Integrity Cruise

Day 230: - Pensacola to Eglin AFB, FL

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Day 230: Monday, December 12th: Yes, Eglin Air Force Base. We understand your question: how does a small boat get into an Air Force Base? Read on.

This morning we got up slowly, showered and ate, and then snapped a couple of pictures of the Palofox Pier Yacht Harbour area. Here is an overview:

These little American Coots (yes, we have an Audubon Bird Book) were cute as they busied themselves about the marina. We are told they are not good eating:

We noticed Freedom had snuck out before we got up. Silk Purse and Family Matters got underway next and Dream Catcher V discovered a not-so-minor problem with one of their injector pumps on an engine. They were stuck here for about a week in order to get it fixed. In spite of that they managed a smile for our camera. That's Roy on the left and Stefanie ("Stef") on the right. Yes, they are Canadian. We met them first at Drummond Island, Ontario back in August:

We bid them farewell and pulled out of the marina. We had to pass this gold-plater as we left. It belongs to the fellow that owns the buildings in the background and the marina, among other things:

Leaving the marina basin one has to be impressed with the concrete seawall protecting the marina. That steel handrail was demolished by hurricane Ivan in 2004. It's one of the things not quite repaired yet. The docks were completely washed away:

Here is a view of the seawall from the other side. Rather substantial it is:

We headed south then east and re-entered the Gulf Inter-coastal Waterway passing under the bridge to Pensacola Beach. The older, lower bridge is still in place and makes two lo-o-ong fishing piers:

A few miles further we passed under the bridge connecting the mainland to Santa Rosa Island near Navarre Beach. This is the island that protects the Inter-coastal Waterway. The blue color did not turn out quite as striking as it was in real life:

This was a curiosity. We figured out that the property forming Eglin Air Force Base was both on the mainland to our left as well as on this section of Santa Rosa Island. Part of the island is National Seashore but not this part. The sand dunes are dotted with radar domes and this one strange-looking tower. We guessed it was an observation tower for some purpose. It was hundreds of feet high and very impressive:

A few miles past the tower we selected a little island to anchor behind for the night. It was a fairly deserted area, no buildings within sight and only one barge in the channel, slowly chugging away. It was peaceful and quiet until sunset.

Suddenly what sounded like a football stadium public address sound system blared out the "tattoo" bugle call. It was very shocking! We then figured out we were within the boundaries of Eglin Air Force Base. The sunset, nonetheless, was beautiful:

Right after dusk we began to hear bombs and airplanes flying over. We didn't know if we should be concerned or not. Finally, about 10:00pm the last bomb went off and the last airplane flew over. The airfield was a scant mile from our boat and we had no clue until the action started. Must have been some sort of exercise…

Position tonight: N30 24.151 W086 41.715

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