Specter Island, FL to Fort Walton Beach, FL

November 20^th, 2015
Friday
Miles Traveled 5.82
Total Miles Traveled 1332
Day 72

We woke up this morning at 4:15 with the anchor drag alarm sounding.  Not a good experience when sound asleep.  The good news is the anchor was not dragging; the bad news is I didn’t set the alarm value correctly.  Oh well, we know it works. Moni took this picture of the sunrise over Specter Island.

 

We only traveled a short distance today to the city dock at Fort Walton Beach.  The dock is located next to the city park and has water and a pump out station for our holding tank.  The city provides this at no charge, but you are limited to one night’s stay.   I think the ducks get to stay here as long as they want, they have their own section of the dock.

We thought this guy was performing a mating ritual but turns out he was letting the other crane know this was his turf, it flew away….in a hurry.

 

There are some cool planes in this area.

 

 

Pensacola, Fl to Specter Island, Fl

November 19^th, 2015
Thursday
Miles Traveled 42.5
Total Miles Traveled 1326
Day 71

The storms passed overnight and we awoke to sunny skies this morning.  We left the marina around 10:30 and were greeted to 2-3 ft waves on Pensacola Bay.  Not too bad if we could cut them at an angle, but when they hit us abeam, we were rockin and rollin.

We had planned to anchor by a place called Juana’s Pagoda’s, a grill located at Navarre Beach, Fl.  We were going to take the dinghy to the beach and hang out all afternoon, but could not find a good access from the GIWW (Gulf Intracoastal Waterway).  Our charts indicated crossing an area of 2-3 feet at low tide, so we cancelled that plan and headed for Specter Island.

This, we thought, looked like a really nice spot to spend the night, little did we know that it is located near the end of the runway of Hurlburt Field, a US Air Force Special Operations Command unit.  At the time of this writing, the air traffic appears to be decreasing. 

We passed this unique tower 3 or 4 miles before our anchorage….this should have given us a clue there may be air traffic in the area.

 

I tried to get more dolphin picks, this is the best I could do today.

We did have a nice sunset anchored behind Specter Island.

 

 

Pensacola, FL Day 3

November 18^th, 2015
Wednesday
Miles Traveled 0
Total Miles Traveled 1284
Day 70

We made a good call staying at a marina for a few days, there were 3 separate tornado warnings out since 3 a.m. today. Luckily we didn’t experience any severe weather, just a lot of rain.  
 
We rented a car this morning, and after completing a few chores, we drove to the National Naval Aviation Museum.  The National Naval Aviation Museum is the world’s largest Naval Aviation museum with more than 150  restored aircraft representing Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Aviation.

 

This is one of the four propellers that thrust the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid through the ocean; it is made of bronze and weighs over 27,000 pounds.

This anchor weighs 30,210 lb., and was manufactured at the Norfolk Navy Yard in 1942 and installed on the aircraft carrier USS Essex. 

 

This is the Pensacola lighthouse built in 1859, located on the Naval Air Station property at Pensacola.

 

Joe (Firebird) is a veteran and can stay at the marina located on the air base.  We picked him up and went out for a fresh seafood dinner.

 

 

Pensacola, Fl Day 2

November 17^th, 2015
Tuesday
Miles Traveled 0
Total Miles Traveled 1284
Day 69

Well, we have hauled our bikes around for over 1200 miles without using them, so today we toured the historic area of Pensacola by bicycle. 

Of course we couldn’t pass the local gift shop.

Or the local micro brewery.

 

We met two really nice women at the micro brewery that are lifelong friends, Bonnie lives in the area and Belinda is from Minnesota. We had a great visit, and learned a lot about the area. 

That’s an orange tree behind us but its hard to make them out in the picture.

 

Batten down the hatches and secure the lines, the storm is coming!

Roberts Bayou, AL to Pensacola, FL

November 16^th, 2015
Monday
Miles Traveled 24.3
Total Miles Traveled 1284
Day 68

We made it to Florida!

 

Sugar sand beaches.

Our first glimpse of the Gulf of Mexico crossing the shipping channel between Big Lagoon and Pensacola Bay.   A couple of surfers were taking advantage of the waves today.

We had 2-3 foot seas on Pensacola Bay but “Moni Jean” handled them without a problem.  I did have to secure the dinghy to keep it from swaying from side to side.  We passed this docked navy vessel as we entered the bay.

 

We have a couple of days of rough weather ahead so we are staying at Palafox Pier Marina to wait out the storms.  The marina is located next to downtown Pensacola.

We walked into town to Shux, a local oyster bar and had the sampler platter.......awesome!

 

There are about a dozen loopers staying here, we joined a few of them for docktails this afternoon.

 

Roberts Bayou, Al Day 2

November 15^th, 2015
Sunday
Miles Traveled 0
Total Miles Traveled 1259
Day 67
 
Another great anchorage, so we stayed another day.  We took the dinghy around the entire bayou looking at the boats and houses around the shoreline.

 

We could smell the flowers before we spotted the rose garden at this house.

 

We spent the afternoon at Pirates Cove eating our lunch on the beach and watching a group of people with metal detectors looking for treasures. 

 

And yes, they were successful!

 

After finding the ring, one of the new members of the group practiced finding it in the sand.  If you haven’t witnessed dropping a gold band in the sand it is amazing.  If you drop it from waist level, it completely disappears as soon as it hits the sand.



 

Pirates Cove restaurant and bar is a laid back, off the beaten path, cool place to hang out.  They are also environmentally friendly and recycle.

Ingram Bayou, AL to Roberts Bayou, Al

November 14^th, 2015

Saturday

Miles Traveled 4.01

Total Miles Traveled 1259

Day 66

 

We awoke to a cool and windy morning; I think we need to move farther south.  We did see some wildlife before we pulled our anchor.

 

                                     

Our first stop was Bear Point Marina; the wind was blowing across the open water which made it a real challenge to get the boat into a slip.  We had already turned into the marina and it was too narrow to turn around.  It was not a pretty sight, but we finally secured the boat without hitting another boat. 

Notice our horizontal windsock?  We had a great fresh seafood lunch so I guess it was worth the stop.

We left the marina and cruised across the bay a couple of miles to Roberts Bayou.  The entrance to the Bayou is very shallow and narrow as you pass Pirates Cove Marina, then opens up to a well protected anchorage.  What a difference being on the north side of the bay makes.

 

 

Little did we know that the annual Frank Brown international songwriter’s festival was going on this week, and several performers were playing at Pirates Cove today.  As soon as we dropped our anchor, we could hear the music.  We dropped our dinghy, tied up at the dock, and spent the afternoon listening to very talented songwriters tell their stories, and play their music.  There were also several people selling T shirts and crafts, this is some of the driftwood art on display.