Another First

This cruise has certainly had a lot of first's for all of us. The Hudson River, the Erie Canal, the Great Lakes, all the way down to the Gulf have all been places new for this crew. It's one of the reasons we wanted to take this journey, to experience new things.

But for our littlest crew member everything has been a first. From her first time underway to her first dinghy ride to the first time she cruised into saltwater, she has been facing new experiences. Today Dee Dee had another very important first.

We had spent a week at The Wharf Marina in Orange Beach, AL where Dylan and Dee Dee enjoyed daily walks to the large field for a run. While we enjoyed the restaurants and movie theater and a lovely Thanksgiving day at Marie and Bob Austin's.  We then made the 11 nm trip to Orange Beach Marina where the crew met other boat dogs while out on the docks. One of the many appeals of Orange Beach Marina is that it is only minutes from the Perdido Pass Inlet.

So mid-afternoon today we threw off the lines and headed out the inlet into the Gulf of Mexico. Right away Dee Dee knew something was different. We had some heavy swells coming out of the inlet and things got only slightly better as we turned east. It wasn't a day we would have normally gone but we have a bit of a schedule, eww.

We bumped along for a couple of hours until we pulled into the Pensacola Inlet and onto our anchorage. Dee Dee was a champ. At first she clung to me, then curled into a ball on the settee. She drooled just a bit but finally settled down and fell asleep.

An offshore passage has now been added to Dee Dee's list of first's. She's becoming quite the boat dog. Of course, she has the best teacher in our first mate Dylan, who by the way also had a first today. It was his first time in the Gulf of Mexico. But to a seasoned salt like him, it was no big whoop.