To Little Sabine

3/4/07 - Did I say “never a dull moment”?!? How about 3:30 am the winds are howling and we’re drifting into the abandoned sail boat. Yup, neither anchor seems to be holding anymore, the winds are dragging them, slowly, in unison. Neither anchor would budge when we try to pull them in, but yet neither would hold against the wind. Our only alternative was to cut the stern anchor and let us swing with the wind, which worked for a while until we noticed we were still easing back towards the sailboat (SH**T). We weighed anchor 4 different times, each time trying to get a solid hold, but the winds were too strong. Even though the sun had not quite yet rose, we decided to make a run for it, only to have a barge, at a snail's pace mind you, enter the bay. It’s not a big channel and very shallow water on either side, so we had no choice but to wait. Tom danced the boat around for a bit until the channel was clear. We felt it was better to move forward then take any chance banging into another vessel, so we departed at 6 am. It’s very cold at that hour of the morning in the pilot house even without a 40 deg wind chill. The weather did not improve as the sun rose behind us.

We did pass by Fort Walton Beach, which seem to be a great little town, again lots of cool houses dotting the shoreline and there was a military training ground of some sort along the south shore for miles.

It’s not easy keeping a 35 ton vessel traveling in a straight line with strong winds pushing you, can you image how it must be for a tug pushing a couple of barges? We passed such a vessel, very closely.

After a short rough 37 miles, we opted for another night at a marina – warm, safe and secure. If the weather was better this would be a great little spot to go exploring, but since it’s still so cold outside, we’ll have to postpone any outings for tonight. We’ve docked at the Beach Marina in Little Sabine Bay just east of Pensacola. The sand bar just to our starboard has been occupied all day with various birds, either grounded or simply hunting for food. Since I wanted to release our third little stowaway I opted for a safe place under the boardwalk, far from watchful eyes.