Day 23 - Gulf Shores, AL to Pensacola Beach, FL

Matt and Erin arrived this morning with the Blue Fin's trailer to begin the end phase of our journey.  They left Minnesota two days ago and stayed one night with Mary's aunt in Louisville and stayed another night sleeping in the car. I offered to cover them for a motel but they insisted the back of the car, with the back seats folded flat, was very comfortable.

Matt did some reconstruction of the trailer and this means when we pull the Blue Fin out of the water we might need tools to make some adjustments for a proper boat-trailer fit.  It was convenient for him to make the trailer repairs while we were using the boat.

It was good to have someone else around to take some pictures. An action shot of us making our way from the motel back to Homeport Marina.  This will be the last time we use the folding bikes with the Burley trailer on this trip.  The peddling is not too hard in these coastal areas as the terrain is very flat. 

Earlier in the day when the winds were still calm we decided to take the Blue Fin through a pass and out into the gulf.  We made our passage through Perdido, where we were yesterday, and the conditions today looked much better. The area was still busy with a good deal of boat traffic that churned up the water but once we pushed through the narrow channel of the pass, and got into the open waters, things smoothed out nicely. The surface had longer swells with a few sharp waves but was generally comfortable and far less troublesome than some conditions we've already seen on our trip.  We cruised out to maybe a mile and a half and sat for awhile to take some pics.

Cruising out into the open gulf.
See the happy face on Ms Erin excited to be heading out into the open water. 

In the Gulf of Mexico looking west at Orange Beach. 

The view behind us as we came about and headed back toward the shoreline. We could see a marker buoy and some fishing boats a few more miles out.

We crossed the boarder into Florida at around 1:30 PM just after we finished up having lunch with Matt and Erin.  The point where we crossed was out in the middle of the Intercoastal's channel and there was nothing to indicate we had in fact moved on to another state. We did run into a sign a short distance later as we passed through a narrow channel where I suppose it was more practical to post a welcome sign on the nearby shore.

We're being welcomed to Florida.

I noticed the wake behind the Blue Fin is more frothy than when it's in fresh water. I did some homework and discovered the cause. This is sea foam and here's your science lesson for the day.
Sea Foam

The Intercoastal Waterway in this area breaks open into a number of good size "lakes" and with the wind being up this afternoon the sailboats were out. Were following a few through this narrow channel where directly beyond is Pensacola Bay.

Our destination for the next two days is directly ahead. Pensacola Beach is a nice size cluster of ocean side resorts along with the associated tourist businesses necessary to have a nice stay.

Matt's helping me tie off the Blue Fin at the Pensacola Beach Marina. It's great to have help especially with the slips around here being so huge. We tie off using four lines, one on each corner, to suspend the boat in the middle of the slip. You have to remember to get out of the boat before you secure the last line or you'll need really long legs to step across and up onto the dock's walkway. One other important thing for a Minnesota guy to remember is to leave some slack in the lines because the tide will cycle by maybe one foot before I get back here tomorrow.  

The ladies watching the fishing guides clean today's catch.  Pensacola Beach Marina is home to half a dozen fishing charter companies and is busy this afternoon as they return from out in the gulf.  

And yet another balcony view as Mary is treated to the high-star motel I had promised her.

Tomorrow we'll cruise around the area and check out things further to the east as if we were continuing our journey.  This time though we'll return back to our starting point in Pensacola Beach to stay another night. The primary reason for this is that it's impossible to find a place to stay on the weekend without an advance reservation and the Hampton Inn where we're staying is sufficiently nice to demotivate us to move on.