Integrity Cruise

Day 231: - Eglin AFB to Niceville, FL

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Day 231: Tuesday, December 13th: Wow! Last night's sleep was wonderful, in spite of mid-thirties temperatures. Ruth make pancakes for breakfast and we got underway about 10:45am with a short day's run planned.

Leaving the anchorage behind the little island foretold of a perfect weather day, smooth seas, white sand and clear blue water:

In a few hundred yards we discovered why we heard all the airplane noise last night. We were only a short distance from the end of the Eglin Air Force Base north-south runway; these are the approach lights:

We cruised through "The Narrows" in Santa Rosa Sound and approached Fort Walton Beach. It, too, is full of condominiums:

This is Brooks Bridge, the bridge over the waterway that links the beach with the town:

This section of the coast is nicknamed "The Emerald Coast" as boasted by this water tank:

This is Rick's Crab Trap. We reckoned that in the summer afternoons you wouldn't be able to tie up here. As it was now before noon in December, and after a bad hurricane, there was no action at all:

Then we noticed that this area still had not fully recovered from Ivan. Note the missing wall sections and sign parts of "Brooks Bridge Marina & Dry Storage":

We left Fort Walton and turned northeast into Chocktawhatchee Bay. It was a perfectly beautiful day. Otto the Autopilot took us up to Niceville, FL and to the "Marina on Bluewater Bay." This place is charming, and the charm is exceeded only by the positive attitude and helpful actions of the staff. This building houses the marina office, the ship's store and "Schooners," a delightful restaurant:

We had a late lunch in Schooners and then Ruth took the marina's courtesy car for a grocery run while Bill did web logs.

Position tonight: N30 29.758 W086 26.782

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