Carrabelle & Gulf of Mexico Crossing

Since our last post we have been to Port St Joe's, a very nice small town with a wonderful marina. There was a manatee that was injured at this marina, but was rescued the day before we got there.  They said it weighed approx. 1,000 lbs.  They can get as large as 13 feet and weigh as much as 3,000 lbs!  I guess that's why they call them "sea cows" slow moving and huge.

As we were going down the ICW,  I found this house that I thought was interesting, double click on this picture and look closely, yes that's a tree growing thru the middle. I wonder if that's a selling feature down here.

When we left Port St. Joe's, we headed for Apalachicola, where we spent 2 nights.  They are world renowned for their oysters.  I think Jim has eaten more than his share of oysters on the half shell, and he agrees they are the best.

From there we went to Carrabelle, they had a lighted boat parade the evening we were there. Carrabelle is the leaving point for the Gulf crossing that is necessary to get to Clearwater.  It is the part of the trip that I have been dreading.  We have been travelling with a trawler and a sailboat, they travel at about 7  1/2 knots (roughly 9 miles per hour).  Our boat can go real fast, about 35 mile per hour, but at a huge cost in fuel.  So we have opted to slow it down and conserve on the fuel cost. So back to my story of the Gulf crossing, running at 7  1/2  knots it took us 22 1/2 hours for the crossing.  I am not a fan of night boating in unfamiliar waters.  That was my big concern, then it was compounded by "pea soup fog" which never lifted.  We left Carrabelle at noon on Sunday, with the fog so heavy you could only see about 2 boat lengths in front of you.  It can be very eerie out there when you can't see, then night came, and it was inky black out!  No moon or stars, needless to say, I was very happy when daylight came, although the fog was still there, but not as thick.  We were not the lead boat, the trawler was first, and the sail boat and us were on either side but back  bit.  We kept each other on the radar, and used our instruments.  I am glad that part is over.

This will be our last entry until after the New Year.  We will be heading back home for the holidays on Thurs. We finally get to the warm part of Florida, and we leave to go back where it is cold. The attraction is obviously family and friends, whom we miss terribly.  Happy Holidays to everyone and we will continue with our adventures next year.

Gulf ICW and Panama City

It's an overcast day, and a bit on the chilly side.  Here are some pictures of Navy parachute maneuvers, a shrimp boat and another boat that I am not sure what it is.

We arrived in Panama City on Friday, it's cold here, last night the temps were around 29 degrees.  Today it reached a high of around 55, and the sun was out, which makes the cooler temps a little easier to take. We need to keep moving south, I know we will find the warmth sooner or later. Our plan is to head out to Port St. Joe's tomorrow. 

We had a problem with our battery charger, and had to replace it.  The last two days Jim and Ted worked on that. Ted and Nancy were nice enough to hang back with us and help us out, yeah!  I tried to get some pictures of the dolphins, so far no luck. I think once we get into warmer weather, they will come out of the water.

Pensacola, Florida

The weather is gray today, with rain on the way.  They are calling for 3 to 6 inches within the next couple of days.  We plan on staying put until Thursday. Yesterday we went to the Navy Museum, that is an amazing place.  They have planes from every war displayed.  This is also the home of the "Blue Angels".  They fly over the marina, practicing. Notice who is in the cockpit, he doesn't fit very well.  Too bad, he qualifies in every other way!

Here's "Snoopy" in his "Sopwith Camel".

Mobile Bay & Pensacola

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  We are in Pensacola Fl. arrived here on Tuesday, and staying at the Marina on the Naval Base. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday at my cousins home in Milton, about 45 min from Pensacola.  Compliments to the cook, the meal was fabulous.  Thanks Cindy & Jim. The pictures at the bottom are taken at Cindy & Jim's house, with their friends Bobby and Jaye, and our friends Ted & Nancy.

We came thru Mobile Bay in Alabama on Monday as planned.  The weather and water was pleasant.  So much to see along the way, a welcome change from the river banks. We saw 2 dolphins jumping next to our boat.  By the time I got the camera they were only coming to the surface, but not jumping.  They ran next to the boat for about 15 minutes, that was really cool.

 

The homes along the ICW are quite  a treat to look at.

The weather in Pensacola has been in the high 60's during the day, and dipping down to the 40's in the evening.  We plan on staying here for about a week, leaving on Tuesday for points further south.  (What does it take to get guys to smile?)

Tombigbee Waterway

The river is still elevated about 13 feet above normal, but the debris is not nearly as bad as it was.  We left Demopolis on Wed the 18th, spent one night on the hook, the overnight temps dipped to the low 30's, which brought in the fog.  The next evening we were at Bobby's fish camp, where we rafted off another boat, and had fried catfish dinners at the restaurant.

The following 2 evenings we spent on the hook in various anchorages along the way. We are about a day away from Mobile Bay, as of today.  The weather is calling for a front to come thru, as a result the bay will be a bit too choppy to be comfortable.  So we will stay in the anchorage for another evening. Monday is reported to be a better day to enter Mobile Bay. Our only agenda at the moment is to be in Pensacola for Thanksgiving.  My cousin Cindy and her husband Jim have graciously invited us, along with Ted and Nancy from "Aloha Friday"to join them for the holiday.

 2  of the pictures above are of other boats we have been traveling with off and on.  "Magnolia" is David and Diane, they are from Mississippi, they are going as far as Orange Beach,  FL.  They are not doing the loop this year, maybe next. "Magnolia" is a catamaran, a 44 foot Endeavour.  This is the first time I was ever on a cat, I was very surprised how much room there is.

The other boat is also a cat, "Echo Tango" is Emmett and Taryn's, they are from Wisconsin.  They are very young, early 20's, also not doing the loop, just going down to Florida. They were fun to spend some time with. We wish them safe travels, and calm waters.

Here is a sample of more "prime real estate" along the Tombigbee Waterway.

Hopefully by the next posting we will be in the gulf. 

Demopolis, Alabama

It has been a week since we arrived here in Demopolis, Alabama.  The boat has been on the hard (land) for the  majority of that time.  Jim has been able to inspect the bottom of the boat, and put a coat of wax on before we hit the Gulf.  It looks like we will stay here until Wednesday, there is too much debris in the water from IDA, the water level is still elevated and the current is pretty strong.  So with any luck, we will leave on Wed. and get  a bit closer to Florida. There are about 10 other loopers here also waiting.

Here are two maps showing where we are,  which is approximately 200 miles from the Gulf.  Remember to double click on any picture to enlarge and hit the arrow key to go back.

Demopolis Yacht Basin

Ida is on her way according to all reports.  We are about 200 miles from the gulf in Demopolis Yacht Basin, waiting out the storm before we head any further south.  While we are here, we have decided to have the boat pulled from the water to do some maintenance work and add a macerator pump, which we will need in the Bahamas.  So we are living on the boat on land, for a day or so, which during a storm is allot less rocky than being in the turbulent water.

Here are some pictures of the boat being hauled out, and a picture of some deer in the Tenn-Tom waterway


The last picture is of Jim & I with 2 other couples also doing the loop We are on Ted & Nancy's boat "Aloha Friday".  Bobbie, this is the only picture I have so far, I am always the picture taker. :)

 

Alabama

Here we are anchored out with Ted and Nancy on "Aloha Friday" and Jack and Nan on "Eschaton" off the Tenn-Tom waterway.  We will anchor out for 3 nights, moving down the river. Our next Marina stop will be Demopolis, Alabama, where we will have the boat pulled out of the water to do some maintenance work.   The weather is progressively getting warmer, the days are hitting mid 70's, it is still dropping to high 30's at night. 

U. S. Snagboat, MONTGOMERY was the last steam-powered stern wheeler to work the inland waterways of the South.  She was retired in 1982, and restored, and is now on display at the Tom Bevill Visitor Center.

Overall length is 178 feet

Beam is 34 feet, 3 inches

The Tom Bevill Visitor Center was built in 1985 and depicts the time period between 1830 - 1860 in a Greek revival home similar to those built in the Tombigbee River Valley. the following pictures are a couple taken in the parlor, and impressive entry way.

The following pictures are an assortment of what we see along the river banks of the Tenn-Tom waterway.