Hurlburt ‘Sound of Freedom’ 2006 Fireworks and On-Water Fun
“Like heaven on earth” is how one of our friends described the day on Saturday at Spectre Island.
The combination of friends old and new with sun, water, big boats, small boats, jetski’s, water toys made for a great day all around.
Read on for the details and visit the full photo gallery at SLRsite.com
Our weekend on the water started off with a comfortable night aboard at our slip. We headed out to Spectre Island about 10:30 and found a large contingent of the Navarre Beach Yacht Club and friends already anchored up on the east end.
We settled in at the west end for some swimming along the beach. Pinfish were thick around the boat. As the day wore on, a steady stream of boats continued to arrive for the evening fireworks.
An Air Force Security Forces Zodiac was the only visible law enforcement presence during the day. We were pleased to see they allowed people to beach on the Eglin shore of the sound as long as stayed close to their boats.
After a quick nap for the kids, we moved over to the Eglin side and anchored with friends from Navarre/Gulf Breeze who came over in runabouts and jetskis. We had quite a crowd of all ages. The afternoon was spent enjoying a wide range of watersports.
The day was capped off with Hurlburt’s annual 4th of July fireworks show. I thought it was very well done - much better than bowlegs. They kept up a good pace and intensity throughout and had a number of special displays. The most unique was an actual multi-color smiley face.
We ended up with 6 extra passengers to take back to Ft Walton to reduce the number of trips required to get everyone home. Our Regal can plane out with 8 adults, 1/2 fuel, full water and lots of stuff — if the center-of-gravity is kept reasonably forward while accelerating (we had to move 3 adults to the cabin temporarily).
August 13th, 2006 at 2:48 am
[…] Our number came up last month after a fun day with friends and fireworks. Luck did hold in the sense that the impeller failed just about the time we idled into our marina. The temperature warning horn sounded shortly thereafter and I quickly shut the engine down - noting the temp was up to about 200 degrees. With plenty of people aboard and some recent 1 engine docking under our belt (the subject of another post) we got “Southern Comfort” back into her slip without too much difficulty. […]