The sky was cloudy, but wind and temps were perfect.

This is Sam the Pinata. He was obtained a few years ago for a planned beating as most pinatas receive at the end of their lifespan, but he was given a mouth, nostrils, and eyelashes, which gave him personality; alas he was spared. Sam now comes out to visit once a year for Cinco de Mayo.

Blake wearing his authentic sombrero.

Once we entered Little Sabine, the sky was awesome. Clouds were everywhere you could look around, except right over Little Sabine, where we had our own bit of paradise. We dropped the hook, then John on m/v After Five and Steven on s/v Mistress rafted up.

Paddleboarders doing their afternoon yoga. The sky appears cloudy, but that is in the distance. Directly above was gorgeous.

Trimaran beached for swimming.

Ken on s/v Private Stock entering Little Sabine.

Blake kayaking to the shallows.

Carol and Blake enjoying the water.

A group of paddleboarders came by all lit up.

Steven and Arlene enjoying the moonlight view.

Blake showing off his muscles.

Sunday morning was another beautiful day.

We had our morning coffee and visited with friends. John received a call that he had to head back to work, so he was off to catch a flight.

This fellow was enjoying his breakfast.

Blake kayaked over to the beach to play at a park and join some other kids who were having fun.

We weighed anchor and headed out for a sail before returning to the marina. We noticed s/v Another Chance sailing in the distance.

Sailboat with just the headsail out.

Blake and Pogo were pooped out. Pogo was sleeping, but became alert when I attempted to take a picture.

It was a really nice weekend with good people. We’re looking forward to more enjoyable sailing over the summer months.

We departed the marina around 0800 Saturday morning and were the only vessel on the Pensacola Bay.

Marina neighbors Patrick and Robin gave Blake a new kite the evening before, so he took the opportunity to fly it off Monomoy.

The wind was around 5 knots and we were sailing at about 5 knots.

Pogo was on dolphin alert.

A few other sailboats began showing up on the water.

Our destination was Little Sabine. On our way, we were hailed by s/v Eagle who just wanted to tell us they enjoy reading our blog. Blake felt like a celebrity; ha.

Carol was in bikini mode and loving the sunshine.

This barge/tow passed us heading the opposite direction.

After dropping the hook, Tammy and Marlin from s/v Keeldover treated us to dinner at Hooters, then dinghy’d over to Monomoy for cocktails.

The Pensacola Beach Ball water tower is undergoing a repaint.

Blake drew himself a new tattoo on his arm. He made it to where the feet would dance when he bends his arm.

It was a really nice evening!

Steven and Budder from s/v Mistress left his sailboat at the dock and cruised over on his Baja to raft with us for the night.

Budder enjoying the view.

Sunday morning’s sunrise showed that we would have another fantastic day.

Steven’s Baja rafted.

It was a calm morning.

Margaritaville Hotel.

Ben and Steven took Pogo and Budder to shore.

Pogo and Budder hanging out on the back of the Baja.

The sky was perfectly clear as the sun made its way up.

Paddleboarders came out to enjoy the calm sabine.

We played in the shallows a bit as we waited till around noon for the wind to pick up and set sail.

We passed s/v Nightwatch heading the opposite direction.

Tim and Michelle on s/v Sea Lilly.

More sailors enjoying the perfect sailing day.

We had a great time sailing and visiting with friends. Hopefully next weekend will prove to be just as nice!

Bob enjoying the evening.

Ken relaxing, cause he is usually doing all the work on his own boat Private Stock when on the bay.

Ben adjusting the genoa sheets, while Teresa is at the helm.

Sweethearts.

There were a few other boaters out this evening.

Lights from the new Maritime Park Ball Field.

We had a great night sail and finished the evening with cocktails and a tour of Cordonazo, a large steel ketch, who is getting ready to head to the Keys in a couple of days.

Sunday the 8th started out beautiful, so Ben, Carol, Blake, and Pogo went for an early daysail.

Blake took the helm for a bit.

Pogo was relaxing.

Yawl cruising the bay.

Other sailboats slowly cruising along.

The wind died to near nothing.

So we fired up the iron sail and headed into port. Once tied up to the dock, we drove out to the beach to meet Scot/Laura and Jody/Chrys for cocktails poolside, before cruising over to Peg Leg Petes on the beach to join Brice/Ashley for dinner. It was another great day!

Monday we took Scot/Laura out for a lunchtime sail and then Tuesday Ben/Carol went alone for a lunchtime sail on the bay, though we didn’t get pictures of either lunch trips. Why eat lunch at the dock, when it only takes a few minutes to get underway and you can eat your sandwich with the sails up!!!

The wind started slow at around 3 knots, but quickly grew and peaked at 18 knots while we were out. Perhaps that was Mother Nature’s joke on us that we thought it would be a slow drift in the sun, but it turned out to be a near rails in the water day.

Ken on s/v Private Stock was having a great time.

The Global 1200 crew were out in the their lifeboat giving it a run.

Another sailboat cruising the bay.

We didn’t get many pictures of the day, because of the increased wind, but we had a fantastic time!

After docking, the Pensacola Yacht Club had a little boat parade.

It was a great weekend and next weekend is already looking like it will be a good time for sailing as well.

s/v Private Stock in the distance.

Not much wind, but we were on the water.

Carol looking pretty as always.

s/v Sea Wench heading to Little Sabine.

With such a nice weekend, the bridge to the beach was packed.

Pogo was sunbathing.

Our dockmaster’s wedding was Saturday, so we toasted him and his new bride from afar as we was had quite a raftup at Pensacola Beach.

We sailed over to Little Sabine and dropped the hook. S/v Another Chance, s/v Sea Wench, m/v After Five, s/v Monomoy, s/v Sea Lilly, and s/v Sapphire all rafted, while s/v Private Stock anchored nearby. We had quite a load on our Manson Supreme, but it held the weight.

Blake and Lacie’s two boy rowed over to the shallows for some play.

The wind picked up to around 15 knots, so s/v Sea Lilly and s/v Sapphire pulled away to reduce the strain.

Jim was having a good time.

Carol still looking pretty as always.

The wind concerned us with the small area to anchor in Little Sabine and the number of boats we had, so we weighed anchor and headed to Quietwater. M/v After Five dropped his hook, while s/v Monomoy, s/v Another Chance, s/v Sea Wench, and s/v Private Stock rafted. S/v Sapphire and s/v Sea Lilly tied to the dock.

The wind was building the next morning, so we broke up the raftup and headed out sailing back toward the marina.

S/v Sea Wench after shoving off.

S/v Another Chance.

Folks enjoying the blue sky.

Pogo was pooped out.

May not be a smile on his face, but Ben was having a great time with the wind.

We had a reefed headsail and was still sailing at 5.5 knots.

We missed the dockmaster’s wedding, but I suspect he didn’t notice and we had the chance to get many of the Palm Harbor group out on the bay for a weekend of sailing fun.

Here is a Beneteau from our marina motorsailing by.

Another vessel appearing to find some amount of breeze.

Carol didn’t mind though.

Ben didn’t mind either, cause we were on the Pensacola Bay and Carol was wearing a bikini!

That little breeze didn’t last long.

So we fired up the diesel and made our way toward Ft. McRee to meet up with Jody and crew, though we never made it there.

Other sailboats heading out.

No wind.

Joey and Lacie had all canvas up, but made progress under diesel alone.

Sea Wench (Joey and Lacie) and Another Chance (Jim) dieseling.

Rum Runner (Jimmy and Janet) headed out. They had made the attempt earlier, but returned to the dock when the fog was too thick.

Recall the Beneteau that passed us earlier? The fog quickly rolled back in, so they pulled over to wait it out.

Fog rolled in all around us, but there was a clear patch over by Santa Rosa Island, so Monomoy, Sea Wench, and Another Chance rafted to Sea Wench to start cocktail hour.

Another Chance heading over to raft up.

We provided our coordinates to John on m/v After Five, so he found us with his plotter and radar, joining us for the evening. It was quite a raftup, but no pics of the vessels tied up were taken.

The sky finally cleared back up around 1630 CST, but we were already in social hour, so we stayed put.

The next morning started foggy again, but it lifted around 0830, so we all set sail.

Ken on Private Stock had made it to McRee before the fog set in, so he was on the bay sailing Sunday. Here he is avoiding a powerboater.

Another sailor on the bay.

Better picture of Ken doing some sailing!

Though Monday was a bust for sailing, we had a great time socializing with friends that night and a fantastic day of sailing on Sunday.

Tracing an awe-inspiring ocean journey from Boston, around Cape Horn, to the California coast, Two Years Before the Mast is both a riveting story of adventure and an eloquent, insightful account of life at sea in the early nineteenth century. At the young age of nineteen, Richard Henry Dana abandoned the patrician world of Boston and Harvard for an arduous voyage among real sailors and real dangers. His account of the journey is an astonishing tale, replete with vivid descriptions of storms, whales, and the ship’s mad captain. It also includes fascinating historical detail, including an intriguing portrait of California before the gold rush. As D. H. Lawrence proclaimed, “Dana’s small book is a very great book.” This is American literature and American history at its very best. Newly designed and typeset in a modern 6-by-9-inch format by Waking Lion Press.

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If fresh water is to be treasured, the Great Lakes are the mother lode. No bodies of water can compare to them. One of them, Superior, is the largest lake on earth, and the five lakes together contain a fifth of the world’s supply of standing fresh water. Their ten thousand miles of shoreline bound eight states and a Canadian province and are longer than the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. Their surface area of 95,000 square miles is greater than New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island combined. People who have never visited them — who have never seen a squall roar across Superior or the horizon stretch unbroken across Michigan or Huron — have no idea how big they are. They are so vast that they dominate much of the geography, climate, and history of North America. In one way or another, they affect the lives of tens of millions of people.

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Alvirah Meehan, lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, and private investigator Regan Reilly are guests, along with their spouses, on the “Santa Cruise.” The cruise is a gift from Commodore Randolph Weed to a select group that “has made the world a better place.” His largesse is prompted by the desire to create a buzz about his new cruise ship, the Royal Mermaid, as she sets out on her maiden voyage.

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Kept us interested through the entire book.

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We were only out for a few hours, so not many pictures taken.

We did have time for a cocktail.

There was a regatta taking place.

It was a short sail, but at least we made it out onto the bay!