It
was 32 degrees with a 20 knot wind blowing and we were alone on the
dock when it was time to drop the lines. The only other boat leaving
today had left before us and it was too early for the dock hands to
arrive. We put on several layers of clothes and wished for gloves
for our freezing fingers!
It
takes some studying of the wind and how the boat is pulling on her
lines to know which line to let go first.....especially with high
piles all around the boat. We have to try to keep the dinghy and its
motor from getting whacked on these posts. As usual the Captain did
an amazing job without those nifty side thrusters... just maneuvering
with the two engines and me running around pulling in lines as he
call them. After putting away two lines in the deck box I carried
the others to the enclosed sun deck... told the Captain I would fool
with them later when I could feel my hands again!
The
Choctawhatchee Bay is a large open body of water so the waves had
plenty of lake length to build up before they hit us. The BIG
difference was the direction of the wind....we were cruising into
this wind so the waves were hitting us at the bow and yes it was
lumpy going but much more comfortable than rolling side to side as we
would have done had we not stayed in port two nights. Here are some
wave photos taken from inside the boat down closer to the water
level. I didn't go out on deck until much later in the day when it
warmed up a bit.
Yes, I was wearing my sea bands!
We
passed this barge in the open lake.
After
rockin' and rollin' for 3 hours the water settled down and then we
entered a narrow canal which is part of the Gulf ICW.
It
concerned us that we heard many boaters calling tows asking
permission to pass....and at the same time asking about the
shallowness on each side... Tow captains confirmed that and gave
exact directions as how each boat should pass them or told them to
wait until the tow had gone completely around a turn. I was
thinking if the tows are going the same way we are we would not have
to pass them...just go slow until we are out of the canal...but
Walter said the canal would take us at least 2 hours & we needed
to get through it and another lake before we docked.
It
became too warm on the bridge for me... my seat seems to always be in
the sun which did feel good at first but I ended up leaving for a
chair on the sun deck. It was quiet for a good while and THEN I
heard the Captain hollering “Whoa” and suddenly slowing the
engines to idle! I grabbed the camera......up ahead too quick for me
to get a photo of what he saw first was a barge coming around a very sharp bend in
the canal! All Walter saw was just the front end of this tow peaking
out around the corner.....a very narrow turn!
I
had put the camera down and was watching from the bridge when I
realized how close we would be passing this tow! I ran with the
camera...opened the side deck door ….. I think this is the closest
pass we have ever made... and no one went in the mud!
After
passing under this bridge we would be in the open water of St. Andrew Bay and close to our destination of Panama City, FL.
This
being open water we had to watch for the markers to stay in the
deeper channel... here these Cormorants made sure we saw the green
marker.
In
this Bay we could see far off where the smoke we had seen earlier was
coming from... still have not heard anything about this fire but it
was a big one.
We
passed under several bridges today but this one, the Hathaway Bridge,
was so pretty... had the cleanest lines.......
As
soon as we were docked the boat had to be washed down with fresh
water...salt so thick on windows/ports you could not see out of them. While the Captain tended to this job I walked about 3 blocks to the
marina office to check in... so glad for the walk! Then while I
downloaded photos my sweet fella went for a shrimp dinner for us...
bringing it back to the boat. What a guy!
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