Thursday, Dec. 6 - Wed. Dec. 12, 2018
It’s a cloudy afternoon in Pensacola, and Sue’s just gotten back from taking Bo for a walk while Brian is off picking up the rental car. It’s 45 degrees outside with a wind chill of 37. As Bo & Sue descend into the salon, she needs to peel off the old winter jacket, Harley neck warmer (borrowed from Wilson – his do-rag), sweater and jeans-shirt that she’s wearing over a long sleeve t-shirt because it’s actually nice and warm while standing in the salon. She sits for a minute and decides to put the jeans-shirt back on because a 2.5-ft drop in elevation results in a few degrees loss in warmth. The cabins (the lowest inhabitable levels on the boat) are nice and warm (70-ish) if you reach to the ceiling, but even with the fan moving air around, it’s probably a cool 62 at the floor - brrrr. Our nightly big decision – do we turn on the noisy heater for our aft cabin (the new forward heating unit is on & works quietly and very well but does not push air into our cabin) or just use the small, quiet plug-in ceramic heater in our cabin tonight? (Note that it is on Brian’s side of the room!) Anyone with a high tolerance for cold would think this is mundane. If you despise living in cold temperatures, it might make sense.
On one of Sue’s walks with Bo, she saw dolphins in the bay right outside the harbor! Bo was more interested in barking at (and trying to get to) the birds in the park – lots of pelicans, seagulls, other water-type birds and many pigeons! To avoid the birds, we can walk in the opposite direction when we leave the docks and go toward town. Here we encounter many live oak trees which have dropped millions of acorns on the ground. What else goes with trees and nuts? Lots of squirrels! Once Bo sees a squirrel, some barking, growling and pulling at the leach ensues, then once he gets near the tree, he must jump up at the tree from several angles until we pull him away saying “Leave it” and “It’s all gone!” He continues to check the tree over his shoulder until another squirrel or bird catches his eye, and off we go again. Never a dull moment walking with Bo!
We’ve enjoyed spending some time in Pensacola. We went on a tour of three homes representing different times in post-Civil War history plus Old Christ Church (Brian was a trooper on this tour), after which we came upon The Pensacola Bay Brewery. Still being a trooper, Brian suggested we stop there. He found a nice and somewhat potent beer (Li’l Napoleon IPA) so we bought a 6-pack to take back to the boat.
We tried to visit Rosie O’Grady’s highly-rated dueling pianos show in the Seville Quarter, but most of the venues there were booked with Christmas parties so a quick drink sufficed and we walked home.
Since we now have a car, we visited The National Museum of Naval Aviation, which is in Pensacola – what a fantastic place! We saw a movie about aircraft carriers which was very impressive and another about the Blue Angels, who are based here in Pensacola. Lots and lots and lots of planes and helicopters! It was a good day. It would actually take a second day to get a chance to see everything and go on the tours.
We’ve spent a couple days here doing boat projects and preparing to leave the boat in potentially freezing conditions should a cold snap hit while we are at home. (This last week was not a cold snap? … Can it get any colder if an arctic blast makes its way southward? The answer apparently is “yes!”) Fortunately, the sea water is in the mid-50s, so other than draining some exterior water lines, sealing up some air intakes, and running one of our AC units while we are away, we should be OK if unusually cold weather hits Pensacola. The marina is in very good condition with floating docks to cope with the two-foot tides. We’ve already gone through a gusty night with 30-40 mph winds, so we believe we’ll find the boat in tip-top condition when we return.
As our departure for home draws near, we’re looking forward to seeing family and friends! For those we won’t see, we’d like to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We hope to be back online in early January. In the meantime, we’ll just keep thinking warm thoughts. :-)
Happy Holidays!
Sue, Brian, Bo & Wilson