Niceville to Pearl Bayou (anchor)

Once again on the hook, as they say.

While the day started out gloomy and overcast, we did get to see the sun most of the day. We opened up the fly deck and enjoyed the warmth.

Today was largely about dolphins. Lots of 'em. They really love our boat. Throughout the day we had 2 to 6 of them for periods of nearly 30 minutes. They tuck in next to us, then ride our pressure wave. They spin, tip to see us, go upside down, dodge each other... such a hoot.

In the channel it looked like this. High walls, kinda sandy
with enough limestone to keep them erect. I think they call
this "The Canyon?"

The only excitement was as we crossed the Saint Andrew Bay inlet. A cargo ship was coming in from the sea. We were on diverging courses with them traveling at 11.8 knots. Russ and the AIS said they would reach the merging point 1/3 of a mile ahead of us. I'd rather that have been a little longer, like a mile, so we slowed down just a bit. Just as we did the ship started to turn ... towards us.

Russ hailed them right away, asking where they wanted us. The conversation went something like this:

Russ: Aquamarine, Aquamarine, this is PC Cat-n-Dogs.
Ship: This is the pilot for Aquamarine. Go ahead.
Russ: Where do you want us?
Ship: Where are you now?
Russ: We're the catamarran off your bow.
Ship: Which one? (We were traveling with another power cat, One Eye Dog, and they were behind us a bit)
Russ: The first one, closest to you.
Ship: ... (I assumed he was looking for binoculars at this point) Oh! You're fine. Just keep going.

Trust me, this is as close as I wanna get to these guys.

Of course, after all that chatter, I too thought we were just fine, but it's always good to chat with the big boys.