Jolie's 1st Big Seas
09 January 2011 | Panama City to Port St. Joe
Jolie
Our sail from Panama City to Port St. Joe was almost ideal...... almost.
Wake up. have coffee. head out around 7. sail the majority of the way. following seas. tied up at 2:30. take turbo for walk at 2:35. drink firmly in hand 2:45 (well actually 3:45 as we had just crossed in to EST)
Leaving St. Andrews Bay wasn't quite as smooth as when we arrived.. not by a long shot. This leg brought me face to face with big, steep, 8 ft. seas for the first time. A little scary at first, but then kinda fun. This is what this boat was made for and she did well. The wind was behind us and David was loving it! The dolphin followed us out and hung around a while too. It turned out to be a nice ride. I say almost ideal because I got cold and I find once cold it's really hard to warm up.. no matter how many layers you add. So I ended up below for most of the trip.
Once at Port St. Joe Marina we immediately sought out a place to watch the Saint's Playoff Game. The Marina has it's own little bar/restaurant so we started out there. We ran into an ex co-worker of Dave (it is a such a small world sometimes!) who was going over to a place a block away, so we followed at half-time and met up with him and his wife. We were the only people at the bar.. in our black & gold/fleur de lis/saints wear/etc. but people slowly rolled in (not necessarily to watch football) and by the last quarter the bar was full and everyone in it was rooting for our Saints......We all know how that ended :(
There's a group here meeting for a semi-annual rendezvous, they're called "Loopers".. mostly retirees on big motor yachts who circumnavigate Eastern North America over the course of 18 months to 3 years. An interesting adventure on the right boat I'm sure, but after 3 weeks, I feel certain I do not want to travel in a boat any further north. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_loop
Today we did some provisioning. They have a lot of conveniences within walking
distance.. Piggly Wiggly, Dollar Store and Liquor Store. What else do you need really?
The next leg will be to Apalachicola via the ICW. It's about a 5 hour motor from here. We're shooting for a Tuesday departure. Then head to Clearwater by the end of the week. The plan to head straight past Tampa in one leg has been scratched.
David just went up to the cafe to watch a little football. Turbo is planted at my feet. We're at Port St. Joe Marina at the end of the "T" dock. Come by and have a drink!