Our First Days Out

Port St. Joe Marina

Port Inn, home of a great breakfast buffet

Tied up at the dock in Port St. Joe

Watch out for the barge!

Steaming down the ICW.

We left the yacht club in stealth mode. David wanted no fanfare or farewells. He didn't want anything to delay the trip one more minute. We traveled the 60 miles to the St. Andrew's Yacht Club in Panama City in good time. It was a great sail and the new jib is now my favorite improvement. We could sail close hauled with 15 knots of wind and still have an easy helm and only about 15 degrees of heel. Bottom line, that means it was very easy to steer and not so leaned over that you can't do anything but sit still. We motored through the ditch (Intercoastal WaterWay or ICW) then sailed almost to the Hathaway bridge. From there it was a combination of motoring and sailing. We saw so much wildlife along the shores. The eagles and osprey nest in the taller trees and fish. We arrived late but Suz and Sam were waiting on us to help with the dock lines and share a celebratory toddy at finally being off on the adventure.

Next morning, we took the ICW to Port St. Joe. Again, we had a wonderful sail with only the last 6 miles being a motor. The engine smokes but we just try to ignore it. It runs well and doesn't burn oil and we know there is really nothing else we can do at this point to make it better.

We were joined for dinner on Sunday night by Theresa and Ernie. They drove out from Ft. Walton to bring cheer and good wishes. Theresa wasn't going to let us sneak out of town and I'm glad she didn't.

We've spent the last two days here and I'm waiting on the decision of leave for Appalachicola or stay another day. The weather is unsettled and there is no reason to be miserable. The guys are checking weather report now. Decision just in....We go!