Another early start during sunrise got us out and back onto the ICW, headed towards Pensacola, Florida. We crossed under the Daughin Island Bridge and through the heavy fog that we had hoped wasn’t a squall. The wind had clocked around to the north so we were able to raise the sails and turn off the motor finally. Soon we reached Portage Creek which weaves its way through the coast of Alabama towards Pensacola, Florida along the ICW.
The banks of the channel were lined with homes, a few marinas and fuel docks, and the occasional fisherman. Blue herons, anhingas and pelicans made up our audience above the water, and a few dolphins zipped around under the surface.
The rest of the trip through the creek was more of a tedious and slow motor, winding through the channel markers. We did have to dodge a barge at one point who took up most of the channel.
Soon after we crossed the state line into Florida the squalls came upon us and we decided to find a marina to dock at, so Southwinds Marina was the one we chose. Thankfully this docking experience went a lot smoother than the last. There the boat would stay for a few days in Pensacola. Meanwhile the Captain had to rent a car to drive back to Louisiana for a meeting. I decided to go with him since I was gonna be spending a lot of time on the boat without any option to leave soon.
The following morning on May 4th the Captain interviewed Annie Dike, who’s kinda like the Cheryl Strayed of sailing. You can check out Annie’s website for more info. After the interview Linus had to go get the rental car, and a new phone (since it was in his pocket as he fell off the dock the night before). Around 16:00 we left Pensacola, driving towards Louisiana.
It was just a one night stay in Louisiana, but for me it was really nice getting to meet his family. His wife a very intelligent and happy lady, and his daughter, an extremely talented and cute 5 year old.
On May 5th we were headed back to the boat for one more sleep before kicking off into deeper waters, and the longest stretch yet (280 miles) to St. Petersburg, FL.
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