Well, as I posted yesterday we were expecting thunderstorms, and they found us.  We left our anchorage as the sun was still burning off the fog.  Our out let to the Gulf was only maybe a mile from where we were anchored in Pensacola FL.  The funny thing is the fog was clearing a path for us as we moved towards the Gulf. I must say going out into the Gulf with the threat of possible thunderstorms did give me the heebie-jeebies!  But on the other hand according to Wind Alert & Passage Weather, the waves were going going to be 3 feet or less.  All is good! 

As we pulled up anchor We could just see the fog sitting over this tow.

 

It’s funny to watch the clearing of the path. By the time we made it to this tow we could see it.

If you can see in this photo we have to follow the ICW through this small opening.

As we passed through the cut the fog lifted and gave us this beautiful view.

This little guy is out taking is morning walk along the shoreline.

This is a marine surveyor out “enjoying” the inlet/outlet.  Waves were breaking on the sandy shoals.  

As we were headed out the tide was raising so we were going slightly against the tide coming in.

Once we passed the last buoy, I found myself enjoying sitting on the bow. It was just what the doctor ordered.  It was a beautiful day.  We brought the chairs out and relaxed a bit.

This is so weird. As I was sitting on the bow with the sun shinning upon my face; look what was brewing on the other side of me. Crap! This didn’t look good for the good guys. We started to see lightning and we could hear thunder as it roared coming towards us. Bryce counted the seconds between the lighting and the thunder it was approximately 3 miles away.  The thought in my minds was a storm develops their own winds and waves.  What are we in for? I tell you it sure didn’t look good. I walked back in side the cockpit. Bryce looked at the wind meter. Something must be wrong the darn thing is reading 99 knots. The only thing we could come up with is the lightning must be interfering with the reading.. Thank God! Shortly later, the winds read 15-20 knots.

As approached Destin we had a slight rising high tide.  So the tidal currents were small.

This is a tricky area to approach.  Apparently there is a sand bar on the portside of the green buoys you have to watch our for. Bryce called TowBoat US for guidance coming in. We sure do help them earn their pay check. The water depth was 11 feet.

Looks like they are putting in another steel wall to help protect this area.  We had to work our way around the barges but just short of the bridge.  Then follow the bridge right to the harbor.

This is a portion of the wall that is done. Sure doesn’t look that high.  Probably to reduce shoaling.  We are headed towards these boats.

This is part of our view from our anchorage spot. Very nice.  Well protected from all winds.

We can see how the the last steel wall helped build this sand dune. Pretty cool. But I think they will be doing some dredging to keep the canal open.

As we were anchoring this …..flew over our heads.  It is an Osprey tilt rotor air craft.  It is flying in plane mode here.  It can tilt its wings vertically to hover like a helicopter.

We are headed up towards the Wharf area for lunch today.

Look at the birds on that sailboat! Must be a real poopy mess on that boat.

As always thank you for following us!