Memorial Weekend 2011

Oh my, what a most awesome weekend to remember our troops and to take a little time enjoying our freedom!

We set sail at 7am on Saturday.

The sky was blue and wind was about 5 knots.

Blake playing with his pet stuffed turtle.

Carol looking pretty as always.

Blake decided to get his animal gang together for a photo op.

Our friends Ty and Kiki cruised out about 8am on s/v Shooting Star to join in on the sailing fun.

The wind picked up to about 8 knots, so we close hauled and cruised at about 6.5 knots.

We were having a blast.

Ty and Kiki.

Blake and Carol hanging out.

Beautiful day.

Our weekend destination was Ft. McRee, so that is where we headed. Our friends Ty and Kiki, then Lanny and Matt anchored nearby to soak in the sunshine; they decided to get in some more sailing before sunset and headed back out.

Lot of other boaters enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

Our friends Jeff and Jennifer were already anchored and soaking in the sun.

Boaters at Pensacola’s Ft. McRee.

Jody, Chrys, Myriah and family were on the shore waving a greeting.

As evening came upon us, we fired up the air conditioner, then dinghy’d to shore to hang out around a fire. I know, sounds nuts, but it works that way sometimes in Florida.

Here’s Blake taking us to the beach fire.

Blake roasting marshmallows.

Ben and Jody being goofy.

Blake and Myriah.

Evening fishing.

Fun fun!!

We got up Sunday morning and prepped to head out. Carol and Blake went fishing with Myriah and Kaylan, while Ben cleaned up around Monomoy.

Ben hopped in the water to scrape the prop.

OK, so after the hard work, we decided to lounge around for a bit.

Brice, Ashley, Jason and Derek showed up, so that was even more reason to stick around the anchorage.

More lounging in the water. Pogo even got in on the relaxing. Yep, that’s Pogo chilling on a float.

After Brice and the gang took off, we went for a hike on Robertson Island.

Our GRITster friend Brian stopped by along with his ECSO partner to discuss very important details regarding the upcoming BEER Cruise; ok, so they were officially working, but we managed to get them to talk about the upcoming sail. We didn’t get any pictures, but Brian did give Blake a new ECSO whistle and beach ball; thanks Brian!

Our friends Coy and Iris on m/v Fantasea joined us for the evening.

Absolutely beautiful!

We awoke early Monday morning and headed back to the marina, so we could get Monomoy cleaned up and begin provisioning for the upcoming Backwater Environmental Escape Rendezvous! We had a really fantastic time with family and friends; looking forward to next weekend!