Day 68 - King Neptune smiled — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $18, daily high temperature 77*F, total days in PSJ = 25 and counting.

ATTENTION gentle readers. Starting tomorrow Changing Latitudes will finally be on the move again and the blog will overflow with sea stories.

Friday night was a lot of fun. James and Stacy on the sailboat Glass Slipper invited us to join them for sundowners at the Dockside. Stacy creates glass jewelry and large artwork as a profitable hobby. That is the derivation of the boat name.

This is a piece of Stacy’s glass artwork.

We all went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that was full of Loopers. The PSJ economy is thriving thanks to King Neptune’s refusal to flatten the gulf. We went to the Haughty Pelican for a nightcap. Bobby was playing on the outdoor stage. Bobby is the Waly of PSJ. Bobby knows 100’s of songs and played all night. Spud sang one song. Spud is 55 and has no job. He mentioned that Bobby is 57 and lost both his parents last year and his bother died of an overdose soon thereafter. Theresa who works at the bank also sang a few tunes. It was like an open microphone night. Lots of fun.

Dale got the best deal in town – 32 ounce Dos XX for $5.00

Eddy the weather wag – Good Morning Fellow Loopers!

A big “Thank-you” to whoever sent King Neptune that pie!

Apparently it’s slowing him down just enough to give us a possible weather-window for a Saturday-night / Sunday crossing. As it stands right now, this would be a passage for “hearty” souls; i.e. those of you whose crew and boat does not demand the flattest possible seas and just can’t stand the thought of waiting to cross another day! The conditions would not be unsafe, but would periodically “rock the boat” with waves in excess of 2 feet off the beam. Let’s make the call tomorrow morning and perhaps give things a chance to stabilize even more.

For the less “hearty” crews and boats (like Spiritus!), the forecasts are pointing to a Tuesday-night / Wednesday crossing that has somewhat calmer conditions. By then, all the left-over turkey will be consumed. You’ll be ready to go to the Florida west coast to eat some of that fresh stone crab that came out of all the crab pots you’ll be swerving to miss!

Brain Clutter: Most popular restaurant choice for a first date: Italian.

Be well, keep safe, and stay happy!

Eddy J. – aboard “Spiritus”, Grand Banks 36 Classic

The left side graph was our Great Loop plan. The right side is what actually happened.

Saturday will be the day we get CL ready to finally make a move. We will fill the water tanks, put the dingy on the platform, pump out and buy groceries. We will move over to the Appalachicola, Carrabelle area so we will be ready to cross the gulf soon. When we do cross we will head for Clearwater.

Some of Stacy’s beautiful glasswork.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote for the day.

I just thank God I don’t live in a trailer. – Jimmy Buffet , Son of a son of a sailor