Yes, when making coffee on a sailboat when the winds are blowing and you are rocking, cooking requires seat belts for the pots and pans.

It has been an exciting few days. We left our dock, Saturday, October 15. Headed out into the Choctawhatchee Bay and spent the night.

Sunday, we motored down the Intercoastal Waterway to Panama City. We anchored at Redfish Point. Being very close to shore it was a short dinghy ride to take Ozzy for his potty breaks. During low tide we were able to take long walks on the beach. We enjoyed this site for two days as we waited for the winds to cooperate to move to St Joseph Bay. I had my first salt water bath here. Oh the Joy! (you use Joy dish soap – it bubbles in salt water).

Tuesday morning the winds were still not in our favor, so Luke decided we would motor. So, we motored for 8 hours directly into the wind and waves. This was like sitting on a balance ball for 8 hours while someone randomly moved the floor underneath. Quite a workout. We were tired when we arrived at our destination.

Tuesday night – SHOWERS!!! The Port St Joe Marina is an excellent facility. We decided to stay here until our water pump issue was resolved. Of course, the first night we had restaurant food ($$). We were on track to blow our budget wide open in the first week of travel. Yikes!

Wednesday – Luke quickly resolved the water pump issue so we decided to move out into the bay the next day. That night I went to Kim Heath’s beach house for an evening with the girls and fresh caught/cooked red fish. Yum!  Luke stayed at the boat with Ozzy and rearranged our schedule, which he does everyday. We really do not know where we are going or when.

Thursday morning – prep for leaving the marina – laundry, fuel, dog bath, groceries, SHOWERS! We left at noon for the bay. Friday and Saturday are supposed to have high winds from the north, so we anchored for protection from the winds/waves. However, the wind turned to the WSW and battered us all night with waves.

Friday morning we decided to leave this location and cruise up the ICW. We could not make it to shore in the dinghy due to the wind and waves, so poor Ozzy had to wait to do his business. We got to the mouth of the ICW and Luke decided he would hold the boat in the channel while me and Ozzy went to shore in the dinghy. WELLLLL… I will not go into the details, but Ozzy and I were being pushed out into the Gulf by the rushing tide. Ozzy was barking his head off and I was trying to start the motor and failed.  I grabbed the oars and started rowing to shore. Ozzy is still barking like crazy, Luke is watching us disappear under the bridge and I am rowing like crazy. Did I mention that we had an audience? There were several local guys on the shore fishing. I can only imagine what they were thinking.

It all ended well. I got to shore, walked Ozzy and then one of the fishermen asked if he could help me. We got back to the boat safely and Luke has prepared a lesson to give me about the motor. :-<

We cruised up the ICW to the small town of White City, FL. There is a free floating dock that is open to the public. I was able to do a painting today. We will stay here until the north wind calms down. Our next stop will be Apalachicola. Luke has ordered a rebuild kit for the head. Just like a house, there is always something to fix.

The image above is the painting I did today. It is what you see along the coast line between Panama City and Mexico Beach. The beach was so white it created an optical illusion that it was a white line drawn and floating in air.

Dock at White City, Florida

More in a few days.

Brenda