We slept great last night with a comfortable breeze blowing off the ocean. Erik awoke early (3:30am) and decided to see if any fish would bite on a piece of hot dog since he had no other appropriate lures or bate aboard. Guess what.....within 30 seconds, before he could get his first sip of morning coffee, fish on! lol. Who new, catfish are as prevalent in the GCICW as they are in the Muddy Muskingum.
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| Breakfast! |
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Yep...Erik took another sunrise pic....imagine that!
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| Aquaholic sitting at our anchorage viewed form the shore of Ft McRee |
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| One of MANY hermit crabs along the shore |
Renee awoke an hour or so later and we had a nice relaxing morning. We moved down the waterway about a mile or so to a different anchorage (Ft McRee) that was very nice as well. Not certain why, but the water temp at this anchorage was about 5 degrees cooler than the one just up the waterway. There was considerable people that had anchored here for the night and lots more that were starting to make there way in; some anchoring but many just pulling their boats up onto the sandy shores. The high volume of people was due to the fact that the Blue Angels had a scheduled practice day today. We had timed our route so that we would be here for the show/practice. While waiting for the practice to begin (scheduled at 1130am) we went ashore and explored the ruins of Ft McRee. It was originally built in 1834 and became vital in providing defense to the active Pensacola Naval yards. It was all but destroyed during the Civil War but was rebuilt and utilized some during WW1. It offers spectacular view of the surrounding area. On our trek back to the boat walking along small winding trails through the woods and underbrush we stumbled upon a nice big snake...yikes! This changed our direction quickly and had us choosing an alternate route back to the shore.
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| Another view of Aquaholic from climbing up towards the top of Ft McReee |
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| Views from the top of Ft McRee. Notice the foundation of some structure, these are all that remain of the fort |
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| Panoramic |
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| Watch out for the snakes on your way down! |
The short swim back to the boat was refreshing and needed after the hike. It was now almost time for the Blue Angel practice. It did not disappoint! These jets and pilots are absolutely amazing! The training and skills that these folks have has to be incredible. We were treated to multiple fly bys in formation and doing crazy maneuvers directly over us. We are very happy that we did not miss this opportunity. We took lots of pictures and a couple videos but they by no means do not do it justice.
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| Man...they fly close together! |
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| Some of many boats anchored and on the beaches viewing the practice |
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| Six jet formation dive |
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| Maverick and Goose?? lol |
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| When they fly directly over top you it is quite loud and quite the rush |
Towards the end of the scheduled hour long practice we pulled up anchor with the thought that we would be able to get ahead of what would most likely be a large procession of boats leaving the area. Our planned cruise for the day was to Ft Walton Beach free docks which was approximately 45 miles. We had been to these before, five years ago or so, while vacationing with Renee's family in Destin. Just a mile or so down the waterway and it opened up into Pensacola Bay which is a very large body of water but still with channels for boating and shipping. We wanted to make some decent time since it was now afternoon and the hot sun was upon us. About two miles into the bay there was a large barge/ship coming toward us in the channel being towed by a tug. We were on the left side of the channel but wanted to get to the right side in order to veer off shortly. Erik made the Brilliant decision to cross over in front of the oncoming large vessel. Unfortunately, there were also several other large boats with the same brilliant idea that were creating quite the ruckus of large wakes. In the midst of the maneuver the boat listed into a couple of large waves and the water from the waves came pouring onto the bow and splashing up onto the bridge. No big deal at first until we realized with open mouthed glances at each other that in our haste to get on the water when leaving our anchorage we had forgotten to close the port windows and hatch in the bow! Renee went down to the salon and bow to find a real mess. Lots and lots of water had come into the bow and salon area and TOTALLY soaked our bed, bedding, the bedroom floor, and into the kitchen area.....Ugh! A brief stop allowed us to drag all of the wet bedding, memory foam mattress, and clothing out onto the aft deck to at least start the drying process. Erik timidly and humbly admitted to the error in his thinking (this was the second time this has happened over the past few decades...lol). Biggest lesson learned; Do NOT rush when getting ready for departure and ensure to go through pre start checklist (ie. close the damn windows and hatch in the bow!).
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Pensacola Bay Lighthouse as we were leaving out anchorage
No pictures after this for a while as we were too busy recovering from the tsunami...lol |
The remainder of our voyage for the day to our destination (Ft Walton Beach) was uneventful and smooth. Upon arrival and settling into our slip at the free docks we wandered around the boat deliriously (hot and sticky) trying to determine the best course of action for getting our bedding and clothes cleaned and taken care of. Unfortunately, there was no laundry mat very close by the docks. The nearest one was almost two miles away. We loaded what had to have been 100 lbs of sopping wet laundry into two laundry bags and set out up the street. We first tried to see if there was any chance that we could sneak into the laundry room at a nearby resort.....no luck, the door to the laundry was key coded. With sore shoulders from carrying the bags just a couple hundred yards we decided it was obviously time to get a Lyft/Uber. Lyft turned out to be the cheaper and quickest option at just $6.50 and a few minute wait, so, off we went to the laundromat. A couple of hours later we were back to the boat with clean bed clothes and laundry. The only conundrum now was how to go about getting the memory foam mattress dry. The day was VERY humid to the point that the boat and everything on it had a layer of salty, wet, residue on it. We very quickly found (and kind of knew this already from being at this park on a previous vacation as well as reading reviews on this dock) that we were not in the best neighborhood and the many of the characters in the area where homeless. One young women sat and then laid down on the dock finger adjacent to us with her beer and pretty quickly fell asleep/passed out. Another very interesting fellow (obviously not all there mentally) was swimming around under the boats and docks diving for 'stuff' all the while singing loudly every time he came up. I had a brief conversation with him, listening to him ramble about what he was doing. Being at the free dock (No shore power available) in a public park we were not comfortable unloading our generator onto the dock or swim platform to leave it running for A/C. So, we just opened up windows and by this point of the late afternoon/evening the sun was setting and the temps were becoming bearable. We draped the mattress over the dinette table as best we could and left it to continue drying. Fortunately, there was still the original bow cushions in place that would suffice for the night to sleep on. We took quick showers on the boat to rinse the sweaty, salty grime from our bodies before retiring for the night.
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| up up and away |
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| large cat coming into Destin area |
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