Not Our Greatest Week - Loop Trip Days 44 - 52

This winter has been rough on lots of people all over the country and it hasn't left us out.  Since arriving in Apalachicola, it has been windy and cold.  The waves in the Gulf have been way too big for us to charge out there.  That doesn't mean we couldn't do it - just that it would NOT have been any fun!  And the whole purpose of this is to have fun!!  So for the next 4 days, we are exploring the town.  That includes the Maritime Museum, the City Cemetery, shops, restaurants and several historic homes.  On our last night, we stumbled into the Bowery Station area.  Now this was FUN!!  We popped into the Hidey Hole for some guitar music and then into the actual Bowery Station where an absolutely amazing New Orleans jazz style group was playing.  Bummer was that who knew they stopped at 9 PM!!!  I could have listened to this group for hours.

The super moon affected tides all over the Gulf!

Owl Cafe was a great place to eat

Post Office was originally the Customs House

Beer wench at the Hidey Hole

Military memorial in a park near the Orman house

Inventor of refrigeration but the museum was closed for renovation

Inside the Hidey Hole

The group Emmaline

While at the Station we ran into Captain Cathy again.  First met her at the Oyster City Brewery.  She is a Master Captain who came here to run a tour boat after retiring a a DeKalb County school teacher.  She was one interesting lady and a ton-o-fun to talk to.  She even showed up at the marina at 7:30 the morning we were leaving, 32 degrees outside, to have a coffee and say good-bye.  Hopefully, she will come see us again in Key West.  So this was Day 48 and the forecast for the Gulf for seas of 18"  and less with winds starting around 15 mph decreasing to less than 10.  Perfect for our 90 mile run to Steinhatchee, Florida and putting us arriving into that location just before high tide.  Sun is up and we're ready for a great ride.

Apalachicola sunrise

Can you tell we're freezing???

And off we go!!

So Robert Burns wrote the poem that included "the best laid plans of mice and men" which pretty much described Day 48.  There was a wonderful sunrise, that beautiful start, basically calm seas and off we go for about 45 minutes until as the saying goes "it all went south".  We were cruising along the dredged channel at roughly 15 mph approaching the St George Island Bridge.  In the center of the channel just ahead of the bridge, there was a red marker in the water which, in this case, should remain on your port (left) side.  We did that, passed under the bridge and suddenly came to an incredibly quick stop on top of an oyster shell and sand bar that was supposed to be identified by the red marker we had just passed about a quarter of a mile back.  The nautical term for this condition is "hard aground".  The towing service for us is BoatUS and the soonest they would arrive was 2 hours later.  Fortunately, Brittany had given us a book of crossword puzzles for Christmas which helped pass the time.

BoatUS arrived about 11 AM and tried several ways to pull us off, but this was low tide and nothing was working.  So the next 4 hours were spent on more crosswords, magazines and watching a few boats go by.  I talked to the Coast Guard to report the off station buoy and not even 15 minutes later, they started making VHF radio announcements about the "hazard to navigation".  Sure would have been nice to hear about that before we went aground!!  As I said - not our best day.  BoatUS got back at about 4:30, on a rising tide, and this time pulled us off.  Engines started right up and amazingly we got underway without apparent damage to the underwater gear!!!  Mike on the towboat guided us all the way into Carabelle where we got into a slip at C-Quarters Marina as the daylight vanished. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/932129

We became the "R48" marker............

At least we got a beautiful sunset headed into Carabelle

Day 49, Saturday January 6, was a day spent making calls and finally having a bit of fun at Pirates' Cove for dinner.  This is a restaurant that has new management and was very, very good!  One of the regulars at the marina gave us a ride over and one of the folks at the restaurant bar brought us back.  The people in Carabelle are just beyond friendly and willing to do most anything to help.  Not in Kansas anymore Toto!!  I lined up a diver to come check out the boat and he arrived on his work boat at 11:30 Sunday morning.  This guy was like many of us who got hammered by the Great Recession and was very interesting to talk with.  Jack checked us out and came back with a clean report - basically a miracle.  We had lost some bottom paint on the hull rails, but we must have somehow come to a stop before the props, shafts or rudders hit the shoal.  We are good to go - as soon as we get another weather window to get across the Gulf.  What is up with this winter??

Attacking the Pirates' Cove pirate!

Carabelle also has some interesting history so on Day 50 we broke out our boat bicycles for the first time.  After a stop at Ace Hardware and lunch at Carabelle Junction our tour included a visit to the Camp Gordon Johnston Museum.  This area was a huge military training base during World War II.  The current museum is in an old school building but is being moved to a brand new location.  The role this location played during the war years was truly impressive!  Another Google assignment for you readers.  From here we rode to the Bottle House, advertised as "recycling art", it did actually have not only a house made of bottles but also a light house of bottles!!

Carabelle does actually have the World's smallest Police Station!!

This is a military memorial sort of in the middle of the highway into town

After all of the planning, weather can change everything so now it looks like we will do the long run to Tarpon Springs.  Thursday appears to be the day for making the crossing based on wind and  wave height forecasts.  If all goes well, the next post will be from Florida's west coast!!  

Happy New Year - Loop Trip - Days 28 - 43

Our trip home to Atlanta was basically uneventful, after we managed to get our rental car.  Seems the Enterprise location where I reserved didn't see the need to mention that they would be closed when I wanted to pick up!  At least Enterprise had another location nearby and our Uber driver knew where it was.  On December 17, when we left Panama City it was sunny and 70 degrees.  Arriving in Atlanta, it was cloudy, gray and 45 degrees - for the whole time we were there!!

There was much to do during our time back home.  I went to Knoxville for three days to visit my Mom.  Regina had a couple of appointments and a shopping/lunch day at Neiman's.  There were a couple more planned dinners with friends and we both got much needed haircuts.  And of course, there was Christmas.  This turned into a two day event as we had people coming to visit that we hadn't seen in about 25 years!  Visiting, catching up and really getting reacquainted made for an absolutely wonderful Christmas Eve.  The day itself was spent with Brittany and her husband Jonathon.  Santa was good to all, our traditional afternoon movie was excellent and then we topped it off with a fabulous chicken pot pie dinner.

December 27 was Brittany's birthday which was spent packing to make the return trip until she got off from work.  Part of her birthday always includes dinner at the Melting Pot.  This year that became a 3 hour event!  We left stuffed like little pigs, but managed to make it back home for Britt to open her presents.

On the 28th, it was time to head back to Panama City.  The drive is about 5 hours so we left at 9 AM.  Brittany got up early and made a Krispy Kreme donut run and brought back some hot, fresh ones for us!!  We got back to the boat just as it quit raining so the 50 trips of carrying stuff back on board was at least completed without getting soaked.  That night we went to The Place for dinner and met Kevin and Aaron who run the Smoky Barrel BBQ.  Needless to say, this was the dinner location for the last night (12/29) in town.  Pulled pork and pulled chicken were amazing and I had a double helping of baked beans!!  Wow, so good!!  Got to tell you that if you're ever in Panama City - you cannot go wrong with either one!

Regina with Keith and Oliver the pig

Winds were forecast to pick up on the 30th so we got up early to work out of our slip.  Normally not too hard a thing to do, but this marina has square, concrete pilings which do not allow your lines to slide off easily.  Our boat neighbor John, from Minneapolis, and his cat Tippy gave us a hand getting free.  The ride from there to Apalachicola was smooth.  The day started a bit chilly at about 44, but warmed up quickly.  We saw a only few dolphin but lots of fisherman - probably because its Saturday.  Along part of the route, we saw many sunken boats and damaged homes which we figured was the result of  the hurricanes which hit the area.  Sad to see either just abandoned in place.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/924638

John and Tippy

On New Year's Eve, we ventured into town to see where our dinner reservation would take us.  The Gibson Inn is a historic hotel two blocks from the marina where we are docked.  I found that they were doing a NYE special so I signed us up!  Regina played with Salem the cat while we checked the place out before continuing the stroll through town.  Appalachia is a small, old town originally founded around a port to ship cotton.  In those days, they also collected sea sponges and all of these were shipped to locations far and wide and you can still see the remnants of those activities in town.  There are lots of shops, art galleries and quite a few restaurants.  We found the Oyster City Brewery when the aroma of popcorn caught our attention.  The weather turned bad while there so we had to run back to the boat in the rain.  Unfortunately, it continued to rain and the winds picked up, so the trip back to the hotel for NYE dinner was a really wet one!  I even had to readjust the lines just so we could get onto the dock!!  Dinner was great and best of all the walk back was dry!

Gibson Inn

Salem the Inn cat

Oyster art

The Inn and the Courthouse are the largest buildings in town

Italian greyhounds at the Oyster City Brewery - yes, they are full grown!!

We will likely be here a few days to wait out the front that hit yesterday.  After that, the weather will dictate our next move.  The forecast has some pretty high winds which would make crossing the Gulf uncomfortable to say the least.  Just have to see what happens.  Maybe we'll go to Carabelle.  To all our friends - have a safe, prosperous and Happy Year Year!!

Getting Ready for Christmas - Loop Trip - Days 21 - 28

So Day 21 turned out to be just what we had hoped for and we departed for Destin. The morning was sunny and cool as in 41 degrees, but the wind had finally died down to about 15 mph.  Now that's still a bit windy, but so much better than the rain and 25 mph wind that had been the last few days!  The trip over to Destin was pretty smooth.  We only saw a few other boats along the way and those were mostly tows with barges and one other looper.  Our biggest event of the day was the first encounter with a sport fisher.  I had heard a lot about these guys who believe that the world and the waterway revolves around them.  Polite folks slow down when passing so as not to rock other boats like a roller coaster ride with their wake - not these guys!  They roared past us without backing down at all - and had the gall to wave!!  At least nothing got broken.  In Destin. we found our slip which was behind Harbor Docks restaurant.  Nothing fancy and no frills, but near the center of everything.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/911773

The gang's all here!!

An amazing sunset

Adding our dollar

Here it is

Just a few or the millions on the walls and ceilings

The next three days were spent in Destin.  We got to visit with Michelle and Cam
 at their condo on the beach.  The sunsets were beyond amazing and had some strange effects that were not expected. Our friends suggested dinner at McGuires which is basically a very cool, large Irish pub that serves one of the best steaks that you will ever taste!  The place is covered with dollar bills - the estimate is $1.2 M to $1.4M!!  Of course, we added one to the collection.  Our next outing, which was on our anniversary, took us back to their condo for drinks and another sunset before heading to Miller's Ale House for pitchers of mojitos and racks of ribs!  Dining our way through Destin and we barely made a dent in the choices.

Destin harbor

Cam giving instructions

My JackFrost created by Cam and his ice machine!

Another Destin sunset

Look what Michelle wrote for us!

On Day 26, we left Destin for the trip over to Panama City.  It was another sunny and fairly warm day with very little wind.  We had two large bays to cross which were connected by a fairly narrow, dredged channel.  Not much to see through here, but when we got to West Bay approaching Panama City, the dolphins came out to play!  It was the first time we had seen them jumping in our wake.  It is just so crazy cool to watch these big mammals swimming with you!  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/914097

Panama City Marina slip

Muy Wayne O's for lunch

Panama City Beach

So now we are heading to Atlanta for the Holidays and Brittany's birthday.  The boat is set up in a slip a Panama City Marina and we will return on December 28 to pick up the trip.  So for now, Merry Christmas to all.  Best wishes for a wonderful and magical day.

Loop Trip - Days 12 - 20

Days 12, 13 and 14 were the last three on the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway.  We attempted departure from Demopolis early on November 30, but it was very foggy so we waited at the marina for it to clear.  At about 8:30, things were looking better so we headed out for the three miles downstream to Demopolis lock and headed on toward the Bay.  Interesting fact, look at the lock picture tagged about the flood of 1979.  The water level was 57' above flood stage.  So this dam and the next one, Coffeeville, were both totally underwater!!  I can't even imagine that.  So we went through the lock and moved on until we ran into a thick fog bank.  The next six miles were totally IFR,   We went on radar, AIS and the chart plotter at about 6 knots.  It finally broke up and we made it to an anchorage at Bashi Creek and were joined by Breeze, another looper from Chicago.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/904568

Bashi Creek

On December 1, we left our anchorage a little before 8:00 hoping for a nice day, but all we got was clouds and drizzle.  Our last lock was about 10 miles below the anchorage and we went through with Breeze and Gypsy Lee, a looper from Massachusetts.  This was our longest day so far as we traveled 84 mikes to another anchorage called Three Rivers.  This was a most interesting spot as we had to go down a narrow channel for almost 1/2 mile to an open area where we stopped.  Breeze arrived here about an hour behind us.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/904615

So the last day on the waterway started much like day 12, we got up to try for an early start and there was fog.  Hoping for the best, we inched our way back down the channel to the river and pulled out into the channel totally blind.  The fog was so thick you couldn't see 30' in front of the boat so we crossed the channel and re-anchored outside a marker and waited.  Fortunately, the fog began to lift in about 45 minutes and we were able to get back underway.  It was another long day as we traveled about 80 miles to reach Mobile Bay.  Lots of interesting things to see in Mobile ship channel.  Be sure to look at all the pictures.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/905738

Boats in the Dog River parade

Day 15 was the long leg across Mobile Bay to get to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GICWW).  Weather was finally clear and sunny without fog!!  Winds were really light today so the ride across was very smooth.  We passed a gigantic freighter, fishing boats and got to see a lot of dolphin - so cool! The first stop on the GICWW was at Homeport Marina and Lulu's restaurant.  Now Lulu is Jimmy Buffet's sister and this location is quite the place to visit.  I had my Cheesburger in Paradise and Regina did the local shrimp.  We met a couple here who is touring the USA in their RV while towing motorcycles for local travel. A grand time was had by all with Buffet music playing in the background!!  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/909771

Lulu's has it all - indoor and outdoor fun

Day 16 took us from Lulu's to Pensacola Beach which included some GICWW and several large bays.  It was sunny and fairly warm, but the wind started to blow pretty strong directly from the east so we were headed straight into it which made for some waves on the bow.  There were no dolphin to be seen today, but we were concentrating on finding markers.  The wind roughed up the water and we were taking an occasional spray over the bow.  Yes, I did want that glass windshield with wipers for a reason.  We finally got Pensacola in sight and began hunting for the marina entry.  All of the landmarks were in plain sight, but they didn't match the verbal instructions.  It turned out to be a sort of water mirage and we located the channel into the marina and got tied up with assistance as the wind was now blowing at about 16 mph.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/909772

Pensacola Beach Marina

So now we have spent days 17, 18, 19 and 20 at Pensacola Beach Marina.  The idea was to stay for maybe three days, but the front that was coming in on Monday has not moved out.  There has been heavy rain showers, thunderstorms and high winds every day.  My buddy Tom, his wife and two daughters live here so we have gotten to visit with them, dine at some great places, view a fabulous sunset and visit downtown Pensacola.  What a really cool city!!  Tom tells me the place was a dump not all that many years ago and has been resurrected into a beautiful place.  Amazing houses, both large and small, shops, restaurants, parks, Christmas lights and even a marina right downtown.  

Peg Leg's is a Pensacola Beach tradition

Entry to The Bridge

Sunset from The Bridge deck

Three layer key lime pie at Flounders!!!

So hopefully tomorrow will be the day we head for Destin.  Weather is forecast to be sunny!!  The wind may not have died down completely but should be much less than the last few days.  Wish us luck - at least it's not snowing like it is in Atlanta!!