The weather conditions for past four days have been partly cloudy skies with brisk head winds and strong currents making our progress slow, albeit steady. The electric propulsion system has performed superbly for the conditions. During the past few days we have traversed through very choppy waters in large bayous and bays with one small stretch in a canal where the water was calm. Today is going to be a lazy day of laundry, cleaning chores and sit tight to wait for clear skies. We are anchored next to Saint Andrews Marina with Laundry, showers, and a ship store.
Brisk headwinds and strong currents don't faze Capt. Carter and seaman apprentice, Radar.
We anchored in a nice little bight on the outskirts of Eglin AFB.
Passing through Ft. Walton Beach we checked out the bridge that was damaged by a barge carrying a couple of tall craines when we where there for the Powerup Expo a few weeks ago.
The Coast Guard was out giving tickets for speeding through a no wake zone. That's not a problem for us! Carter says you don't usually see the CG messing with pleasure boaters that much because generally they have more important things to do. Usually a vessel that size has a two man crew but there where 5 sailors on it today. Judging by the boat load of Coasties and the fact that it was weekend he figured they where probably weekend warriers, (reservist). Later that day we saw them towing a disabled boat.
Folks were out taking advantage of the windy conditions. Good for them...not so good for us.
Carter has been pretty good at finding nice quiet spots to anchor out each night.
This was a very nice water front neighborhood with nice boats parked in the back yards!
We found a sweet spot in front of the only patch of land in the whole bayou that didn't have a house the size of the Taj Mahal on it and no sooner than we dropped anchor, there was the law coming out of the woods. Considering all the megabucks we passed on the way in we thought for sure we were about to get run off. But quite the contrary we recieved a warm welcome from Deputy Sheriff Tim who was just very interested in our solar boat and tracked us down to ask questions about it. Super nice guy. Told us there was no problem if we wanted to come ashore and that there was a Wal-Mart within walking distance.
Thanks Tim, we really appreciated that.
My new favorite toy...the velometer. I'm learning to "see" the wind on the water and judge the speed. That's pretty cool. I have been learning to be so much more aware of the weather and water conditions with electric propulsion than with the diesel. We simply don't have any extra power when on electric so anytime we can find a lee or get a lift from some current, it helps a lot. Likewise, heading into adverse condtions is a slog. We can still make way, even under the most extreme conditions but it really slows us down.
Not the clearest picture but that's 20 mph winds! We just haven't caught a break on the weather for this leg of the trip with almost constant 15-20 mph direct headwinds and gusts to 30 mph. Not to mention waves and current all going the wrong direction. But as long as the sun is shining, we press ahead.
I'm also learning how to see which way the current is moving and judge how strong it is by means of the bouys and day markers.
Ever wonder what tree roots look like? Well wonder no more. We entered into a man made ditch where the sides have been chopped away leaving trees 1/2 in and 1/2 out of the ground with the root systems just hanging.
Taking a moment to sit, relax and enjoy NO WIND!
With calm conditions, Carter continued some of his work and Radar took a nap on the deck.
Someone else was happy to be in this ditch too!
We pulled over in a wide spot to spend the night.
Radar jumped into the dingy as we were preparing to depart. We debated leaving him there for a while but...we had to put the dingy back up on the fantail so he got to come back on board.
More tree roots as they created this ditch.
A beautiful sunset last night in Panama City.
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