Underway Day 94:

Juana's was a beautiful anchorage. There was a pleasant breeze all night and we slept well, other than the obligatory anchor checks. We broke down the tent and idled over across the white sand to the dock, 50 feet away. We had breakfast at Juana's, and then got underway. We ran west 90 miles through the open bays and marsh cuts to Panama City. Along the way, we passed by Elgin Air Force base. This military facility is larger than the entire state of Rhode Island! Good to know we have air cover if we need it.

The weather was perfect and the navigational aspect of the day was uneventful and fun. It's shallow, but I just read the charts and use my eyeballs and stay in the channel. We stayed on point and just cruised the winding marsh and bays, listening to Neil Degrasse Tyson drop some knowledge on a podcast.

When we finally arrived at Pirates Cove Marina, we grabbed an open slip, tied off to the cushioned pilings, and checked in. It was hot and sunny without a dark cloud in the sky. I walked next door to Treasure Island and arranged for a haul out tomorrow to change the oil. By the time I returned to the boat 20 minutes later, we got hit with a pop up squall. It was a good thing we were planning to do laundry (free here), because I had left my waterproof bag open and the laundry bag on deck. All my gear got soaking wet in the brief but heavy downpour. So much for good habits of closing up the boat every time I leave. The weather here in the Gulf has two modes, hot and wet. We just got both. It'll often say 0% chance of rain, right before it rains. That's just the way it is here. Hot sun and ~100% humidity can create rain in minutes.

Thankfully my wife is amazing and told me she would do all the laundry. She handed me a cold drink and I jumped in the salt water pool. Other than a mermaid and a pirate skeleton, we had the whole bar to ourselves. The food was amazing and it was a wonderful day. I always feel better after getting caught up on emails and getting our nomad lifestyle a bit more organized.
It was a good day for a wedding anniversary.