December 7
Found a marina in Panama City last night. One of the few remaining after Irma. This area was pretty well devastated. One of our boat slip neighbors didn’t fare so well during the storm.
First light had been arriving around 6:30 in the morning but now since we are traveling east first light (‘bout 30 minutes before sunrise) was at 6 AM. Would have been nice to have used that time for travel. Beautiful sunrise nevertheless. About an hour after sunrise we passed this pretty sailboat moving along at 6+MPH.
Looks like one cold sailor!
Lots of devastation in this area. Following are quite a few photo’s of what we have come across. Look closely at the first image. This ship must have been blown over on it’s starboard ((right) side. Can you see the mud on the side of the ship? In the other photo of the ship you can see the huge chains the barge is using to anchor the boat to keep it from rolling over. Whole lotta blue tarps on people’s houses.
This guy held on like a hair in a biscuit!
Debbie calls me crazy. I think it is a splendid idea. The diesel engines generate about 160 degrees of heat on the exhaust manifolds. So, while we are running I will place our lunch or dinner on the top of the engine/s to heat it up. Tonight? Frozen lasagna. There is even a cookbook for cooking this way, Manifold Destiny. Will finish it off in the convection oven. Play on words, remember Manifold Destiny from your US history class? Speaking of the convection oven, when we purchased the boat it was like drinking out of a firehose learning all of the systems and how to operate such a complex vessel. As the captain, I assigned a critical task to the War Department. Learn how to use the convection oven. Go ahead, ask me if she ever figured it out. And you wonder why I am cooking on the engines?
And since we are discussing the engine room, it is loud as hell down there when under way even running at only 1200 rpm’s. Gotta wear ear protection. Not pretty, but it does the job.
Turned into quite a nice day. Started out at 43 degrees and now it’s about 65 on the flybridge.
We have been in a canal just about all day. Pretty narrow and not much to look at.
And then we enter this wide beautiful area and this is where we will anchor. Got here at 3 o’clock and hoping for a clear night for stargazing.
Short video of the Jackson Saul anchorage.
Tonight we will experiment with anchoring.We will be in an anchorage that only has room for 1 boat the size of WB with room to swing when the tide changes. We are traveling with a smaller boat in the 35 foot range, Oar Knot. Yesterday we deployed the large anchor I spoke of in a earlier post. That sucker should hold in a hurricane, but I don’t think I will test it. Jim and Laurie Edgerly are pot lucking with us for dinner on board WB. I am sure a party will ensue into the wee hours. Maybe as late as 8 o’clock.
WTH, there’s that speedy sailboat again, Serenity. Using all of the daylight he can.
My first mate Dave figured out how to use the convection oven so we browned the frozen lasagna that I had warmed to 160 on the engines, toasted some frozen garlic bread on the cooktop and Jim and Laurie brought a salad and some baked apples for dessert. Two bottles of wine later, Jim and Laurie head back to Oar Knot as it is close to Looper midnight 7:50PM. Wish I could share an image of the stars tonight. They are all out shining brilliantly. Just beautiful.
G’night all.
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