Happy December! Today was quite a day. We pulled out of the marina at 6:30 on the dot with no problems at all, and headed out across Mobile Bay. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the area, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Just a large bay. Near the bottom of that bay, you cross into a place called Bon Secour Bay. Now, when we left, my dad called down that we’d have “Light to moderate chop” across both bays. That wasn’t enough of a warning. From 7:30 to 9:00 I was miserable. In case yall didn’t know, I get seasick. Eventually someone found me some Dramamine (For the record, if someone on your boat gets seasick, Dramamine should be easily accessible. I couldn’t find it.) and I felt a little better after a while.
Sometime between noon and two, me and my dad were up on the fly bridge driving. We met a Coast Guard boat, and they boarded us. The first thing they looked for was our shotgun, which I suppose is protocol. Or we looked dangerous. Yeah, probably the protocol part, eh? My dad stayed topside and drove the boat while me and my mom and aspen showed them whatever they needed to see. One of the CG men announces “I am putting this shotgun down on the couch, nobody make a move for it.” I thought this was funny, but he didn’t appreciate my snickering. A few minutes later, another CG man says to the first, “Why don’t you sit down and copy this,” referring to our documentation, and my mom reaches down for the shotgun on the couch to push it out of the way. The first man started with “Ma’am--” then just sighed really loud. I thought this was funny, too, and again he didn’t appreciate my chuckling. Oh well.
Other than my getting ill and my mom making a dive for the shotgun (presumably to make a seat for the man, but you never know with her,) it was a rather plain day. We made 46ish miles today. Our partial plan was to run all the way from Mobile to Pensacola (which isn’t difficult to do) but we didn’t think we could beat the dark to the dock in Pensacola. Now, the fact that we left one marina with the intention to get to another by nightfall makes us sound like marina-hoppers. We aren’t. Actually, after being in Mobile for so long, I’m rather averse to another several-day marina stay. However, once in Pensacola, we want to visit a college there (Pensacola Christian College) and we’ll have a car over the weekend. There are a few other things we wanted to do there to, I think, but I can’t remember.
Anyway, so, we’re also waiting on the dinghy. I don’t think I blogged about this, but when we were pulling out of the dock back in Tennessee, we noticed a couple holes in the dinghy when we tried to inflate it; Upon closer inspection, we saw that the seams on it were separating. Our warranty covered any repairs due to a manufacturers defect, so once we got to Mobile, we washed it and folded it up and sent it to the West Marine there in town. They took it to Pensacola to repair it, and we spent as long as we did in Grand Mariner waiting on the dinghy and a package. Package in hand, we decided to press on and just pick up the dinghy from right where it was sent! Sounds smart, right?
So, to Pensacola we go. My daddy just informed me that tonight it will be “extra super stupid cold.” Well… Okay then.
Love,
Annakah on an “extra super stupid cold” Kama Hele