Destin, anchorage

Last night was quiet considering the winds we had the day before. Weather predictions said we'd have the occasional thunderstorm through the night, but there was nothing. Until 5:30 am. When we got up.

We had 2 massive squalls come through in the morning, complete with incredible lightning and thunder and buckets of rain. Both were followed by huge winds, sweeping up behind them. The anchorage was protected enough, and we talked at length about staying versus going. By 11 or so things calmed down substantially. 

Lightning tracker.
We are the blue dot.
The hits are the red dots.

Way back on the loop we were underway on the Chesapeake when we saw very scary weather in the distance. I asked Russ to find us someplace else to go, and he did. But then... it cleared up. So we thought, "Never mind, let's press on." That's when we learned that the wind from storms make waves that last well beyond the time of the storm. Every looper on the water that day scrambled to find shelter. We ended up on Tangier Island with a number of them.

With that under our belts we knew the waters could be "snotty" (that is a commonly used term in the nautical crowd). But we also knew the winds came and continued from the south, and if we stayed close to shore they wouldn't have the fetch to bother us. Furthermore, there was plenty of depth so we could get pretty close if we needed. Lastly, there were anchorages along the way in case things went from bad to worse.

It was a little snotty, especially in the center right under the bridge. Seas were 1 - 2 feet, mostly on our stern or quarter stern. Not great, but not the worst ever either. After the bridge we snugged to the shore a bit to take a little of the punch off. 

Storms do make for dramatic skies.

Predictions are that we'll get more of the same tomorrow. We'd like to get to Two Georges, where we'll fuel up, then move on to Fort McRee, which is another wonderful anchorage (last time we were there we got to watch the Blue Angels practice). But we might just wait another day. It's all about the weather.

Russ getting us off the hook.
He said the prussik knot was tighter than he'd ever had to deal with before. 

That is her piddle pad.
She WILL NOT use it as a piddle pad.

While on anchor I watched the wind and the waves. 

You can see the wind speed in the red box on the PC screen.