TideChaser Followers Day 3

November 22, 2014

Yesterday we came back into the ICW because the wind and waves were just slowing us down and bouncing us around. Traveling on the ICW was much nicer. It was so much wider here in Alabama than it is back home. That made it good too for passing other boat and barges. We traveled on through the night we had our charting Pow wow and decided to weigh anchor in a cove just before Pensacola Fl. Night time was coming and Chris was really into driving the Catamaran. She was doing great when all of a sudden the ICW starting narrowing in. There were docks and homes on one side and homes on the other side. I came out of the salon to hear her say “OH My Gosh I just barely missed three small buoys off the starboard side. I couldn’t even see them till I got right up on them”. From then on we were both sitting and watch for a while and using out spotlight to see the unlit channel markers and buoys before we reached them.

Supper was served on the go. Walt had been taking a nap got up and took his turn at the helm. About 30 minutes after he took over I’m inside the cabin and I hear a huge crash on the port side. Yikes! I ran outside to see they had the spotlight shining toward the water and we saw a huge board float by and around the back of TideChaser. Even though our hearts were pounding all was okay as we set onward to our next stop.

Changes were made as it goes on every sailing trip. We are going till Midnight and staying at a marina in Perdido Key, Fl. We are running low on battery life. We also found out that our generator that we thought was going to allow us to run important things like our coffee maker J does not work and will need repairs when we get home. Once out of hot water then no more hot water. Yuck for baths. Sooo that is why we docked to plug in to shore power ,juice all our devices overnight, get at least 6-7 hours of sleep, wake to REAL coffee and head out to the gulf.

We woke to a nice day in Perdido Key, Fl. 48 degrees, not bad compared to what it has been. The guys worked on engines we took out trash and got showers finally. Hot water, YES! All electronics

 

 

ready we head to Southwind marina to get gas before heading out. When we get there the guys running the place tell us about the huge storm coming through and thought we are crazy to go. Our crew Pow wows again. Let’s not do this. We heard on the VHF that it would be 7-10 feet high waves. High winds. We voted to find a Yacht club. It became Palafox pier and Yacht club nearby and stay the next 2 days there till this storm goes over .

Time for a beer run. Stay tuned for more fun with us.   

Love Juls