We are aboard "Reverie" at Caladesi Island State Park northwest of Clearwater, FL.
This segment of the trip, after leaving Mobile, was a change from motoring down the Rivers to sailing and cruising in the Gulf of Mexico. We still spent a good deal of time in sheltered waters along the bays and did some travel on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). We saw dolphins, pelicans, manatees and much more undeveloped areas than we thought existed in Florida. We had several good days and one night of off-shore sailing. Our son David and his wife Maggie spent Thanksgiving week aboard and we had a great time with the more cozy cabin. And we were able to enjoy visits with two of Bobbie's cousins who live in Florida. But the real story of this segment of the trip was what we saw of the aftereffects of Hurricane Ivan.
While we were in Mobile we had seen a little of the devastation caused by Ivan with some damage at Dauphin Island and many boats in the boatyard with damage waiting for insurance and repair. We left from Turner Marine on Tuesday, November 9, and went down Mobile Bay turning east toward Pensacola. At the first sight of buildings, we began to see blue plastic tarps on roofs; then we began seeing damaged boats in a temporary boatyard and some tossed into the woods. It was sad to look at boats with their sails in tatters still attached and blowing in the wind. We anchored in a quiet bay and went on east the next day. We passed much more damage and saw boats with holes in them high and dry. It was rare to see docks that were intact; and at one place the whole first floor of a four-story building was bashed in by the high water and the floating debris that became a battering ram.
Because of an unfavorable weather forecast, we backtracked by ten miles to stay in a more protected bayou where we ended up getting about three inches of rain. On Thursday we went back east and anchored in Big Lagoon near the cut from Pensacola. Here we met up with the sailboat "Peace and Quiet" and discovered that they, too, were planning to sail outside the barrier islands to Panama City. We had two great days of sailing in the Gulf and happy hour camaraderie anchoring first at Destin and then in Panama City on Saturday night. Here we had our first up-close-and-personal experience with the combination of shallow water and low tides! During the night their anchor dragged, helped along by a strong northeast wind. By early morning they were much closer to shore and aground and had to wait for the high tide before they could continue.
We went to a marina in Panama City for Sunday night (11/14) where we did laundry and got groceries, etc. We would be coming back here next weekend to pick up Dave and Maggie for their week aboard. In the meantime, we made the loop down to Port St. Joe where we met and had dinner with a cousin of Bobbie’s who lives there. To get there via the ICW, we had to wait for low tide to get under the bridge. The weather was great and it was fun seeing Howard and Virginia and their daughter's family. We sailed back to Panama City and anchored out off the State Park before going back to the marina on Friday morning. We rented a car to drive back to Pensacola to get the kids. Panama City had some damage from the tornadoes resulting from Ivan, but the drive back to Pensacola showed us more damaged homes and businesses and many signs were down or gone.