Back in Wisconsin

We left Panama City, FL Thursday the 13th about mid-day instead of the 9am start we’d planned. Too many details to go into but the bottom line is we had to change rental cars and the one we changed to, a Pontiac Grand Prix, had two screws in one of the rear tires and we had to get that repaired before we could take off. Never a dull moment, right?

The rest of the day went smoothly. The weather was great for driving; hit rush hour traffic in Birmingham, Alabama but we still made pretty good time. We stopped for the night at Clarksville, TN (about 30 min. north of Nashville) still in our shorts from the warm weather we left behind. I was pretty excited to be able to sleep in a real bed and take a shower without flip-flops for the first time since September (it’s the little things you know!)

We got a much earlier start on Friday am. We heard there was snow and ice predicted for the next day in Illinois so we were very glad we left when we did. We got to Milwaukee by early evening and had a pizza with our son, Eric. We picked up the rest of the mail forwarded to him and headed north to Green Bay, arriving about 9 pm .

It was so strange to drive through our neighborhood with the snow and holiday lights. I felt like we were in some kind of a time warp since it was late summer when we left and we never got to see the fall leaves and the start of winter. Thankfully it wasn’t artic cold, only about 14 degrees!

Our house looked HUGE to me compared to our boat accommodations. It felt really good to be home but I didn’t kiss my dishwasher like I’d heard of some women doing! I was pretty excited to do laundry the next day without plugging it with 5 or 6 quarters though. I think Paul’s a little worried he won’t get me back on the boat after living in luxury for a few weeks.

We were happy to see Christmas cards, letters and pictures from a lot of you – thank you so much! Please don’t delete us from your card list for next year but we’re going to send our love and best wishes through this blog this year. So, pay attention now – here’s your “card”:

We wish you a very “MERRY CHRISTMAS” and may the peace and joy that can only come from the blessed Christ Child be with you all as you sail gently into the new year.

This will probably be the last blog entry for quite some time as we didn’t continue our internet connection at the house during our trip. Please check back in January for more “Loop” adventures on the “Restless Wind”!

Here’s Paul and Santa the day before we left Florida. Bye for now - Paul and Emy

Happy Birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our daughter Alison who turns 25 on December 15th!

Paul and Alison before we left Green Bay in September and a shot of Alison with her co-workers at WSAW Channel 7 in Wausau, Wisconsin. See you soon Alison!

USS Mesa Verde

On Saturday we had the chance to tour the USS Mesa Verde while it's docked in Panama City awaiting commissioning on Saturday, December 15th. It was built in Pascagoula, Mississippi and was launched in August 2007. It is an amphibious transport dock designed to transport and land Marines and their equipment and supplies. Some stats on the ship: Length - 684 ft; Beam - 105 feet; displacement - approximately 24,900 tons full load; crew - 360 sailors (28 officers, 332 enlisted), three marines. Here's the website if you'd like to read more about it: http://ccmesaverde.com/. Her namesake is Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. We were fortunate enough to tour Mesa Verde and some of the cliff dwellings there while visiting Em's brother, Larry and family who live near there in Ridgway, Colorado.

The next ship to be commissioned in this LPD class will be the USS Green Bay (LPD 20)!

Quite an imposing sight!

This is where we entered the ship. Paint was still being applied to this side of the ship.


This young officer was our tour guide. You can see how these little guys were quite impressed with the whole experience! There were quite a few retired Navy personnel on the tour also.

This is the view from the bridge - pretty impressive!

Panama City, FL - Sun Harbor Marina

Here are two of our jellyfish companions from Smack Bayou. They've got to be one of the stranger creatures our creator designed for our enjoyment!

Someone asked what a hurricane hole is: just somewhere to safely hole up while riding out a hurricane I guess! Since Dec. 1st was the official end of hurricane season, we haven't given them a lot of thought.

This is what one of the posts on the pier in Panama City Municipal Marina looked like. Barnacles are definitely something foreign to us. At night when it's really quiet, you can hear something like Rice Krispies in a bowl of milk: snap, crackle, pop! The harbormaster said it's crustaceans nibbling on the bottom of your hull. Hopefully all the work Paul did putting anti-fouling paint on our hull will prevent the little buggers from attaching themselves.

This is one of those nasty 50 ft. bridges that kept us off the ICW getting to Panama City. We figure we need 55 ft. of clearance to be safe. We went a whopping 4.6 miles on the water yesterday. We moved the boat over to Sun Harbor Marina, also on St. Andrew Bay just off the Gulf. They gave us a really reasonable monthly rate to leave the boat here while we're in Wisconsin for the holidays.

This is our slip. The finger piers are very short, maybe a third of your boat length. No cleats, just huge posts to tie to so your boat can move with the tides. We find it a bit more of a challenge docking by yourself. It also makes it a little tricky getting on and off the boat but so far no one's fallen in. (Ginger did once back in Tennessee but that's another story). That's Paul working on cleaning the salt off the boat. It's amazing how sticky it is and how quickly your boat looks a mess. (you know those Great Lakes boaters like to keep a clean ship!) He's putting a restorer and polish on all the rails to keep them from pitting.


There's a restaurant here at the marina but we haven't checked it out yet as we're trying to use up the food in the freezer before we go home. There's also a paddle wheel boat docked here, the "Betsy Ann". It's all lit up at night with holiday lights, quite festive. Last night a group went out for a holiday party, I can't imagine it's a very scenic ride in the dark but they seemed to have fun! I don't think I'll ever get used to the Christmas lights and decorations in 70 degree weather with green grass, flowers and palm trees. I feel like I'm in a foreign country sometimes. I'm sure the drive back to the land of cold and snow will bring me back to reality in a hurry!


This is looking across to the Betsy Ann from our dock. All for now - there probably won't be anything exciting to document for awhile but then you never know on this trip! Also, for any boaters looking for a fixer upper: the nice couple across the dock from us is selling "Nora B". Maybe they'd include the lounge chairs already set up for you on the foredeck!

We're in Florida!

Our last night in Fairhope was spent on Jan and Joe's m/v 5th Quarter for a spaghetti dinner with Andre and Olga from m/v Mystic Bond. Pictured is everyone minus Joe, the photographer. We met these boaters from the Florida Keys and Nova Scotia back in September in Joliet, Illinois so it was fun to reconnect.

We all left Fairhope on Tuesday and headed down Mobile Bay to the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW). We were excited to be sailing again though we had to douse the sails too soon as the ICW channel is quite narrow at that point.

We were told we needed to stop at LuLu's at Gulf Shores, AL, a "must stop" for Loopers. So we all had "Cheeseburgers in Paradise" at Jimmy Buffet's sister Lucy's place. It's a fun place with great food and atmosphere so it was well worth the stop.







We anchored for the night in Ingram's Bayou near Perdido Bay just off the ICW. The highlight of the day, besides the cheeseburger, was seeing our first dolphin! The lowpoint was running aground (though briefly) in the ICW, in the channel - crazy tides!

The next day was sunny and in the 70s again (sorry Wisconsinites!). About mid-morning we crossed into Florida - another milestone. The three of us got slips at Palafox Pier Marina in Pensacola - hooray for floating docks! We hadn't seen those in a long time and there can be some mighty big steps onto your boat with the fixed docks. History lesson: Pensacola is the City of Five Flags; over the last four centuries, Spain, France, England, the Confederate States of America and the United States of America have ruled Pensacola. All Navy, Marine and Coast Guard aviators start their training here. I never quite managed a picture of the Blue Angels in formation but trust me, we did see AND hear them. We also saw the Coast Guard doing maneuvers and plucking people out of the water by helicopter.


The next day we parted ways with the other boats that don't have a mast. There are several 50 ft. bridges that prevented us from heading to Ft. Walton Beach via the ICW. We headed to an anchorage near Pensacola near historic Ft. McCrae. A very pretty anchorage but we hit a sandbar coming in that somehow wasn't where it was supposed to be! We hit pretty hard and came to a dead stop. I have two bruises to prove it; I was down below and was thrown a couple of feet into a post. Hopefully that's the first and last time that happens!

On Friday we got an early start and headed out into the Gulf of Mexico. We weren't sure what to expect but it seemed reminiscent of Lake Michigan in regard to the wave action. (Ginger got seasick!) We had to motor-sail a lot of the way but after 47 miles we arrived in Destin, FL.

The white sand on the beaches coming in to Destin reminded me of snow, but thank goodness it wasn't! Since they didn't have any slips available, we ended up tied to the fuel dock at the Harbor Walk Marina. There really aren't any facilities for $1.75/ft. dockage so we weren't too happy but had no choice really. It's a big sport fishing marina. There was a lovely sunset from the boat though.



On Saturday morning we headed back into the Gulf. The wind was pretty brisk but, guess what? It was coming out of the east, directly where we were headed (sound familiar sailors?) So, more motor-sailing; we tried tacking for awhile but knew we'd be out of daylight by 5pm so we mostly just blasted right into it - not happy! The best part was encountering three dolphins who wanted to play. They'd go from one side of the boat to the other, swimming under the bow - too fast for me to get a good picture. The worst part was seeing our Packer windsock sailing off our stern! Not a great time for a man overboard drill but after two tries, we managed to snag it with a boat hook and pull it back onboard - yay team!

We set the anchor in a hurricane hole near Panama City just at dusk. It's called Smack Bayou but could be called "Jellyfish Bayou" - they were everywhere. I thought they were fascinating since I'd never seen one except in an aquarium. They were transparent and about 10 inches across. There were two sunken hulls in the bayou too; one sail and one power boat. Not sure what the story is on them - very strange. We spent two nights at anchor there after getting beat up on the Gulf.

We headed into the Panama City Marina early Monday am when the wind picked up and we weren't so comfortable at anchor anymore. And.... that's where we are now and finally have internet access again - hooray for civilization! Paul even got to watch Monday Night Football on cable and we walked to a place for dinner. Here's a picture from last night after the front moved through. Can't get enough of those sunsets! To be continued.... and GO PACKERS!!