow in Panama City, FL

We heard one small child say to her mother that it would be SO FUN if this could happen everyday!  Tim just looked at each other and chuckled.

We had dinner, a glass of wine, and headed back to Sea Fever, looking forward to our trip the National Naval Aviation Museum on Saturday.

 

Early Start, Stuck Barge 12-11-2014

Thursday, December 11, Early start, stuck barge

We left at 7:00 AM.  We seem get up and get going earlier than we did when we were working stiffs!  Our goal today is to get to Panama City Marina in time to fuel up, pump out, pick up a rental car (no courtesy car here), and shop for food.

There is a travel saying that we often use in the Anderson family when queried about how our trip went.  We always say “Made good time”!

Well we were making good time, and thought we would actually get to Panama City earlier than we expected.  At least until the barge traveling in front of us got stuck in the mud going under a bridge.

Barge in the mud

He was pretty well stretched out across the channel, and we had no choice but to wait for him to get out of the way.  We lost at least 45 minutes watching his efforts.  Finally, he got enough to the side so that we could pass on his starboard (right) side.  As we went passed him, Tim hailed him on the radio with a wish that his day would go better. 

He responded “Jest doin’ a crew change, Captain, jest doing a crew change. Have a good one.”

We got to Panama City Marina, with plenty of time to spare.  We were pleased to note that the transient dock was A REAL FLOATING FINGER DOCK. Wide enough to walk on, long enough to span the boat.

Kathy called Enterprise to get a ride to pick up the car at 4:30.  She was told that the driver would call about 5 minutes after he left the office. 4:00 came and went.  As did 4:15.  4:30 passed us by.  Kathy finally called the Enterprise office to ask, in the calmest of tones, where the heck was her ride. She talked to Don the driver.

Don seemed a kindly old gent, who asked Kathy for directions to the marina.  She is always amazed that local folks, even after informing them that we are not from here, ask her for directions.  She resisted, but barely, the inclination to retort “Drive to the water.  Find the parking lot with big docks and lots of boats. I’ll be there! I will be the old Swede with no lips!”

Don finally showed up, Kathy got the car, did shopping and we settled in, knowing that getting on and off the boat would not be what Kathy now calls The Turner Dock Challenge.

The weather window for crossing the gulf from Carrabelle, FL. seemed to be coming up on Sunday. Almost all of the conversation on Sea Fever was devoted to the feasibility of making it to Carrabelle in the time needed.

We shall see, and continue to talk.

Uneventful, but still no pictures of dolphins 12-10-2014

Wednesday, December 10

Today was uneventful.  Squeaked under a few bridges, obviously without incident.

We finally tested the autopilot, and it seemed to work well.  It also allowed us to look around us.  By far, the coolest thing we saw were more dolphins.

The biggest surprise of the day was when we discovered that the anchorage we had picked out, in the wind shadow of a bridge, was filled with cranes and work barges to work on the bridge.  So we went a bit further, found an anchorage that was a bit less protected than we would have liked.  There was quite a bit of wind and waves, and a very strange bumping noise that we never did figure out what it was!  We tucked in, and got ready for an early start.

We got to Florida

Tuesday, Dec 9^th…We got to Florida.

9:40 AM, we passed the border to Florida at the beginning of week 14. YAY. It was a long time coming. Not much to tell about the day.  Our goal was Navarre, Fl, and we had anchored in time to see the glorious sunset and its reflection on the water.

We poured a brandy and a Jameson, and sat in the cockpit and watched the sun go down. And prepared for another day.

Sea Fever from the cockpit at sunset in Navarre, FL

Skyscrapers in Navarre, but the romantic in us thought it looked like a castle

 

 

 

Leaving Turner's and Mobile at last!!! 12-8-2014

December 8^th, 2014

After three long weeks, we got the boat ready to make our way toward Florida.  Tearful goodbyes were said to our friends remaining at Turner's Marina, all of whom will be departing soon to spend Christmas with family and friends. The tearful part was, of course, sentimental Kathy. As we have mentioned, fast friendships are made at these marinas.  Stories are told and expertise is shared.  And then, everyone leaves, hoping to meet again down the line.

We left Turner’s Marina at 7:30 AM, crossed Mobile bay in choppy water, to head for our anchorage At Ingram's Bayou, AL.  Kathy went down below to make some oatmeal.  Too turbulent to deal with boiling hot water.  And Kathy, for the first time in lo these many months, felt queasy down below.  As Tim explains it, your brain and eyes see that things are stable, but your inner ear screams "NO NO NO it is NOT".  Once in the cockpit I was fine, and we settled for peanut butter sandwiches.

Also, for the first time since we left Minnesota, we hoisted our jib and became a motor sailor.  It was great to see those tanbark sails again!

Jib sail hoisted in Mobile Bay
First time since September 7, 2014

We passed by the evidence of our fuel driven economy.  Here is a picture of an oil rig fueling station in Mobile bay.

Oil Rig on Mobile Bay...kind of scary, boys and girls.

At 11:50 AM, we entered the GIWW (the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway).  Onward to Florida!

The waters finally quieted down.  We had been told to be on the lookout for dolphins, and Tim from his vantage point had seen several.  Kathy finally saw her first dolphin at about 3:45.  Try as we would to get pictures, they are way too fast for either the photographer or our camera.  We guess we will just have to keep those pictures in our minds!

At 4:47 PM we made our anchorage in Ingram’s Bayou, just minutes before sunset.

It is a really pretty anchorage, and so quiet.

Quiet waters and another boat in Ingram's Bayou, AL

 We slept well and dreamed of getting to Florida..