Mobile to Port St Joe

We had a fun evening in Fairhope the night before heading out.  We spent the evening at John and Donna Ballard's beautiful home on the bay, Michelle's friend Trisha's Parents.  Michelle was able to visit with Trisha as well as another close friend Ashley.  It was fun to see all of our kids get to know each other.  We had a very enjoyable evening!

We left Mobile early the next morning, even though we did not need to, kinda a habit.  I think a good one. Just before we entered the Intercoastal, the engine oil pressure spiked up, and the only thing I could think of was that there was an oil viscosity problem because the engine was doing it when we entered mobile. We paid a mechanic there to tell us, "gee I don know".  I thought about changing the oil, but it just didn't make sense.  I opened up the engine compartment and checked the connention to the pressure sending unit and tighten up the connection, wala, perfect oil pressure.  Lakewood Yacht Service had failed to tighten them properly.  With the oil issue behind us we were on our way.  We past Lulu's, which is Jimmy Buffet's sisters place, we are getting into cruiser territory.  The intracoastal opens up into a bit of a sound then.  We anchored with several "loopers" in Ingrams Bayou for the night, I would say the best anchorage of the trip to date.  There were dolphins jumping around us, and a great place to take the mutt to the beach.  The girls made sea turtles in the sand, and we had a very restful night on the hook, and a very happy 20th anniversary.

We left a little later in the morning, with only about 20 mile to get to Pensacola, and planning on spending a couple of days there.   We anchored in about 15 feet of water, well away from the cut, where there were about 50 boats anchored.  Our cruising guide said "local knowlege" is needed to get in there. 

The knowledge we have determined is to look for darker water and stay there- not to go to the shallow areas.  The Pensacola air show was going on.  We saw the Blue Angels perform two days in a row, and got to see a lot of the other aircraft from the boat.  Hard to get pictures

 We also toured Fort Pickens, making a lesson of it for the girls.  The interesting thing was not the barrel vaulted ceiling, but the fact that the floors are barrel vaulted as well to keep the fort from sinking into the sand.

The water is getting pretty now, and you can see about 5 feet down. 


We left early for Destin, which also requires local knowlege, but we were confident.  The trip was fantastic!  Emily wanted to fish, so we through out some mega jig, no luck, so we changed to a big lur, and within about a minute she had cought a fish.  We needed to determine what kind of fish it was, so we looked at all the books and determined that it was a Blackfin Tuna.  I butchered it immediately, and we put it in the fridge for the evening.  I use the term butcher, because it was not a Wallyee, or Northern Pike like I was used to cleaning. 

The wind and out speed picked up, so the lur would not stay in the water any more, so we switched to some tackle my brother sent me as a parting gift.  We left it out even though it did not appear to be doing anything.  Just as Emily got her lunch fixed, bam, another hit and another Blackfin Tuna. Plenty for dinner.  We blackened half and grilled the other half with a tereaki merinade.  We all agreed the blackened was the best!  

We got into the busy harbor early.  It was the busiest anchorage we have been at, and we had to anchor closer than I ever have, but I had confidence in the weather forcast of south winds, 5 mph all night and the next day, how could they get that wrong?  We awoke to north winds at 5 mph, but the 180 was not a problem. 

We left for Panama City early in the morning, and were making good time.  So about a third of the way there, we started considering Port St. Joe, another 20 miles down the road, so to speak.  We went for it, and ultimately, I think it was the right choice, even though you second guess yourself coming into a port in the dark with the minor problem of having to go to a backup running light.  The marina is great, and cheaper than Panama City.  We can walk or take one of the several courtesy bikes provided by the marina to the Piggly Wiggly!  We are contemplating our crossing to St. Pete from here, rather than a 100 mile trip to Caribelle.