Finally, warm weather??????

Where to begin, we have been remiss. Although we have planned out a rather Hi-tech (:)) solution to allow us to pick up WiFi everywhere on the planet; ok it's just a big antenna, we are learning just how tough it is to get "connected". New Orleans we had a so-so connection at the Southern Yacht Club (not what ya might think), Pensacola was a good connection, but we were there three days waiting out weather, one day/night of gail force, so we basically ate, slept and watched "LOST", etc.... So here we are in Apalachicola, waiting out weather, again, with an Excellent connection. Oh yes, keep in mind that connections first and foremost should and need to be FREE. So here we are.

Our three days in New Orleans were lots of fun, but it was time to get off land again and we headed back to the ICW and a nice anchorage at Rabbit Island, talk about remote.

From there we made our way, Thanksgiving Day to Gulfport, MS. That is we decided against going to Biloxi, MS because of the 20-25k winds and 6' waves. Things just kept building, so we ducked into Gulfport where we cooked up our feast which was acquired while in New Orleans.

This is a good time to talk about prejudices. We have discovered that the rest of the Automobile Addicted world looks down upon bike riders and heavens forbid, WALKERS. Our first night in New Orleans we went looking for a kitchen still open on a Sunday night at 6pm, the first stop was fruitless, however the gentleman at the bar just wanted to know, "what happened to your car". We explained we lived on a boat and were walking to no avail. Then there was the bartender that gave us a number of recommendations, until we finally got across that we were walking to which she replied, "You're Walking", as if we were diseased. Then there was the waiter in Pensecola, who looked at us with bug eyes when we asked him to suggest a grocery store within walking distance as, well, we were walking, he simply stated, "you're walking?". So yes, let it be known, Vicky and Ed are WALKERS (occasional bike riders, that is collapsible bikes much like in the circus and this too is looked upon in amazement, not just because of the funny bikes either).

Back to the feast, the standard, turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and green beans along with a nice wine, followed by........ PUMPKIN PIE, yes we live large. We must point out that we arrived at the Gulfport Yacht Club about 2pm and were greeted by some folks who had already feasted and had retired to the Yacht Club bar to watch football, one of whom was kind enough to give us a ride to the store for a few things, oh yeah, and buy Ed a beer too.

Off we head on the 27th, our plan is to spend the next several days on the hook, so the girls got a very nice walk before we pushed off. Great weather from the 27th through 12/1 with stops at Dauphin Island, MS then onto Ft. McRae in Pensacola, FL. White sand beaches and sandy bottoms to anchor in, what a pleasure to pull anchor and not have stinky mud. The girls were able to run up and down the beach and chase the ball, Chula even went for an extended swim some 50' off the beach, but she came back!

The neighbors at Ft. McRae are fun but not to talkative, well not in english or any other language known to man, they chirp a lot. Oh yeah, the sunrises and sunsets continue to be GREAT. Then there are the private airshows by the Navy's Blue Angels, nothing like a fighter jet at 300' to wake you up. All things come to and end and for us the anchorage at Ft McRae is about to be over run by a gail force storm so we headed off to the Palafox Pier Marina where we were met by, Captain Ron, no kidding, Captain Ron is the harbor master, :). However, before we could get safely tied up on the dock and enjoy extended hot showers and do laundry and watch some internet TV, we had to deal with a couple of boat issues. As we hauled up the anchor that morning Vicky hollered out, "We've lost steerage"; think what would happen if your steering column in the car suddenly disconnected from the axle and you had to improvise a method of turning the wheels. For us that is the emergency tiller, a device which is attached to the top of the rudder and by which one can steer a boat. The catch is that now all of the force of the wind and water is on the tiller and the helmsmans arms and not the steering cables. Oh well, we needed something to do anyway. Oh, then we ran aground, that's where the boat that floats tries to walk on land. Oh well. Off we went and to the marina we sailed. Tied up, cleaned up and watered down (that's cocktail hour by the by).

After three days of Pensacola, and it is a nice town, we were off to Destin, FL with dolphins guiding us out of the way, a good omen, motorsailing into NW15k and calm seas. Dinner was a wonderful pint and a plate of Irish Bleu Chips (homemade potato chips smothered in bleu cheese, emmmmmmmm).

Next up, Panama City, FL and you guessed it, some work on the generator, that wonderful machine that gives us 120V electricity, when it works. Three days of mechanic work and bad weather, coupled with a not so bad time in an ok city, and the genset works....we have heat at anchor.

Allow us to digress a minute, as we are piling on the narrative. Back in Pensacola before the weather turned foul we tested one of our new toys, the WATER MAKER. That's right we make water. From your basic, nonmuddy, seawater we can produce 1.5gal per hour and is it good. We've had two runs so far and while it is not a necessity right now we will continue to supplement our fresh water from now on.

From Panama City we headed to anchor in St Joe Bay, there is nothing so rousing as the radio announcement stating that the "Crooked Island corridor is closed from 0700-1100 for missile testing" that is if you happen to be sailing through that corridor. Yes, our tax dollars at working, blowing up plankton. While we didn't see any missiles headed out to sea we did some some on shore explosions, better than the movies. Which brings us to Apalachicola, FL where we are currently tied up at the Scipipo Creek Marina, you guessed it waiting on weather. At least we are not alone, tomorrow the 13th there will be a half dozen boats setting out for the Tampa area and warmer weather, the report is 80*, we hope.

We've sailed a little, motored a lot and did a bit in-between, had our ups and downs and have had freezing weather on our tropical adventure, time to head this boat south. We hope to have some updates before Christmas and perhaps we'll make it to the Bahamas for New Years, for now it looks like Christmas in the Keys, bummer, :). Hope you all have a great holiday and we'll be in touch.