Muted Sunrise...

Our time here is getting short. On Wednesday, we’ll get the HitchHiker back out, park it across the street from our place, and get it loaded. As you might expect, I’m trying to get in as much boat time as possible before she comes back out. So, this morning, I was up early and out again.

The weather weasels are predicting a front to move through the area around 11:30, bringing with it big wind and some precip. But this morning, it was just the opposite of that: calm and warm.

I left in the dark, headed down the canal and turned into the ICW; around our island and out the ship channel. It was clear from a look at the starless sky that I wasn’t going to get the usual sunrise. Instead, it started with a bit of light filtering through the clouds, making for an almost silver monotone at the horizon.

And then, a little peek of sun well above the horizon.

I motored out into the jetties on flat water; the sky took on a warmer cast. There were a few dolphins swimming around, but the light was too low for a decent shot.

From the west, a shrimpboat was on its way to the Gulf. I positioned Wild Blue to be able to get s silhouette of the boat, backlit by the weak sun. I stepped out into the cockpit with the boat in neutral to get my shot. Wrapped up in the moment, I didn’t see the boat getting broadside to the wake from the shrimper... rock ‘n roll! I went back into the cabin and wiped up my spilled water... and picked the binoculars up off the floor. The rest of the ride home was uneventful.
Back to the house and back to work. I started getting the boat ready to come out while Joan arranged things in our underneath storage.

An hour ahead of schedule, the front blew in... the winds went from light and variable to 40 mph from the north. In seconds. Hold on to your hat! While labled a "cold front", it dropped our temp from 78º down to 70º... but the humidity dropped to around 25%. Nice.