Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019

After a whirlwind 16 days at home, we drove back to the boat in Pensacola on Jan 1 & 2. Not all adventures happen on the water… While staying at our favorite dog-friendly hotel in Hopkinsville, KY, we encountered 25 mule-traders who were there for some sort of mule-trader event. At breakfast, one of the older men with a very loud voice and heavy southern drawl was telling the tale of how he lost all the toes on one foot due to a skid-steer accident last year – they were reattached but they didn’t take, so they had to cut ‘em off again… Makes it rather difficult to eat that breakfast sausage.

Bo wants to let his friends at K-9 Playtime know that he had no idea we were heading back to the boat at all, let alone so quickly! He wants them to know he would have said good-bye if he’d known. He had so much fun while there playing with his human and K-9 friends. He misses you all and looks forward to seeing you again sometime this spring.

Our first couple days back at the boat were spent unpacking, cleaning, organizing, restocking and planning our next move. We are relieved and thankful that when we returned to FL, the weather had warmed up in Pensacola so we no longer need our winter jackets! Finally underway again today, we left Palafox Harbor at 9AM under cool (48F) yet sunny blue skies. Over the next 6 hours, it warmed to a pleasant mid-60s, and the skies were filled with sunshine instead of clouds. It was an uneventful day on the water having seen only one dolphin, yet many pelicans diving for their breakfasts. Around 3pm we arrived at Baytowne Marina at Sandestin Resort in Destin, FL.  

We got to see Mary Ann, a gold and blue macaw, who was quite noisy to Bo’s surprise, and spends her days in her own open play-area outside the Marina Bar & Grille, which has great food and interesting company. The bartender was from Peoria, IL, and a couple from Massachusetts plus the locals, made for entertaining discussions about the cold northern states, the warmth down south and hurricane damage that still needs to be resolved.

Tomorrow morning we’ll hit the water again with hopes of getting to a functioning marina in Panama City Beach. Our first choice has not yet restored power to the docks since Hurricane Michael went through, so we’ll go to the second (more expensive, of course!) choice for the night, then continue throughout next week toward Carrabelle, where we’ll launch our “Gulf Crossing” to Florida’s west coast when the weather allows. More to come about that in a future post.

Signing off from a pleasant day back on our adventure and wishing each and every one of you a Happy & Health New Year!

Sue, Brian, Bo (and Wilson)