Saturday December 5 and Sunday December 6, 2015
It was 37 nautical miles to the Palafox Marina in Pensacola. I spent almost the entire trip on the phone, making arrangements for our Gulf of Mexico crossing. It was another gorgeous day as we passed sand dunes and marveled at just how close the porpoises were to our boat. They’d make a swoosh sound As they surfaced for air. Magical!
We had come to the realization that our mast was too tall (approx. 50 feet) to make it under a few bridges on the gulf intercoastal. We would have to go offshore to Panama City, about 100 miles from Pensacola. Our thinking was that we would try to go straight from Pensacola to Tarpon Springs. But, we would need help! By the time that we arrived at the Palifox Marina we had it all worked out. Our buddies, John and Bruce, would fly to Pensacola on Sunday morning. We’d get the boat ready for our crossing, and leave Monday morning. I booked flights for them to fly back for later in the week. They had both spent time at sea, and they knew our boat. Bruce had done all our woodwork, and John had worked on various aspects of our refit. I was relieved and happy that they were coming.
We had drinks on Sweet Pea on Saturday night, and then went to bed early. John and Bruce arrived at 9:30am on Sunday. They were exhausted, catching a 6am flight, but they each had a cup of coffee, and worked on readying Heron all day. We stopped for lunch at Shux, a few blocks from the marina. More wonderful oysters. Yum! Drinks on Gallant that night with Sweet Pea and Duchess there too. Fun!