Pensacola

In July 2000 I flew to Birmingham, Alabama. I went out for a beer with Dave, then the next day we took off too Pensacola, Florida. That took us about 3 and a half hours...then we drank, ate seafood, crashed catamarans into bridges, and swam in the beautiful water for hours. It was a great time - I can't wait to go back. I have pasted my journal entry from that weekend amongst the pics for added effect.....

This is probably one of the clearest memories, as it seems it was the first beer of the day.

Due to our meticulous planning we managed to arrive in the middle of the busiest day of the year in Pensacola - The Blue Angels airshow. The parking lot had been full for 4 hours when we arrived, and there were none anywhere.....except where the campaign signs for the mayor used to stand that is. We decided our carpark on the grassy verge was more important - so they were 'relocated'. It was all a bit of a waste though as there was no swimming during the airshow and there was no room on the beach either. After one beer we jumped into the car and headed down to the end of the peninsula where we were going to camp - and where there was barely anybody else. 

This is a bar that cranks music on the rooftop speakers while you drink on the beach. When we got there, you couldn't move because of all the poeple....so we moved and went somewhere else.....how ironic.....like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife,,,oh no - that is a simile. But THAT is ironic.

Dave shelters from the elements under the spiffy umbrella we had. Funny how two of the three groups in this photo have the same ones.....one of these things is not like the other....now it's time to play that game....

By this stage, the umbrella has done its dash and so has the Corona....onto some classy Icehouse.....oh what a beer

We arrived at the campground, set up camp (Dave's $30 Kmart tent), grabbed beers and beach gear and walked the few hundred meters to the beach. The beach was pristine, white sand with gentle warm water. Austin has no ocean, so it was very nice to get to some tropical, carribean like beach. We met a group of students from Germany, England and Japan who were taking a break from Tulane Medical School in New Orleans. They were all doctor types and had plenty of stories about dead people and things....we talked to them a bit in the evening and most of us ended up back in the water at 11pm after drinking a fair bit of beer. The water was still like a warm bath and there was plenty of moonlight all around. I could have stayed in there all night I think, but I figured I probably would have drowned - and, well - the 'doctors' really didn't need anymore stories of death added to their fully stocked arsenal.

What colour is the wind Philip??

The ice chest was so full of beer we had to call it a beer chest and put the ice on top. 

We woke up on our inflatable pool mattresses (that we picked up for $2.50 a piece) needing food and a feeling a bit jaded. We were really roughing it by camping so, in true in true outdoors fashion, we jumped in the car and drove twenty minutes to a waffle house for fresh coffee, bacon and eggs. 

This is Fort Pickens - the inspiration for MMMcDonalds, which later shortened its name to McDonalds and made its arches out of gold rather than bricks - The burgers were way better back then

This is another Ft Pickins shot. They kept heaps of Indians hostage here and fired canons at anything that moved. 

Feeling far better we then went for a look around Fort Pickens where there were big cannons and lots of bricks and history and fun stuff like that. Enough of that though - we went back to the awesome beach with the air mattresses and lay in the sun for 4-5 hours - how taxing. Of course this led to hunger and we then headed to 'Flounders' for a plate of beer boiled shrimp and Creole Grouper.....very, very tasty.

That is me - I know it says not to climb on the gun....but I didn't read that until I was already on it - honest. Unfortunately the end was sealed shut - otherwise I would have gone for some human cannonball action.

Still not satisfied, we got adventurous and hired a Hobie Cat to go sailing in. The wind was light and gusty, but being Kiwi's we were basically born on the water, so we were keen to make the most of it. Dave also had a wealth of sailing experience behind him - or at least that is what his resume would say. We were doing quite well, cruising around, tack here, tack there. Americas Cup? Bring that shit on!! So after a while, we decide we will head under the large bridge that links Pensacola to the mainland. We had a bit of trouble as we were kinda heading into the wind, but we got there eventually and Dave had the helm for the legendary crossing. We were on a good line to start with, but then things got a bit tricky....the wind changed direction a bit and we were going to be forced to do a late tack, or crash into the bridge. The skipper went with the second option and ended up jammed into the bridge with the sail full of air and ramming us into it (it was at this point we decided we should pretend we were Australians if anyone asked). I was up the front and trying to push us off, but the wind would push us straight back into the pylon, oh dear. We couldn't loosen the sail up to get away, and so in the end a friendly boat grabbed a line and pulled us off the wall. We responded by almost crashing into the helpful vessel, and then doing a high speed turn and just missing the opposite pylon by inches.....it was quite spectacular....and quite embarrasing. But you get that - we took on the mighty Pensacola Toll Bridge, it kicked our ass - but next time it may not be so lucky....then again maybe we won't be either.

This is a crap photo, but it is the only one I have with the legendary harbour bridge in it.....we showed it.

That was pretty much the end of the fun in Pensacola and we jumped in the car and headed back to Birmingham in time for some tasty Thai food for dinner. Gotta love the Thai food.....

This is what the beach looks like when the sun goes down and someone puts a big stick in the sand.