Feels like we have liberated our boat baby. She has new electronics, radar, marine radio and stereo/speaker system and a cool new Davit system (this launches/retrieves the tender/dinghy boat). We fuel up next door at Lulu’s / Homeport Marina. (Note: Lulu’s is owned by Jimmy Buffett’s sister Lucy. It is a fun restaurant with live music.)

Finally on our way leaving Gulfport, AL and heading for Niceville, FL via the Intracoastal Waterway. Our new Garmin plotter provides us the “waze” route to follow avoiding shallows, hazards, staying within channel markers, etc. Bluewater Bay Marina in Niceville is our planned home for a few days. Conditions are fine for our travels until we get to our slip. There is a very strong current making backing in (stern first) near impossible. After a few attempts we decide to pull in nose (bow) first. Even so, a swift current pushes our backside and we end up bumping a piling more than anticipated. No damage was done but Alan’s docking confidence was a bit rattled.

This slip has very short “finger” docks so movement on/off the boat is a circus move.

Sure am glad we have been working out! I have to swing a leg over the bow rail, swing the other leg over and back off the boat while holding on. The step down is about 3 feet!! Alan stands behind me, saying he will catch me if I fall. Assuming I don’t land on him, he is just watching my backside 😉. This a nice marina with restaurant, laundry, restroom/shower facilities and we meet other Loopers who are very friendly and invite us to “docktales”.  Translation: drinks, snacks and stories! One of our new friends tells us about a great reference book for boats.

We had high wind, tornado and Tstorm warnings Sat night. Luckily it was mostly windy and heavy rain. Could have been so much worse. 

We had 8 lines on the boat baby to secure her, engineering OCD.  Alan decided we needed to add YET another line at 10pm, when it’s dark and windy out. The photo below is the piling he wanted to attach our line. There is no way to reach it so I had to use an extendable pole with a hook on the end to get a rope looped over the piling. Great, I am out at 10pm working a pole and hooking!  My retirement gig!! Still have my warped sense of humor – living up to the Nauti Nerds name!