The Crossing

November 29, 2010


After waiting for one week in Apalachicola for that good weather window, we got the sense that it was approaching soon.  We decided to move up one town to Carabelle to be in a better position to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs from Tuesday to Wednesday (November 23-November 24).  Walter and Don were in the ready position to drive to Carabelle, jump on board their respected ships and make the overnight journey.

Main Street, Carabelle, FL

We arrived in Carabelle, saw the minuscule size of the town and were glad we had stayed in Apalachicola for the week.  This is a small town and we saw everything in about a half an hour walk into town.

Carabelle, FL

Good friends Walter, Geri (she drove Buddy and me to their house) and Don (he crossed with Magoo) arrived Tuesday morning and the fleet was off.  Their crossing strategy was slightly altered after talking with a local crossing geru Buddy when he brought up the full moon's influence on the tides and the currents.  The crossing took 21 hours and the guys were exhausted but flying high with the thrill of their accomplishment.  The seas were calm, the winds were light, the moon was full, the stars were bright and they even saw a space station- it was a perfect crossing!!

Don, Geri and Walter-What a crew!!!

We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with Don's family.  His daughter and Mal, Jane's mom, cooked their little hands off and outdid themselves with the desserts.  It was so generous of them to include us in their holiday. Thanks to all!

We got back to Tarpon Springs and explored this Greek inspired town. It's famous for its sponges and more sponges. The town is full of sponges, soap and shell shops with a few good restaurants thrown in.  We are definitely thrown back into a more congested area-very different from what we've been experiencing.

Sponge Boats

Tarpon Springs Sponge Diver

Tourist hoopala

After catching our breath in Tarpon Springs, we traveled just 14 miles to Caladesi Island State Park.  They have a marina here for overnight transients with new docks and restrooms.  It's peaceful and sparsely populated with only five other boats here right now.  There is a day ferry that brings folks over from Clearwater - the only way here is by boat, limiting lots of traffic.  We took a three mile walk on their nature trail, seeing lots of vegitation but no wildlife.  They warn of rattlesnakes but we didn't see or hear any-I hope it stays that way!  We're nursing our colds here and hope to be on our way somewhere tomorrow....

Caladesi State  Park Nature Trail

What's an Apalachicola?

November 19, 2010

The Gulf Intercoastal WaterWay (GIWW) is the safest way to travel through the Gulf of Mexico.  It is a protected waterway broken by wide sounds and bays (some islands of the Gulf Island National Seashore are between the mainland and the Gulf of Mexico). The parts of the GIWW that are not sounds or bays are "ditches" that connect the bays.  Our travels from Ft. Walton to Burnt Creek where we anchored for the night were through large bodies of water and the "ditches" which connect them.  Our anchorage in Burnt Creek was pleasant but we did have concerns about getting Buddy to shore for his exercise and doing his business. The terrain didn't look promising and when we got to shore and put a foot into the water, the mud sucked our shoes off.  No, let's find a better spot!  Nothing looked any better.  We flagged down a DEP ranger (who had earlier checked us for life jackets!) and he directed us two miles to a park ramp "up the creek, past the shrimp boats" where Buddy had a chance to do his thing.  Local knowledge saved the day...we would never have found this spot on our own.

Burnt Creek shrimp boat

Right bank of the "ditch"

left bank of the "ditch"

 From Burnt Creek we traveled through the "ditch" to Port St. Joe, a sleepy town that used to be a major port until 1841 when Yellow Fever took 69% of its population and then a hurricane took out the remaining residents.  It never recovered and today it's major import is snowbirds waiting out the winter.  Biking here was very pleasant as the traffic is minimal.  We biked quite a few miles to find the cemetery with the yellow fever mass graves-makes you think about how far medicine has come...
Port St. Joe began Eastern Standard Time...feels like home again-almost...

Yellow Fever mass graves

 

Port St. Joe sunset

We stayed in Port St. Joe for three nights and saw pretty much seen everything they had to offer and ate in all their restaurants so we needed to move on.  Again we followed the "ditch", not the most exciting surroundings, to Apalachicola, Florida.

Now this is a cute tourist town!  Shipping cotton was Apalachicola's big industry in the port's early days; then cypress forests led to big lumber mills and then to oysters and other seafood.  Let me tell you how great their oysters and shrimp are!  If people could O.D. on them, we would be the ones.  They are delicious-we will probably never be able to eat another one anywhere else without comparing them to these oysters and shrimp!  We found a fish market that steams the shrimp for you with some seasoning on them--oah la la!
The town has a variety of boutiques, nautical collectible shops, galleries, restaurants and even an original soda fountain-when was the last time you saw that!  The buildings are originals, lending itself to the quaintness of the place.

Florida humor

Marina welcome sign-and they mean it!

Soda fountain that works!

Collectibles

Pelicans keep us amused

3 pounds of shrimp and 24 oysters for four-now that's  a feast

We were here for a week, waiting for a good weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico.  The Gulf Intercoastal Waterway ends in Carrabelle and picks up in Tarpon Springs so we have to cross in open water and the trip takes about 20 hours.  Buddy won't eliminate on the boat (20 hours is too long to hold it) so our good friend Walter McCarthy is driving from his Florida home to Carrabelle to make the overnight trip with Pete while I will drive his van back with Buddy and Geri to his home.  We need calm seas and light winds and so far, Tuesday and Wednesday look like acceptable conditions.
Tomorrow (Monday) we move on to Carrabelle to be in a better position to make the crossing-we're planning for a Tuesday/Wednesday trip but if Wed/ Thurs is better we'll do that.  Other Loopers have joined us here in Apalachiacola-Laura and Bill (Monkey Girl), Gloria and Jim (Crawdad), Pete and Anna (Blue Yonder) and of course, Art and Sandra (Magoo).  There may be five boats making the crossing-safety in numbers? or misery likes company?- can't figure which one fits better.

Blue Yonder, Magoo, Tony M,  Crawdad, Monkey Girl

Anyway, tonight Monkey Girl invited all of us for a pulled pork dinner-these Loopers know how to party!

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving with family and friends...we miss you all!

Hello, Salt Water!

November 11, 2010

Dog River Marina

VERY small world story:

Here we were in Dog River Marina, not the fanciest but very accommodating marina, and we took Buddy for a long walk through the marina to stretch our legs and check out all the boats.  We started chit- chatting with a man (Charlie Crawford) and found out he had bought a Mainship 39 (our boat) to do the Loop and is leaving the end of November 2010.  Then we found out he’s about to have a dinghy system put on his Mainship and can’t decide between two systems he’d researched-one from Tom-Kat (Tony M’s former name) and another boat.  He had contacted Bob (Tony M’s previous owner) and had pictures of the system in his pocket! Our mouths dropped-how often do you meet some random person in Dog River Marina in Mobile, Alabama that has pictures of your boat in their pocket?  We should have bought a lottery ticket that day!

We invited him on our boat to inspect the dinghy system we have and he filled his camera with mucho pictures of the wonderful upgrades Bob and Sue added to our boat. (I hope he has enough time to add everything he wants to!)

Anyway, Charlie turned out to be a great guy. He went out of his way to drive me and Sandra (Magoo) to Walmart to do major provisioning.  Then  we took him up on his offer to bring us across Mobile Bay to Fairhope, AL to witness the 4 PM cannon discharge (the Marriot Hotel sponsors it) and to check out the upscale town of Fairhope, AL.  This town was adorable with flowers on every street corner and lots of shops of everything a tourist and townie would want.

Thanks, Charlie.  Fair winds and safe journey…we hope to catch up with you somewhere this winter!

Charlie

 

Fairhope, AL

                                                                        

We left Mobile, AL and traveled to Orange Beach, AL, stopping at LuLu’s Restaurant, owned by Lucy Buffett, Jimmy Buffet’s sister.  While we didn’t see Jimmy Buffett there, we were serenaded by a live band belting out his tunes.  They’re famous for “Cheeseburger in Paradise” which Pete declared to be all it was claimed to be.  It was a fun place to stop and act like tourists!

 

 River Rats-we traveled from Chicago to Mobile together

Art and Sandra(Magoo) and us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun activities at LuLu's

at LuLu's

Orange Beach was an unusual place.  The dockmaster isn’t there on Monday or Tuesday so we were given dockage directions by Amber from the corporate office five miles away. She couldn’t see the lines (ropes) crossing the slip she had assigned-we just took an open one and were fine.  This tourist town is supposedly very busy in the summer but was a ghost town right now.  The town’s main street had rows of boutique-type shops and restaurants with a ferris wheel at one end and a tall condo building at the other end of the promenade. I had read that the oil spill had affected tourism here but we saw no evidence of oil anywhere.  We did see some workers outside of Orange Beach working on the beaches-but it looked as if they were doing tests and not cleaning anything.

Orange Beach, AL

Orange Beach, AL promenade

Shortly after leaving Ocean Beach, we were greeted by the “Welcome to Florida” sign.  For some reason we were very happy to see this signage-maybe because it’s a milestone for us-Yes, we made it to Florida-3500 nautical miles so far!  

                        The palm trees and colorful houses are fun to see through the binocs!

                                                                                                                                       

Cottage style houses

Rosie O'Grady's

 We arrived in Pensacola, FL and walked through its historic district which was filled with an extraordinary amount of attorneys. They all had their offices in the cute cottage-style houses-does anyone know why there’s so many lawyers here?

tree supports-Pensacola style

The Blue Angels gave us our own show as we were leaving Pensacola.  They are scheduled to perform this weekend so they were practicing of the Pensacola coast.  The dolphins also entertained us, along with a couple of surfers paddling across Pensacola Bay.  Who needs cable?

Anything to catch a wave!

Blue Angels

dolphin escorts

 

“FREE DOCK”----Those words always catch our attention.  Ft .Walton  Beach offered a free dock so naturally we took them up on it. Their main street had your typical shops and a Publix grocery store ( a REAL grocery store!) We  had dinner with Art and Sandra (Magoo), chatted with the locals-lots of people trying to catch catfish off the docks-and went to sleep early so we could leave early the next morning.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Pete started the generator to give  us some morning heat and discovered it wouldn’t stay running.  He changed the filters and it ran perfectly.(Thank You again, Bob!)   He didn’t trust it because it was too easy a fix.  He ran it awhile, checked it again and discovered a cracked fuel hose.  Napa was a 5 minute walk and ten minutes later our generator was fixed –this time really fixed! Ft. Walton Beach let us stay a second night…what hospitality!

Ft. Walton Town Dock

Indian mounds undisturbed by condo development

Ft. Walton, FL sunset

 Salute to all our Veteran's- today and every day!

Happy Birthday, Jim!  Enjoy and celebrate with care-(I'm still your mother!)

Two more weeks until Thanksgiving !!!!

Good-Bye to the River System

November 4, 2010

Demopolis is the last real marina on the last leg of the TennTom so we were a little wary of what lay ahead.  We use two books that help us find anchorages and neither author was very generous with his suggestions, probably because the anchorages are few and far between.  Our first night  brought us to Bashi Creek which was just that - a Creek.  It was very narrow and had room for only three boats-us, Magoo and a large catamaran cruising boat.  We had to use a bow and stern anchor since there wasn't enough room for any boat to swing without hitting the creek bank. It is a popular fishing spot for the locals who were friendly and inquisitive.  The boat ramp made it possible for Buddy to get a good walk (and us too!).

Magoo anchored in Bashi Creek

Beginning to see Spanish Moss hanging from trees

We left Bashi Creek and traveled passed the only gas and dockage along this part of the TennTom, Bobby's Fish Camp.  Many Loopers stop here but we decided to skip it since we figured we could travel further and then anchor. 

Bobby's Fish Camp along the TennTom

We went through our last lock, the Coffeeville Lock, after waiting a half hour for a tow and barges to lock through.  We didn't even mind the wait since this was our only wait for a lock on the TennTom-it must be a record because we had heard such horrid stories about long waits for commercial traffic but we escaped the drama.

Pete in the Coffeeville Lock

Tony M with Barge

We decided after traveling for seventy-two miles (at 8 miles/hr and a lock) we would settle in at Three Rivers Lake, not really a lake but a little indent in the river.  It was so narrow and shallow (went from 25' to 6' quickly) that we would bow and stern anchor again and Magoo would raft up to us. This part worked well but getting Buddy to a safe shore was something else.  Pete shooed away three water moccasins at the first place before Buddy began sniffing them.  The second place was a sandy shore that only had lots of animal footprints and nothing that squiggled and squirmed and no alligators-a concern since we are now into alligator territory!!!

Tensaw River fish camp

Bayou country

We left Three Rivers Lake and traveled another 50 miles to Big Briar Creek, off the Tensaw River Cutoff. 
This had a couple of rugged looking fish camps on shore but the waterway was large enough for many boats to anchor.  We spent a peaceful night on anchor, getting ready for our last day on the TennTom.

Fourteen Mile Bridge in much need of repair

As we were leaving the TennTom Waterway we saw the outline of Mobile before us.  What a stark contrast to the bayou wilderness we have been in!  The commercial waterfront was so different from the cedars and Spanish moss!  The Coast Guard greeted us with instructions to stay to the right of the channel since a huge container ship was departing soon. You bet, fellas!

All of the river through Mobile is industrial, with factories, refineries, and ports for ocean-going ships. We followed a marked channel south for about 10 miles and then followed a secondary marked channel to the west into Dog River to our marina. In the one hour it took to reach Mobile, the weather deteriorated - the sky blackened with storm clouds and the winds increased to 20-30 knots-not fun!  Mobile Bay is very shallow so it didn't take long for a good 3 foot chop to start beating us up, Lake Michigan style, with everything in the boat hitting the floor that wasn't securely stowed or already on the floor.  Heavy fog rolled in, so much so we couldn't see Magoo who was closely following behind us (thank goodness for radar and GPS).  The sky opened up with heavy thunder and lightening, adding to our excitement.  We arrived at Dog River Marina with white caps on the river, something they rarely see.  We breathed a sigh of relief when we were safely tied to the dock.  What an introduction to the Gulf!

First glimpse of Mobile

Commercial boats in Mobile