Rolling Along

Last night was windy and also a sleepless night for Brenda.  See, here's the deal:  Our bedroom is located in the bow (front) of the boat next to the moaning anchor rodes (lines) with the waves lapping (strongly!) against the hull (outside) of the boat....All.  Night.  Long.  At 1:00 am, she put on her Bose headphones which helped with the noise, but  not so much with sleeping comfort.  The good news is the clock alarm went off at 5:30 am.  Isn't it great that each morning we can wake up to a new day?

We cruised 72 miles east today starting at our anchorage just west of Pensacola Bay, FL  The north wind continued throughout the day and as expected, we rocked and rolled through the big bodies of inland water.  The temps varied from 34 degrees in the morning to 50 degrees this afternoon.  We are anchored in shallow waters (3.9') with a north wind at 10 mph and 46 degrees on the east end of the huge Choctawhatchee Bay.  The down comforter that WAS in storage will be appreciated again tonight.

Tomorrow we plan to cruise close to 80 miles, drawing closer to Appalachicola, FL.  We are using our daylight hours to get to Caravelle, FL (near Appalachicola), the departure area for a Gulf crossing.  It appears there will be a weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Clearwater, FL this Thursday night.  In our slow moving trawler (average speed:  8 mph), the 170 mile cruise will involve a 20+ hour overnight trip.  If we time things right and the weather cooperates (wind direction and speed, wave heights, forecast), we'll make it to Sarasota, Venice, Fort Myers Beach, and Fort Myers to see friends who live in nearby cities or are taking a break from Minnesota's winter.


Who needs Maui for a beautiful sunset?  

As we cruise across the bays, we keep on course using our Aquamaps software and the red and green markers.  We can check the accuracy of our location by the number on the markers to our mapping software.

This area of the country is known for its beautiful white beaches. 
We are surrounded in the beauty of water, sand, wildlife (pelicans, dolphins and gulls), and sunshine.



Location: Unknown location.

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