The 21st is a beautiful day in Destin. Plans were to go to Eglin AFB Marina today and do cleaning, boat and laundry. I did a bit of web crawling and found the West Marine in Destin is a short walk from a dinghy ride. So did that first to get the charts needed to get to New Orleans. Super manager, Nick Noel, helped get the charts and told me some spots to watch out for.

Went across the street to Winn Dixie and got salad makings and a few other items. I called Eglin and found out that they don't have any facilities at the marina besides a bait shop. So I decided to just stay in Destin Harbor for the day. Got fuel for Serenity and had a nice mahi mahi lunch. Plans are to take the inland waterway to Pensacola and hopefully stay at the Santa Rosa Yacht Club. A friend in Punta Gorda has a condo slip there she said I could use so I'll give that a try.

Destin Harbor is a bit like Fort Myers Beach. Very touristy with dolphin tours, high speed tour boats, parasailing, etc. Nice place to visit and of course the beautiful beaches.

Motor sailed on the 22nd out of Destin toward Pensacola. Got to the Brooks Bridge at Ft Walton and they were painting it. Had canvas around it and it looked close. Bridge is normally 50 ft and Serenity is 47' 10" to the wind indicator. Going very slowly, we got halfway under where there were some lower sections and there went the wind indicator. So they had 47'5" clearance. Fun

Rest of day on GIWW was great, sailed about half the time in light winds. Got to the Santa Rosa Yacht Club in Pensacola and stayed there to do laundry. Had great pulled pork BBQ at Billy Bobs on the Beach. Thanks to Deb and Dave Williamson in Punta Gorda for letting me stay at their yacht club dock.

The 23rd was a great sailing day. Sailed 40 of the 45 miles made today on the GIWW. Got underway in Santa Rosa Sound at 8:20 and and anchored off Palmetto Beach, AL at 5:30. Sailed past LuLu's on the GIWW which is a neat dockside restaurant owned by Jimmy Buffett's sister. Palmetto Beach is at the eastern end of Mobile Bay.

Easter was windy and we sailed from Palmetto Beach AL to the west end of Horn Island. Had to really get close to the island to try and get out of the waves rolling down the Mississippi Sound.


Monday the 25th we sailed up the channel to Biloxi and around to the Back Bay. There right next to the end of the Keesler ADFB runway is the Marina. We took a slip for $5 a night with power and water. There is a snack bar, bathrooms, and a gas fuel dock but nothing good for cruising transients. It is about 3/4 mile to the main base facilities which was handy with the folding bicycle.


Our friends, David and Annette Postell came over from New Orleans to visit and show me around on Tuesday. Bad weather is expected Wednesday as a cold front comes through. If it clears on Thurday, we'll resume our trek with the next stop Bay St. Louis if the owner of my old Hunter 27 is in town.