We finally left the Marina Beau Chene on Sunday 11/12/17 and traveled a whole six miles downriver to Madisonville where we tied up on the riverfront. Our friend Greg came over to say goodbye and provided us with dinner.

We planned to leave Monday but the wind picked up from the north during the night. We rode out to the lake the next morning but the lake was very nasty.
The weather report showed 20+ know winds in Mississippi sound and 8 foot seas offshore so we
decided to wait a day for things to calm down.

Since we had a day to kill we decided to do some of the chores we didn't get to in our rush to leave. We were able to drop our outriggers down, something we couldn't do in the slip, and make some final measurements and adjustments. We also cleaned out some lockers and got rid of excess stuff that we haven't used in a while. Luckily Nick was able to come by and pick it up for us. As an added bonus I got to see Nick again before we left.

Later that day we got a phone call from friends we met last year in the Bahamas, Clifford and Adrianne of s/v Wil-Low-Wind. They were in town visiting family and were camping just down the street from us. They came over and we had a nice visit with them.

We left Madisonville on Tuesday morning at 6:30 am. The wind was still a bit strong and the lake was still choppy but calmed as the day progressed. Everything went smoothly and we made it to Cat Island before dark. The wind was light and out of the east so the anchorage was nice and protected. During the night the wind changed back to the northeast and picked up so it was a bit bumpy.

We left Cat early Wednesday. The weather report called for 10-12 knots of wind from the ENE and
decreasing during the afternoon. Boy were they wrong. When we got out from behind Cat the wind
was blowing hard and seas were quite big. We clock around 25 knots for most of the day, pretty much right on the nose. We kept going, thinking that soon they would calm down. It wasn't until late in the day that the wind died. We made it to Dauphin Island and anchored for the night.

Left early Thursday and went across Mobile Bay with light winds all day, much different than yesterday. We anchored at Big Sabine Point just east of Pensacola. Had a nice night. Left there Friday and made it to Choctawhatchee Bay Friday night. Moved on to Panama City Saturday morning.

A strong cold front was coming through on Saturday night so we stopped at St Andrews marina where we got fuel and a slip for Saturday and Sunday. The front came through about 1 Am last night and it is now cold and windy. Will probably hang around this area for a few days to let the gulf calm down before moving on.