On Monday the 7th, we left Mobile, AL and headed east toward Florida. Mobile Bay is a large, shallow body of water and about halfway down the Bay we noted a large yacht doing circles in a very shallow area. When we passed, the yacht fell in behind us and asked if we were going to Pensacola. We explained we were but did not intend to arrive there until the next day. He asked if he could follow us because he had no electronics, no charts and his compass was not acting properly. This was a delivery captain taking this 63 foot Broward to the Pensacola area for sale. Talk about God looking out for the welfare of small children and fools. He followed us for about 20 miles through the shallow water and when we reached the ICW decided we were not traveling fast enough so it was see ya. Hopefully he found someone else to follow the rest of the way.
We spent Monday evening at anchor in Robert's Bayou, a very nice cove in Josephine, AL with a dock to take the Boyz ashore and a local tavern we could dinghy to for an afternoon beverage.
The next day we headed toward Pensacola to stay at the Naval Air Station Marina. When we were close to the marina, we observed the Blue Angles practicing for the Veteran's Day Air show. A great treat. Wednesday we did a little walking tour of downtown Pensacola. That afternoon, we got to see the Blue Angles practicing again although it was overcast with a front moving in. The next day north winds were blowing at around 35 knots and we decided it was a good day to stay put.
From Pensacola we made our way to Fort Walton Beach, which has a nice city dock where boaters can spend the night. The weather had cleared and there was a beautiful sunset.
From Fort Walton Beach, it was on to Panama City. During this section there were many, many dolphin swimming along the side of GREAT ESCAPE. Mufasa is fascinated - he can't figure out why we don't stop and try to hook these big fish !!
Next we will continue eastward toward Apalachicola and Carrebelle.
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This is the Broward that asked to follow us across
the shallow, unmarked portion of Mobile Bay. |
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| Robert's Bayou |
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| The local tavern. |
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| The channel accessing the bayou was a little narrow but deep |
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| Now we really know we are in Florida |
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| Blue Angles practicing |
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| One of the downtown Pensacola pelicans - the one on the left |
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| The downtown area |
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Although Navy and Marina Corps pelicans got center stage,
the other services were displayed as well |
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| Pensacola had many churches. This was the oldest we could find |
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| St. Michael's Church |
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Practicing the second day. They were flying right over
the marina as you can see by the sailboat masts |
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| GREAT ESCAPE in the Air Station marina |
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| Sunset in Fort Walton Beach |
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| On alert !! |
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| Swimming companions |
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| Approaching Panama City |
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