s/v Monomoy's blog

1987 Hunter Legend 37.5

Blue Angels Over Pensacola Beach

We headed out on Thursday, July 8 for Pensacola Beach to get a good spot for anchoring over the next few days. The Blue Angel’s Air Show was coming up July 9-10 over the beach.

We typically don’t go to Saturday’s show, since Friday’s is the “Dress Rehearsal” and the exact same show that it put on Saturday. This year though the show on Friday wasn’t as good as previous years with only one stunt plane that started after 1pm, then the Blues were late starting and was short a plane for some reason. After the Friday show, we decided we’d stick it out for Saturday in hopes of getting a better show.

Saturday’s show was a little better, but still wasn’t as good as previous years. It started around noon with 11 prop planes flying in a unison flyby, followed by the 1 stunt plane. The Blues started a little late again with Fat Albert stalling, but we did get all 6 planes.

Bobby and Max joined us Thursday and rafted up “Pearl” overnight to watch Friday’s show. They departed Friday afternoon.

Max and Bobby

Jody, his wife, daughter, and daughter’s friend came out Thursday night and stayed rafted up with us till Saturday afternoon. They had some friends (Ricky and Tasha) join us for Saturday’s show.

Jody and Chrys.

jody and chrys

Jody and Chrys’s daughter and daughter’s friend.

girls

Ricky and Tasha.

friends

Ken and Sheri were out in Cantata (to be properly renamed in coming future to “Private Stock”) with us. This was their maiden voyage with Cantata and they stayed Thursday till Sunday morning.

ken and sheri

Jim and Denise on s/v Another Chance also joined us Thursday through Sunday. Here they are in the foreground.

Jim and Denise

We ultimately stayed until Sunday morning as well.

Here are some additional pics for your enjoyment.

Blake.

blake

Pogo.

pogo

Cantata.

cantata

cantata

Hanging out.

hanging

Carol.

Carol

Tasha taking a nap.

tasha

Hanging out.

hanging out

Blake.

blake

We had a storm blow through Saturday afternoon; Ken decided to swim over during it.

Ken

He picked an interesting place to get back on his boat.

ken

ken

At one point the wind blew strong and broadsided us to heel our boat 15 degrees sitting at anchorage; it didn’t last, but Blake prepared himself for the next one.

blake

Pogo hanging out.

pogo

Ben worn out after the weekend.

Ben

Ken and Sheri.

Ken and Sheri

Cantata

Cantata

Fat Albert.

Fat Albert

Fat Albert

The Sheriff’s office and FWC did a fine job of keeping the wake down.

boats

Blue’s.

Blue Angels

Blues

blues

Lots of boaters.

boaters

Jody.

jody

Jody and gang leaving for home Saturday.

jody

Storm coming in on Saturday.

storm

Blake hanging out.

Blake

Another Chance as the storm is coming in.

another chance

Cleared out quick with the storm coming.

cleared

Pearl on the left, Monomoy in the middle, and Christiana on the right.

boats

After Pearl left on Friday.

monomoy

Scot (marina neighbor) cruised by.

sail

Scot

Pogo, Ben, Blake, and Carol.

family

Blake ready for bed.

blake

Pearl on Thursday.

pearl

Ben: “Uh, yeah, I’m at the office.” :)

Ben

Carol having fun.

Carol

Ben at the helm.

Ben

Blake and Woody.

Blake and Woody

Sunset each night.

sunset

Enjoying a hotdog.

hotdog

Enjoying watermelon.

watermelon

Now a Shrek ice cream delivered by the ice cream boat.

shrek

Cool clouds.

clouds

Jim heading over for a visit.

JIm

Another Chance.

Another Chance

Sunrise each morning.

sunrise

Pogo, Carol, and Blake.

family

Blue Angels.

Blues

blues

blues

Blues

Ben taking the girls to retrieve a ball.

ball retrieval

Another Chance is surrounded.

boats

Fat Albert.

Fat Albert

Morgan against the dock.

Morgan

July 12th, 2010 Posted by Captain | Extended Cruise | no comments

Weekend to Quietwater

June 26-27, 2010…

Another great weekend.

The work boats were back out in full force.

workers

worker

We sailed over to Quietwater with Pogo assuming her position.

pogo

Captain Ben.

Ben

The evening was gorgeous.

evening

blake

evening

Pirate Blake.

blake

Sunday morning the parasail boat was running early.

parasail

Sailboats were out cruising.

sailing

We didn’t get as many photos as typical this weekend, but we had a great time just the same.

July 3rd, 2010 Posted by Captain | Extended Cruise | no comments

More beautiful days!

Friday, June 11, 2010…

We departed Quietwater on Friday and headed back to the marina.

We could see the new Margarittaville Hotel.

hotel

People were already out having fun.

parachute

We noticed a Gemini 105Mc sailing.

gemini

We didn’t get as many photos Friday as we normally do, but we had a good time just the same.

Saturday Blake wanted to take The Force solo sailing, so that’s what he did; with Ben following in the dink.

Blake

Blake

Blake

Blake

Blake

After sailing, we went to our marina’s annual customer appreciation party, which was a lot of fun. Then we all went back to the marina and settled in for the night.

blake and pogo

Sunday was Carol’s birthday. There was no wind, but we made it out on the water aboard our friends Silverton 42. We motored over to Paradise Bar and Grill on the beach, next over to Quietwater, then one last stop at The Oar House, before heading back to the marina.

Blake took the helm.

blake

blake

Coy and Marlin were aboard.

friends

Coy

There were a few sailboats out, but note the luffing sails.

Horizon

What a fun week!

June 14th, 2010 Posted by Captain | Extended Cruise | no comments

June 10, 2010

Still out sailing…

We left Ft. McRee Thursday around noon when oil cleanup traffic became noticeably increased. Oil skimmers were in the Pensacola Land Cut, which is already narrow, so it was difficult to pass. We were under sail while approaching, so I furled in the jib a bit and fired up the diesel to maintain better control till we were passed all of the boats.

skimmers

keeldover

boat

After that, we had a fantastic sail!

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

Crew-boat heading out to the Gulf.

crew boat

Blake having a good time.

blake

Pogo was pooped out.

pogo

Once we arrived to our destination of the night (Quietwater), we noted the main halyard had slapped around a spreader and caught around the steaming light. Ben tried to shake it loose, but it wasn’t happening, so Carol went up in the bosun’s chair.

carol

That evening we watched a beautiful sunset with two swans swimming in the foreground.

swans

Keeldover joined us at the anchorage.

keeldover

As did Another Chance.

another chance

Friday is supposed to be another beautiful day!

June 11th, 2010 Posted by Captain | Extended Cruise | no comments

Cruising Back Out

We headed out Wednesday, June 9, 2010 with the intent to go to Pirate’s Cove in Josephine, AL, but with the concern over areas being boomed off, we didn’t want to get stuck over there and ended up at Ft. McRee instead.

horizon

horizon

trimaran

coast guard

coasties

sailboat

sailboats

Keeldover and Another Chance cruised with us.

sailboats

Once at McRee we walked over to the Gulf to find crew working the beach. They were carrying bags of something and when asked what it was, they put their heads down and said they couldn’t say; that was a disconcerting feeling.

walking

cleanup

cleanup

crew

cleanup

So we walked on.

ben carol blake

ben carol

blake

birds

birds

View of the boats.

boats

boats

walking

Once we got back to the boat, Blake did a little fishing.

fishing

Well, time to pull anchor and head to Quietwater.

June 10th, 2010 Posted by Captain | Extended Cruise | no comments

Days 4 – 5

Monday and Tuesday, June 7-8, 2010…

Monday the group of BEER Cruisers who had gone on down to Juanas, cruised over to Quietwater.

Everyone had a great time.

Another Chance

Keeldover

Monomoy

Ben and Blake

Blake

Ben

Pensacola Beach

blake and carol

blake and carol

Friends Marlin and Aaron.

friends

BEER Cruisers.

BEER

BEER

beer

beer

beer

beer

pensacola beach

quietwater

beer

beer

beer

beer

beer

Blake took his turn at the dinghy helm.

blake

Ben took Pogo to shore.

ben and pogo

BEER Cruiser.

BEER

BEER Cruise is over and heading home.

beer over

Approx. 60-61 feet tall mast with 63 feet of total clearance.

bridge

Showered and settled back down at the marina.

blake

What a fantastic time! See all BEER Cruisers again next year!

June 10th, 2010 Posted by Captain | Extended Cruise | no comments

BEER Cruise – Days 2 & 3

June 5-6, 2010…

We’ve all had a great time thus far.

We anchored at the Navarre Pavilions Saturday and had quite the rain storm move through. Weather reports stated 50-60 knot wind, but everyone’s ground tackle held with all the cruisers hunkering down to ride it out. Some of the following pictures may be out of order, but you get the idea.

BEER 2010

BEER 2010 Cruisers

BEER 2010

Hunter 33

Beer 2010

boats

boats

another chance

keeldover

white caps

Beer 2010

Pogo.

Pogo at BEER

Blake.

Blake

Keeldover.

keeldover

Pan Dragon.

Pan Dragon

Doggie aboard Pan Dragon.

doggie

Captain Kevin of Pan Dragon (don’t think he knew his pic was being taken).

Pan Dragon

Pan Dragon.

Pan Dragon

Blake napping on a cooler.

Blake

Sailing.

sailing

Crazy hair, but having fun!

Carol

Portofino Towers

portofino

Sailboats on BEER 2010.

sailboats

sailboats

sailboats

sailboats

Goofing off in the rain.

goofing off

goofing

Macgregor catamaran.

macgregor catamaran

catamaran

Pogo.

pogo

Blake.

blake

BEER Cruisers.

sailboat

rain

Mmmm…

dinner

We awoke Sunday morning to a beautiful day.

I don’t think Pogo had enough sleep.

pogo

blake

sailing

sailing

keeldover

keeldover

Most of the group sailed to Juanas in Navarre, while a few of us decided to go to Big Sabine. One of the boats needed provisions (more beer), so we sailed to Quietwater so they could stock up. Once we dropped the hook at Quietwater, everyone was ready to just hang out, so we never sailed back to Big Sabine. The rest of the BEER group will be heading to Quietwater for the final leg of the trip, so that’s where we’ll stay.

Sailboats on BEER.

sailboat

beer

boat

sailboats

sailboats

sailboat

sailboats

sailboat

‘Another Chance’

another chance

‘Another Chance’

another chance

Friends came over to visit on Monomoy.

friends

friends

friends

Looking forward to a beautiful Monday.

June 7th, 2010 Posted by Captain | Extended Cruise | no comments

Memorial Weekend 2010

Saturday, May 29, 2010…

The day started a little overcast, but we weren’t complaining.

Blake listened to his own tunes.

Blake

Jody came over the night before to the marina and stayed the night with us. He brought his boat and cruised out early along side of us Saturday morning.

Jody

Many other sailboats out taking advantage of the day.

sailboats

sailboat

Catalina

Carol enjoyed herself.

Carol

Captain Ben at the helm.

Ben

The water was gorgeous!

No oil here.

After we set the hook, Jody rafted up with us, then we all hit the water.

Jody

Jody diving

More boaters.

Ft. McRee

boats

sailboat

Carol took some more pics of our boat interior.

Here’s a picture of our galley.

galley

The salon.

Hunter 37.5

Monomoy

Blake’s room.

Blake's room

Ben and Carol’s room.

Master Stateroom

OK, now back to other pics… Kevin with Pan Dragon anchored near and ended up stopping by for a cocktail.

Pan Dragon

A severe storm blew in, so Carol took that opportunity to bake chocolate chip cookies.

fresh cookies

Brian Hart with Wind Song anchored nearby, but the rain kept him inside.

Wind Song

Jody enjoyed the cocktails.

Jody

More rain.

rain

OK, both Ben and Jody were enjoying cocktails.

Ben and Jody

Pogo stayed below.

Pogo

Blake watched a movie after having a cookie.

Blake

The rain stopped for a little bit, so Ben jumped back in the water.

Ben

Later that evening, Jody cruised over to pick up his wife (Chrys) and daughter (Myriah) who stayed the night with us as well.

Chrys and Jody

Another storm came in and gave us quite a lightning show.

storm

lightning

storm

Sunday, May 30, 2010…

We woke up early and decided to pull the hook and head back in after coffee. Weather reports were calling for some more bad thunderstorms.

Sunday

Sky darkening.

storm

Pogo was watching.

Pogo

Then Pogo decided to take a nap.

Pogo

The sky as we approached the Navy Base Point.

Navy Point

Looking toward Bayou Chico.

sky

More sky.

sky

Monday, May 31, 2010…

The weather was iffy with rain, then blue skies, then back to rain, so we stayed around the marina and took the opportunity to cruise in the dinghy for the afternoon.

Just under the Bayou Chico bridge, BP has a cleanup crew on standby.

BP

oil truck

The crew is ready to work, but no oil around here, so they can hang out and relax.

BP crew

BP

The sky actually looked nice for a bit.

blue skies

Blake skippered the boat.

Blake

Blake

It’s amazing what you will see in the bayou. This boat had evidence of being on its side for quite some time, but was apparently raised and floating.

Boat that sunk

The same dock had this boat as well. Note the holes on the port side. The lines you see near the roof is actually PVC with water pumping out of them, probably to keep the boat afloat.

sinking boat

Then we came across this pirate looking boat.

pirate boat

pirate boat

On our return trip, we passed by Patriot at rest in her slip.

Patriot

As well as White Caps.

white caps

BEER 2010 is just under a week away, so we are stoked and looking forward to the cruise.

United State of America - flag

May 30th, 2010 Posted by Captain | Extended Cruise | no comments

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