Under Way

 Tuesday January 7th, 2025 -  Santa Rosa Sound, near Fort Walden, Florida

With the holidays behind us Liz and I flew from Portland back to Gulf Shores Alabama on  January 4th.  

The first order of business was meeing the guys from Coastal Riggers (who installed the new electronics system) and accepting their work.   So within hours of arriving we were out on the Portage Creek section of the Gulf Intercoastal doing circles and zig zags to calibrate the compass and autopilot and check everything out.   Gary and Kenny did a great job.   I am really happy we decided to go ahead with this improvement.   Navigator again has a state of the art navigation system.

Sunday was supply day.   A trip to Costco, Rouses & Publix for groceries.  Gulf Shores kind of feels like a second home to us.  We had hoped to leave Gulf Shores and start moving east on Monday but gale force winds were predicted.   We made the most of our time by organizing and stowing gear.  We have a lot of stuff!  Said good by to the neighbors - Court & Dianna B. on the Nordic 42 "Breakaway" and Olivia and Brent W. in "Hali Kai"  Court and Dianna we just met the first week in December.  They have completed the Loop and are building a house in Tennessee.   They love their Nordic tug!  Olivia and Brent live aboard "Hali Kai".   They have 3 sons, including a freshman in HS that lives with them.     We were introduced to Olivia and Brent Marco & Karen in October when we first looked at the boat.   They had been watching over our boat in the months we were back and forth from Maine.   Olivia especially watchful!  Thanks Liv!  It is easy to meet people in marinas, and wonderful people to meet.

Tuesday we woke up before sunrise hoping to start moving.  Much calmer but 34 F and frost on deck!    Made coffee, did my engine checks and by 7:30 we were under way leaving slip A8 empty....


 

  Liz has such a wonderful way with words: "We are starting our Loop!"  




Warmed up systems slowly but soon were settled in at 1650 rpm doing 8.5 mph.   This is Navigator's  cruising speed.   Can go faster, but at 1650 she consumes 3.0 gph.   At 1750 we move only marginally faster maybe a quarter mph but consume 3.8 gph.  At 1900 another quarter mph faster but consume 4.6 gph.   We can move more than 10 mph but as you can see fuel economy falls very fast.   

Ran for 7 1/2 hours through Portage Creek, Perdido Bay, crossing into Florida, then Big Lagoon, Pensacola Bay and into Santa Rosa Sound.   We anchored for the night behind a tiny island in "The Narrows" on Santa Rosa Sound - 62 miles from HomePort marina.   Very few boats on the water!   




Most of our run was in inside the Gulf Intercoastal.  Only Pensacola Bay was open water.  On the bay we encountered 1 1/2 ft waves and 12 to 15 knot winds on the port bow.   Took some spray!  All systems running great.   Especially happy with the Auto Pilot and Garmin "Auto Guidance".   Touch a desired destination on the chartplotter touch screen, select "Auto Guidance", then "Engage" the Autopilot, sit back and let the compute do the steering.

Where we anchored for the night was within the restricted area of Hurlburt Air Force Base.   According to ActiveCaptain it is OK to anchor, but not OK to go ashore.  As we were dropping anchor we observed an open aluminum jet boat move through the anchorage with two men.  As the boat was camouflaged - as were the men - Liz declared them 'hunters'.   However, upon closer examination I observed a 50 cal. Machine gun in the bow and along the gunnel was painted "USAF".   Not hunters.   Later we watched 4 other smaller inflatables loaded with 6 men each and wearing "frogmen" gear make repeated practice landings on the beach under the guidance of the first two men.   A C-130 was circling overhead and several F-22's roared by.   



After dark, at 6pm on the dot, we heard 'Taps' being played over the loudspeakers at the base. 

Quiet, peaceful, but cold evening.



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