Capt. Steve's Cruises

These two pictures are the renovation of a boat
owned by the Kennedy's at one time.

Hanging out at Harry T's in Destin Harbor FL.

Entrance to Destin Harbor Florida. I have a

sudden taste for a Corona!

Dad getting some engine hours on the new dingy.

Our anchor spot at Apalachicola FL.

This one is for you Marty; ask and you shall receive!
Oh maybe that is not what you meant...

Ahoy all,

Wow, where do I start from the last blog? A lot of miles have gone under the boat, and a lot of sights and experiences have been had! We entered the Intercoastal Waterway off of Mobile Bay Thursday Oct 20th. We had a bit breezy weather crossing the bay but that is normal conditions typically. We went from a vast wide open bay into a small narrow channel filled with colorful beach homes and yachts. An extreme contrast from open waters so suddenly! The Intercoastal is awesome with so many sights from dolphins swimming off your bow (see the below video), to plowing through schools of jellyfish. The waters are beautiful light emerald green when the narrow channels open up into lake like conditions. The dolphins love the bays, coves, and at most, typically keep within a few miles off of the coast it seems. Amazing to see them jump and play in the waves that the Ol'e S.S. Lin II is cranking out.

Note to self: I need to vacation at Destin Florida Harbor for a week!!! As you can see from the above pictures, it is the place to be! Live bands on the boardwalk on the weekend, white sands, pilots training and doing stunts from the local air strip on the weekend, resorts, and the best grouper Ruben I have ever tasted at "Harry T's Restaurant". We just drove the boat in the harbor and dropped anchor?! We then dropped the 3 man dingy in the water and rode in to the restaurant. One little problem we realized with that plan arose as I was finishing my first beer. Our table was outside and faced the harbor that we anchored in. The sun was setting and we realized THEN (a little late) that we did not have the required night time red and green running lights on the dingy and we noticed the coast guard cutter just pull in the harbor. Seeing that red and white official boat is what sparked Dad's brain that we were a little to quick to party before being legal on the water! "Um waiter...check please....like now!" I know Dad's little legs are pretty fast, but this brought on an all new perspective I have never seen. There may have been a bit of smoke emitting out of his boat shoes with the speed of him heading to the dingy to avoid a ticket from the Coast Guard after we payed the bill. I on the other hand, was a bit slower due to laughing too hard and therefore delayed the whole process. We made it back to the boat in time but I have to admit that while in route I was watching the sun get closer to that horizon like we were running from vampires or something?! So we have now acquired proper running lights thanks to Miller Marina in Apalachicola, but unfortunately there is no where actually to mount it on out inflatable dingy....yup as you may have guessed, I will have to hold the red and green light at the front of the dingy like the Statue of Liberty" for our future trips in to the restaurant, bars and beaches. If the seafood is always this good though, I will wrap Christmas lights around myself if that is what the Coast Guard requires!!

So we are in Apalachicola FL which is the end of the Florida Pan-handle. Our next bearing east is heading over to Steinhatchee which is the North inside bend of Florida which will give us some much anticipated blue water travel in the Gulf! We will then travel South to Clearwater and be in port there for a few days just in time for the arrival of our family for a weeks vacation in Orlando. Very much looking forward to seeing everyone and getting caught up! All is well here and we are being ultra conservative at times to make sure the trip goes smooth and we can have the most out of the time spent an the water. If Dad could only keep me on the bridge long enough to navigate half the time instead of sprinting to the bow deck to video dolphins, we could probably be going a bit faster...just kidding...sort of.