T&T: Activity on the water

[Rich Gano]

It could be because I am making this 120-mile round trip to Destin, Fl on
Thursday and Sunday and just missed all the activity on Saturday, but it
surely is lonely on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway where I am on this Sunday
morning.  As for cruising type boats, I saw one lonesome houseboat from
Tennessee puttsing along on Thursday and one sailbote underway today.  I
have seen no more than a dozen smaller local vessels on the water.  All-call
radio checks are going unanswered rather than the swarm of silly call-backs
one usually generates with this illegal activity on Channel 16.  Maybe it's
the 70% threat of thunderstorms keeping folks ashore, but I somehow doubt
it.

I would say that the locals and tourists in Destin had NO compunction
whatsoever about getting out on the roads in traffic jams.

This 100% connectivity around here with my Verizon air card surely is a
bonus as I watch the NWS weather radar about every 15 minutes.  Right now I
am slowing down a bunch to watch a red/orange cell move off my path about 15
miles ahead of me on the other end of the "Grand Canyon" between
Choctawhatchee Bay and West Bay.  I feel much safer cruising about in these
conditions than when I used to have to depend on my 36-mile radar for tstrm
avoidance; and it only told me what was fairly close and about to hit me.  I
just turned it on and could not see what NWS tells me is ahead.

Rich Gano
CALYPSO (GB-42 #295)
Southport, FL