I’m afraid this title is a little misleading. Yes, Pensacola is the primary training site for Naval aviators and home of the Blue Angels, the Navy’s Demonstration Team. We had hoped to watch the team practice as their Tuesday and Wednesday practice sessions are open to the public, but they had been away doing performances and there were no practices scheduled while we were there.
Our primary purpose was to have some repairs done on our trailer. In the last eight years of fulltime RVing we have had good and bad experiences with RV dealer service departments. One of our favorite dealers is Carpenter’s Campers in Pensacola. They have given us consistently good service. We had to replace the awning fabric and the seals on our refrigerator doors. After eight years of constant use and, in the case of the awning exposure to the sun, they were just worn out. We also had a problem with our gas furnace that they fixed. I know many RV owners complain about RV service departments having their rigs in the shop for months getting things done. We try to avoid that in two ways. First, we let them know we are fulltime RVers and live in the rig, so we can’t just drop it off. Second, we work with the shop to agree on the date when the repairs will actually be done. We insure all of the parts are ordered ahead of time and on hand in the shop. Carpenter’s Campers was very good about working with us in this manner. Another repair that needed to be done was to replace the “D” seals on our slide outs. Eight years in the sun had dried them out. The cost of having the service department do this was way too much as it is very labor intensive. I purchased the seals from them and installed them myself. It took me three days (about five hours a day) to get them done.
It wasn’t all work and no play. We stayed at the Blue Angel Recreation Area, part of Naval Air Station Pensacola and our neighbors hosted a happy hour on a couple of the days we were there and we got to meet some of the other campers in the park. The campground is right on the shore of Perdido Bay and we could enjoy of view of the water and sunsets right from our campsite.
Some friends of ours from Michigan, Roger and Darcy, spend the winter in nearby Orange Beach, AL and we met them for dinner one night shortly before they headed back north. No matter where you are it’s always nice to meet up with good friends.
One day we went kayaking along the shore in the bay. It was a beautiful day, warm, sunny, and light winds. They had done a “controlled burn” in the neighboring county park and we could see there were some fires still burning. I was concerned about this until I saw a maintenance truck patrolling through the area putting out these small spot fires.
The real treat of the day was seeing many sting rays swimming in the shallow water. There had to be at least fifty of them! I have never seen this many sting rays in one area before and wished I had come prepared to snorkel while kayaking. It was difficult to get some good pictures, but I gave it my best shot!
Roger and Darcy had told us about Joe Patti’s fish shop and the Palafox Market and we didn’t want to leave without checking them out. Joe Patti had started a small operation catching shrimp and selling them from the back of his house. Over the decades it has grown into a major operation selling local catch and importing fish from all over the globe. Here you can buy fish within minutes of it coming off the boat. I could see people cleaning and preparing the fish in the back work areas.
Every Saturday the Palafox Street is turned into a street market with vendors of all kinds of goods and food as well as street musicians. It’s a great location to pick up local produce and unique gifts and we did take time to enjoy a Nutella and strawberry crepe.
At the north end of the market the Christ Episcopal Church was open for visitors. It reminded us of the many churches we visited on our tour of Germany in 2017. The stained glass windows and domed ceiling were impressive and learning of the history of the church made it special.
Our last stop of the day was the Oar House restaurant. Located right on the river, we could watch the boats as we enjoyed fish and shrimp. The food and service was great and I would recommend it to anyone visiting the area.
On Sunday, March 31st, we continued our journey north. Next stop – Fort Benning, GA and the Uchee Creek Campground.
Michigan Traveler 
Looks like a great place to spend some time, Bob! So cool that you were able to see all of those stingrays!
It was great. There is a state park nearby as well with nice paddling. One of these days I’m going to stay at the Fort Pickens National Park campground.
You’d better hurry to Fort Pickens soon. The NPS has said they don’t intend to fix the road to it when it is damaged by next storm. It will become only accessible by ferry for walk-in camping.
I guess I will have to kayak over from Oak Grove!
Another great job. Like you, and many others, we agree Carpenter’s Campers is a great repair facility. They ain’t cheap but the job is done right. Ft Pickens is something you should do….it really is plus it is a good place to watch the Blues practice. Very good viewing area!!!!! As you say Joe Patti’s Seafood is indeed a cool place. It is the #2 tourist attraction in Pensacola behind the Naval Aviation Museum.