Pura Vida Loop

We departed St. Andrews Marina today around 7:40am it was cold around 42 so the flybridge isinglass stayed closed most the day, with my little space heater running. today took us through St. Andrews Bay to East Bay and then into the narrow ICW, this was a long stretch because from all the rain the north has had, The river was in flood stage so all the debris in the woods that was flooded floated into the river and caused hazards.  This has been going on for a while so debris was scattered and you just had to dodge occasional big logs. Winding through this low swampy area was fun and being on high alert made it go by fast.  The boat handled well in the heavy currents. Once getting to the Apalachicola River the boat picked up considerable speed and we saw some homes that were getting water inside from the flood.   Our drive took 8 hours today and crossed the Eastern time zone line of demarcation 
  Apalachicola shrimp boat “beachcombers bounty”  
Water Street Hotel slip

  Floating docks are the best 
    
   
  Panama City natives  
 

Happy 2016 from Panama City, I’ve never really spent much time here even though it’s so close to Pensacola. It’s a interesting quirky place.  My friend Louis  Hines came by last night on his way back from Orlando visiting family and went to dinner with us, he stayed and offered to take us shopping today for some supplies we need  so we look forward to do this and enjoyed his visit,  tomorrow we will head to Apalachicola Florida and we are anticipating good weather. 
Port side to docking is preferred in calm marinas for ease of getting on and off the boat

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

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

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,