Day 151
NM Today: 38
NM Total: 3158
We woke this
morning to strong winds and chilly temperatures in the high 40 degrees. I told Clark I was uncomfortable leaving the
comfort of the protected dock to get blown around on the exposed waters. When we walked up to the head, he took a
slight detour to go look at the water to see how turbulent it might be out
there. He came back with a satisfactory
report that the waters were mostly flat since the wind was coming from the
land. With my last ditch effort to eek
out one more night in Pensacola, I helped him prepare the boat for leaving port
for our next destination. We pulled out
into the cold windy day just after 9:30.
As Clark had
confirmed, the waters were not turbulent, but the wind was strong and
gusty. Since it was pushing us along, it
made steering a bit interesting. The
only surprise came when we turned direction to follow our designated route and
got a change in wind direction as a result.
We got a big splash of water that managed to wet Clark on the upper helm
and everything on the starboard bench seat.
Thankfully I was seated on the port bench seat and avoided a dousing.
Clark’s view
of the day is so different from mine.
Where I thought the day was basically cold and miserable, he told me he
found it quite a pleasant day to be out boating. Where I saw the splash as a
dousing of him and the starboard side bench seat, he saw it as a little splash
of no real consequence that was easily wiped dry. As we deliberated the merits
of the day, I told him that I especially liked the part of the trip where he
got a face full of water!
Each time we
have gone out here in Florida waters, we have seen dolphins. Today was no different. We wonder about their safety as they appear
and dive in front of the boat. Clark
says it supports the theory of “natural selection” since if they are not smart
enough to get out of the way, they don’t survive.
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| Dolphins by Boat |
As we passed
Eglin Air Force Base on Santa Rosa Island, we spied a tall tower. Clark was curious as to its purpose, so I
looked it up on Wikipedia as well. Aren’t
cell phones and the internet just marvelous?!
We learned that the tall tower is used for military operations testing
for precision guided weapons. Before I
could even read the description of the tower to Clark, he had guessed that its
purpose had something to do with radar.
 |
| Santa Rosa Island Tower |
Although the
sun shone brightly today, the air had a cold chill to it with a strong
wind. As we approached our target
destination of Fort Walton Beach free city dock, Clark started to have second
thoughts about whether we should stop there or continue on to a marina in Destin
for the night. The big issue with the
free dock is no electricity and therefore no heat without running the boat
generator which Clark does not like to do all night long.
The trip had
made me sleepy, and I was just nodding off into “la-la land” when he started
talking to me about where we should stay.
Heat sounded nice but stopping sounded better. He moved the boat in for a closer look and
then decided he liked what he saw well enough that we should stay. Little did I know that the ICW part of the
trip had also made Clark sleepy, and he too wanted today’s trip to come to an
end.
A boater on
a docked sailboat jumped up and grabbed our lines making it easy to pull into
one of the many available slips. We tied up, pulled out the bicycles, and hit
the road for a trip into town. A few
last minute items showed up on my grocery list after our provisioning trip
yesterday, so we stopped at both Publix and West Marine in town to get these
essentials. Although I did not really
feel like going anywhere except in for a nap, the bike ride served multiple
purposes – it woke me up, gave me a good workout, and made me happy since I enjoy
my bike very much.
The dock is
situated by a very nice park on the edge of town. We biked up through the park and then up to
the stores.
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| Christmas Tree and Pelican in Park near Docks |
 |
| View From Park at Fort Walton Beach |
 |
| Fort Walton Beach |
We biked
mainly on sidewalks that ran alongside a major highway to get to Publix and
West Marine. Although there was a lot of
traffic, the sidewalks were well-maintained and we enjoyed the ride. Unfortunately I did not manage to get a
picture of it, but I got a kick out of one drive-through beer-on-tap distributor
and restaurant called “Robinson’s Cruse Thru” advertising Tacos Beer and
Fun. Crusethru.com The customers drive
through the building and buy their beer without ever getting out of their cars.
The bike
ride was pretty quick. When we got back
to the boat, Clark made some phone calls to make reservations for our stays at
marinas leading up to our crossing of the Gulf to the west coast of
Florida. For Thanksgiving we will be in
Carabelle where we found out they have a pot luck dinner planned for the
holiday, so we won’t be celebrating alone after all.
We had an
early dinner tonight to get that out of the way while there was still some twilight
to cook and eat by. When Clark went out to turn on the propane gas for me, he saw Jane from Elizabear whom we have not seen for a while. She said she was happy to see a familiar face.
I had left over meat sauce from last night’s dinner so I used that to make chili dogs for dinner as a quick and easy dish. After dinner we relaxed by watching television – Madam Secretary and The Good Wife are favorites.
I had left over meat sauce from last night’s dinner so I used that to make chili dogs for dinner as a quick and easy dish. After dinner we relaxed by watching television – Madam Secretary and The Good Wife are favorites.
Sleeping
tonight should prove interesting as the master state room is already like a
refrigerator. We may need to run that
generator for a while to warm things up before climbing into a freezing cold
bed!
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