We left the bayou and continued on toward Florida. We had been told about this anchorage by the dockmaster in Fairhope. He told us it is well protect and as a bonus the Blue Angels usually fly around practicing as we would be close to the Pensacola Naval Air Station where they are based out of. We had looked it up online and it looked good to us.
We made our way down the Intracoastal and entered Florida. Yay- we made it! We decided we would stop at the first beach we could and see the Gulf if it was possible to anchor. We came across Perdido Key on the way and saw we could drop anchor here and dinghy to the key, so we did. We took the dinghy and went to shore; there were miles of white sand and dunes, with a road that stopped about half way, and the rest was untouched. We let Frank run and explored the beach for a while before returning because we got hungry and it was lunch time. We had sandwiches and made our way a few miles farther to the anchorage we were told about. Upon approach, we saw there were our friends from Fairhope/ Lulu’s there as well as a few other boats. The anchorage was in a small bay that wasn’t very large, but there was room for a few other boats, so we pulled in and dropped anchor. The setting was stunning, as we were surrounded by tall dunes of white sand almost all the way around us, which protected us from wind. The weather was warm too, so it made us feel like we were actually in Florida! We took Frank with us to the old fort, which is actually just ruins at this point. It was built in 1834 and was used in the civil war, then abandoned. It briefly was going to be used during World War Two, but the war ended before completion of the updates, and it was again abandoned. We rode to the other side of the bay, which was separated by shallow water- so shallow the dinghy couldn’t even get through. We went ashore and climbed the higher dunes. From this vantage point, we had a perfect view of the sunset. We watched the sun go down, then returned to Klondike for dinner. We slept well, basking in the fact we’re in Florida and had such a wonderful day all around.
Tomorrow we are heading to Fort Walton Beach which has a free dock for boaters coming through. There are mixed reviews about this place, and there is no power or water, but it is free.