Wow! Our best weather so far -mainly sunny, about 82F and light (5-10 mph) winds. It was an absolutely beautiful day! We left The Wharf at Orange Beach, Alabama at 7:20 am after pumping out the holding tank. The wind was calm, which always helps when maneuvering the boat in a channel that is only 10 feet wider than we are long. Just think about it - imagine turning a Greyhound bus around in a space that is only 10 feet longer than the bus...
The water continues to get clearer, and after an hour we saw our first white sand beaches. By then we may have been in Florida (?), but unlike on the highways, they do not put up "Welcome" signs and information centers on the Intracoastal. As mentioned earlier, the views continued to improve,
including very high beach ridges (or beach dunes?) between the waterway and the Gulf of Mexico. For most of the day, we would go through a resort area with houses and high rise condos for a couple of miles, and then the barier island would be protected as a (pristine) National Park. We went through Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach and Destin.
As the day (Sunday) progressed, the amount of traffic on the water increased greatly. One of our favorite boat sightings was this gaff riged, two masted schooner. The folks on board were having a wonderful day trip. The background in the landward (north) side of the waterway which often had beautiful houses/mansions. The next picture is the big unknown (perhaps exraterrestrial) "thing" of the day.
It looked from a distance like a skinny water tower, but as we got closer, well, I'm pretty sure that it must be something out of a Steven Gould (Terry's brother) novel... I'm thinking that this is somehow related to teleporting?
Shortly after this we passed by the channel into Destin, FL, and as we did, a Coast Guard patrol boat came racing out of the channel and across the bay (about 4 miles). As he went past, I quipped that he had "lots of others to worry about". You can kind of tell where this is headed. Sure enough, he raced across the bay AND back. He circled and came along side and asked permission to board and inspect us. About 15 minutes later we had shown all of the proper documents and equipment.
This picture shows them headed off after the inspection. Very professional and courteous! The good news is that we got our copy of the inspection, which may avoid another inspection for up to 6 months...
About 10 miles east of Destin, the Admiral found us a great anchorage where we will spend the night after covering some 87.4 miles.
After getting things put up on the boat, the Admiral made a lovely green salad and brown rice and chicken with melted provalone cheese on top (and a sprinkle of Chipolte Tobasco Sauce). A fitting end to another wonderful day.
This picture shows them headed off after the inspection. Very professional and courteous! The good news is that we got our copy of the inspection, which may avoid another inspection for up to 6 months...
After getting things put up on the boat, the Admiral made a lovely green salad and brown rice and chicken with melted provalone cheese on top (and a sprinkle of Chipolte Tobasco Sauce). A fitting end to another wonderful day.
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