Turning Southward At Last

After spending all of Friday on the hook in Destin Harbor we left Sat morning at around 5:15 AM with the plan to definitely get as far as Panama City and possibly on to Port St Joe if we were to make good enough time.
Friday was miserable. The wind blew all day at 25 to 30 kts and gusting up to 40. The temp was comfortable but it's never fun to be at anchor in 40 kts of wind with the boat rocking in 2 foot waves-- in the harbor! But we put up with it--even put the dink in the water and dinghied to shore for a very mediocre lunch at one of the Boardwalk restaurants (We have had 2 excellent meals ashore in Destin---La Famiglia and Louisiana Lagniape---Don't bother with the restaurants on the Boardwalk. It seems they specialize in overpriced mediocrity. The view is cool but hardly worth the disappointment in the cuisine.)
Dinghiing back to the boat against the wind and waves left us a bit damp.
We studied the various weather sites all day and they all semed to agree that the weather on Saturday would moderate enough to allow us to go back offshore for the run down to Panama City or beyond.--Remember--we can't take the ditch from here as the bridge just beyond where we are anchored is only 47 feet---we need 53 feet of clearance. Those bridge builders were certainly not thinking of me when they built these low bridges--imagine that!!!
We decided we would try to make the run on Saturday even if it meant a bit of discomfort---so---early to bed and early to rise. We got underway at 5:15 Sat morning and navigated by chartplotter out of the harbor and up the channel to the Gulf. I knew we were in for a bit of excitement once we hit the mouth of the channel. The boat was going 2.5 knots over the water (Boat Speed) but we were traveling at 6.5 knots over ground(Speed Over Ground) That meant we had a 4 knot current going with us out the channel. That's usually a good thing. But in this case it meant there was a 4 knot current running out the channel headlong into the westerly wind and waves coming in off the Gulf at the mouth --that's a bad thing---. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that these waves are already building as they come in off of 30 foot water depth and climb the shelf to the 10 or 15 foot water at the mouth of the channel. Sure enough, when we got to the mouth we were met head on with 8 to 10 foot waves and pounded into them for about 15 minutes before we could turn to port and get them behind us. But once we made the turn and got the swells on our port stern quarter, got our jib set and began our eastward course it was actually fairly comfortable. Plus, with the benefit of surfing off of these big waves we were averaging around 71/2 knot s of speed. Port St Joe began to look like a real possibility.
The wind stayed at around 15 knots from the northwest all day, and the waves varied from 4 to 8 feet all day with occasional sideways rolls that were a bit unnerving. But the boat handled it all extremely well and so did we. It was really quite exhillerating(SP?)
We passed through the Panama City channel at around 12:15 (2 hours earlier than we had planned) so we made the decision to go on to Port St Joe. The critical issue was whether we could get there before sunset. (Never enter a strange harbor at night!!!!). As it turned out we hit the channel at 3:15 but then realized we still had another couple of hours of motoring down this endless channel across a bay to the marina. We arrived right at 5PM, tucked the boat into a slip, hooked up the electricity and poured my first martini and popped open Diane's beer, all in time to watch a beautiful sunset--- which is when we realized that the sun had been on our starboard side most of the afternoon-----We were finally headed SOUTH!!!!!
We had an excellent dinner at the Harbor Cafe right here at the marina and met and talked to Rick, the owner, who invited us to breakfast the next morning with about 50 members of the AGLCA---More on that later. After dinner Diane went straight to bed--exhausted. I tried to watch the Colts/Jets playoff game but the last thing I remembered was the start of the second half. I woke up on the settee as the game ended and staggered to bed.
It was a great day. We tested some limits and found we were up to the challenge. The boat handled it all quite well--she really is an excellent "coastal cruiser" and we couldn't have been more pleased with her. Life is good!!!