I did spend a peaceful night in Little Sabine Bay. Slept fairly well and got up around 7a. I had coffee and some breakfast. I did my engine checks and the engine started right up. I'm still worried about my batteries after all the initial problems I had with them. I still don't know what their limit is, so I'll just try to be real disciplined about electric use while at anchor.
I set a course for Fort Walton Beach. It took me nearly six hours to get there. It was a great cruise, though. I ran the length of Santa Rosa Sound. It was early afternoon when I reached the municipal marina in FWB. Nice docks, but no amenities. I tossed my lines to a woman sitting on the dock. She was nice enough to assist me with tying in. After I got everything shut down, I walked into town. I treated myself to a nice Mexican dinner at Sotol Tequila & Mezcal. I had a quesadilla with carnitas and refritos. Great food! After dinner, I walked over to a Publix and bought some groceries. Got back to the boat and settled in for the night.
I got up on the morning of the 3rd and spoke to one of the dock hands. He told me that there were severe storms in the forecast. I decided to spend the day tied up at the marina. I don't feel like risking bad weather. I spent the day reading. I also learned a ton more about my Garmin GPSMap and Radar. Using the GPSMap almost feels like cheating. Plot the course, follow it, done!
Got up on the 4th to a calm but cloudy day. The water at the marina was like glass. After breakfast, I used my dock lines to pull myself our of the pier and get the boat pointed in the right direction. That worked so well, I'll do that again. Backing up is difficult with a single engine boat and the whole operation is complicated by the fact that I've got a dinghy behind me.
I had charted a course for Baytowne Marina near Miramar, Florida. It was just a short hop, but I needed the amenities, shower, laundry, shopping, etc.
So, that brings me to today and tomorrow. Today, there were more severe thunderstorms in the forecast. I decided to stay. Got some laundry done. Got some reading done. Scraped some barnacles off of the port side of the boat. Looks like tomorrow will be mostly the same pastimes. No thunderstorms, just high winds with gusts above 40 mph. I hate to lose another cruising day, but better safe than sorry.
It's really funny sitting here tied up to the dock in Baytown. People can't see that I'm sitting here when the canvas is in place. Most of the comments are really nice. The most common is, "Isn't that a cute little boat." One comment on the dinghy's outboard today was, "Looks like a weed-whacker with a propeller."
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| First minutes underway. Photo courtesy of Amy Batton |
I got up on the morning of the 3rd and spoke to one of the dock hands. He told me that there were severe storms in the forecast. I decided to spend the day tied up at the marina. I don't feel like risking bad weather. I spent the day reading. I also learned a ton more about my Garmin GPSMap and Radar. Using the GPSMap almost feels like cheating. Plot the course, follow it, done!
Got up on the 4th to a calm but cloudy day. The water at the marina was like glass. After breakfast, I used my dock lines to pull myself our of the pier and get the boat pointed in the right direction. That worked so well, I'll do that again. Backing up is difficult with a single engine boat and the whole operation is complicated by the fact that I've got a dinghy behind me.
I had charted a course for Baytowne Marina near Miramar, Florida. It was just a short hop, but I needed the amenities, shower, laundry, shopping, etc.
So, that brings me to today and tomorrow. Today, there were more severe thunderstorms in the forecast. I decided to stay. Got some laundry done. Got some reading done. Scraped some barnacles off of the port side of the boat. Looks like tomorrow will be mostly the same pastimes. No thunderstorms, just high winds with gusts above 40 mph. I hate to lose another cruising day, but better safe than sorry.
It's really funny sitting here tied up to the dock in Baytown. People can't see that I'm sitting here when the canvas is in place. Most of the comments are really nice. The most common is, "Isn't that a cute little boat." One comment on the dinghy's outboard today was, "Looks like a weed-whacker with a propeller."
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