Friday January 8, 2010

The Boat Marina, Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Got up about 7AM and as usual turned on the NOAA weather radio to get an update on the weather forecast. It was 29 degrees warm. The Artic Blast has continued into the second week Of January. The only difference was that gale force winds were expected to blow out of the north until noon and then drop to 20 to 25 knots. Waves on the Gulf are 8 to 10 feet. However the good news is that the weather should start improving after the weekend. Winds are expected to drop to 10 to 15 knots on Monday. This should give Dave and I the weather window we need to get moving east and then south across the Gulf.
Tug arrived around 9AM for breakfast. He cooked a cheese omlette. Again the food about Water Mark has been five star. The weather is the main topic of conversation. The house/apartment the harbormaster lives in does not have any heat. Many of the smaller dwellings have only space heaters as the builders never installed furnaces because the temps never got very cold. The last time it was this cold in the panhandle of Florida was 1919. The temps this week are challenging and beating the record lows.