Wet morning turned into a pretty one on the narrow icw from Choctawhatchee bay to Saint Andrews bay. St. Andrews city marina gave us a free night tonight for the new year,
Water looks like the Mississippi River from all the sediment that washed away from the rain 
Dolphins in the wake, turned it up to 15kts today for about a hour to make it to the marina before another front comes through. Our normal cruise speed is 8-10kts
Today the weather made me want to stay at Baytowne another day, it rained light to heavy from about 11am on. We did have some sun peak out just about sunset and that brings hope for good weather tomorrow. My good friend Joe Donnovan lives here and gave us a ride to Bass Pro Shops and treated us to a great lunch at Stinkys fish camp which was delicious. This made the day even more awesome. Life is good,
Around 3pm we arrived at Baytowne Marina greeted by the famous Captain Ron, they offer a looper rate of 2.00$ a foot per night compared to 3.00$ for all others. This is a good place to stop. Tons of shops food and sights to see all in walking or bike riding distance. We had a smooth 60 miles today. Going to eat at Acme ouster house tonight. Tomorrow if weather looks nice we will motor to St. Andrews marina in Panama City. Have a nice evening -pura vida standing by
We left this morning about 8am, we have a 70 mile ride today to Baytowne wharf in Sandestin. The storm blew all the clouds away and it’s shaping up to be a great day.
Dolphins met us about 12 miles into the trip
This system has had us on standby waiting to leave, traveling on a boat takes a lot of getting used to. You can only travel when the weather is ideal, or you risk having lots of problems. So a schedule with dates does no good on a boat, you really have to be able to just go with the flow. No one can Control or really predict the weather, spirits are high and we are very excited and so lucky to be embarking on this adventure
We had planned to leave early this morning but we needed to finish up a few things and are monitoring a storm coming from the West. Pura Vida should be officially ready to go this evening and we will watch the weather and start making way when it is appropriate.
Finding a boat that fit my needs took quite a while, I probably spent 8-9 months looking at boats with my loyal broker Bob Schwarts from Dog River marine. when we first saw this 40ft hatteras We knew it was the one I wanted. It lived on the Cumberland river in Gallatin Tennessee. It took us 7 days to run her 900 miles back to mobile bay where Dog River Marine pulled her out of the water and went through it with a fine tooth comb. Fixing things that needed fixing and updating a few creature comforts and servicing all the mechanical equipment. The Cumberland River takes you into Lake Barkley in Illinois and then from their you will you go into Kentucky lake and down the Tenn Tom waterway to the Tom Bigbee river and to the Black warrior River which empties into mobile bay. From their were about 65 miles form Pensacola fl 
The day before thanksgiving we swapped out Pura Vidas original 8KW Onan for a 12.5KW Phasor with a 4 cyl Kubota diesel and heavy duty Stamford Electrical end, this unit will be more modern and efficient while staying on the hook. We swapped them right through the salon door, pretty interesting and long day over at Bahia Mar thanks to Mark with Marks Mobil Marine my hard working assistant captain Lisa and Louis we were finished by 10pm just lacking a few finishing touches,
Pura Vida Loop 