First Day!
We left around 11 A.M. from Palm Harbor, with Ken and Coy and Ben and Carol waving us farewell -- Coy gave us the departing horn blasts (thanks, Coy!) and we waved wildly at everyone while heading for the channel near low tide. We are SO going to miss you guys! What a great spirit you all have together -- I hope we see you all again where coconuts grow!
Once out in Escambia Bay, we put up the jib and headed around the point (160T from the outer markers) for the Pensacola Beach bridge.
Rounding the point, we had to douse as the wind was too close to on the nose... so now we're a powerboat with a mast for a while. Good clearance on all the bridges. Beautiful day! Dolphins were playing off the bows and jumping ahead of the boat.
Grant helmed for some of the time.
And Heather and Derek took turns at the helm through the narrows
Hard to believe most of that open water is only 1-2 feet deep...
On our last night (Sunday), there was such a beautiful sunset!
We stowed gear and quietly played Settlers of Catan:
It had been a long day. On Saturday, Derek went up the mast to install a steaming and deck light (LED, low-energy version),

and on Sunday, Heather went up to install a WinDex wind indicator at the top. So everyone was pretty tired. Coy drove to the storage place and got us once we had put the car into storage (thank you so much, Coy!), so we were also without a car for the first time in years... that made it feel like this voyage thing was really going to happen after all.
Tonight we are in a marina in Fort Walton Beach, heading for a different marina tomorrow. Big tidal currents here and barges passing through all night...
See you tomorrow!