11/3 -11/4 The Wharf Orange, AL to Pensacola, FL

11/3 We spent a quiet day at The Wharf.

They have a Ferris Wheel which was out of order that day.  I was disappointed. 

 I wandered the shops and made an appointment to get my nails done.  It was a pleasant day.  It only 11/3 but they were putting together Christmas Trees and other Christmas displays. 

A song writers music festival was going on.  The singers were the song writers themselves.  So you might know the song but sung by a different artist.  We made dinner reservations at one of the venues.  The music was very good and we had a very nice time. 

John order a Bushwacker for dessert.  Bushwackers are alcoholic drinks made with ice cream and Baileys and other liquors.  John has found one of his favorite desserts.

In the morning, we waved good-bye to The Wharf and headed east to the Alabama Florida Line. 

What a beautiful day!  The sun was warm the smell of the ocean was great.  We stopped at Redfish Point and dropped the anchor. 

This is a barrier island.  We swam ashore in warm water and did a short walk over the island to the Gulf of Mexico.

It was so much fun to put my feet in the Gulf. 

We saw ghost crabs and the foot prints of very large cranes or pterodactyls. 

The beach was empty and gorgeous with powdery white sand.

We swam back to the boat and John took the opportunity to scrub the waterline of the boat.  As we started to pull our anchor, we were surrounded by dolphins.  What a day.  I am so glad we went swimming. 

I had never been to Pensacola but John has.  As we cruised toward Pensacola, we saw many planes and helicopters doing maneuvers from the Pensacola Naval Air Station.

The Pensacola Light was in the distance.

The Pensacola channel was stunning with the sun shining on the white sands. 

We pulled into Palafox Marina.  It is at the foot of Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola.  The end of the street is Luna Park after the Spanish explorer you claimed this land for Spain in the 1500's.

I walked up town.  It was fun to see all the decorated pelicans.

I saw these butterflies fluttering by flowers at the marina. 

For dinner, we went to Shux.  I managed to finish another dozen oysters done 4 different ways and they were all delicious!  For dessert, we went for ice cream at Bubba's.  Yum.  It was a lovely clear night as we strolled back to the marina.

Tomorrow, we are planning to go to the Naval Air Museum at the Pensacola Naval Station. 

Lat 30 degrees 24.12 North
Long 87 12.86 West

11/02 Across Mobile Bay to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama

Roger Turner from Turner Marina Services finished the work on the Raymarine Chart Plotter this morning.  We are happy to have the demons exorcised from the chart plotter and our way points restored.   We scooted out under the bridge over Dog River into Mobile Bay.  The seagulls gave us an escort out into the bay.

One stayed really close.

The winds were up and the bay was pretty choppy.  We headed down the shipping channel.  This large vessel passed us. 

There was one on AIS that was significantly bigger 980 feet long and a 109 foot beam.  We rounded the Middle Mobile Bay Light and used a way point to the Gulf Intracoastal Markers.

Gulf Shores, Alabama shores rose out of the sea.

Once off the bay, the Intracoastal was filled with dolphin.  The Intracoastal took us past LuLu's Restaurant.  We were late for lunch and early for supper but that meant there was plenty of room on the dock for our boat.  LuLu is Jimmy Buffett's sister.  The place is eclectic.

This is what the fly bridge of the Hydrophilic looked like from our table.

 I did enjoy an oyster po' boy.  The music didn't start until 5 but I wanted to get on stage and sing.  I took this picture of the stage for my sister, Barb.  It might describe one of us. 

Back on the boat we headed to Orange Beach, The Wharf Marina.  It is a very nice complex with a ferris wheel, cineplex and shopping. 

This was another of those fabulous sunsets.  I love Alabama sunsets.

Looks like we will have a nice down day tomorrow. 

Lat 30 degrees 17.61 North
Long 87 degrees 37.89 West

11/1 Oysters and Boat Chores in Mobile.

We had planned to get some work done here in Mobile.  The weather is warm here but there is a steady and pleasant breeze off the bay.

The work included; 1) repairing the blown out zipper on the front fly bridge panel 2) getting an oil change and checking the zincs 3) fixing the Raymarine that has starting acting possessed.  The canvas lady did a great job with new Strataglass on the front panel.  The oil change did not take very long and the zincs looked just fine.  Most of the Raymarine demons have been exorcised but our way points are gone, so they are looking in to that.

That has given me plenty of time to clean the boat.  We went from stem to stern today on the outside.  Now that we are out of fresh water, there will be less spiders.  That is so good because before this trip, I did not know that spiders poop, a lot.  Spiders leave black marks that must be dissolved before they will come off.  UGH.  Anchoring in the mud of the rivers was fun but the mud from the bow and stern anchors was everywhere.  When we docked at marinas the electrical cord left black smudges on the edges of the boat.  Lastly, there was just general dirt and grime from the air.  It took hours.  The boat looks so much better, though.  I told John that the marina could charge us extra for silting in the marina.

Best thing to eat in Mobile is oysters.  I have had 3 oyster dinners.  Tonight, we ate at Half Shell Oyster Bar.  I had a very delicious spring salad and dozen oysters.  They were done 4 different ways and all of them were great. 

If everything goes as planned tomorrow we will go across Mobile Bay and join the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to head east toward the panhandle of FL.  I am looking forward to enjoying the sights and beaches of panhandle.

10/30 Demopolis to Mobile Bay back in salt water

Demopolis is the last vestige of civilization until Mobile.  At Demopolis, everyone talks about where the best anchorages are along the way.  One of the staff at the Demopolis Marina, had gone out and sounded the Bashi Creek Anchorage and posted it in boaters lounge.  Because we were planning a stop there, I took a picture to help us at the end of the day. 

The Demopolis Lock is less than 2 miles away from the Marina.  David on Miss My Money coordinated a group to leave at first light.  He talked to the lock master and everyone was set to pull out, when.... a tow popped up on AIS.  Tows always take precedence over pleasure crafts going through the lock.  So, we made more coffee.  Everyone was up and ready to go so there was a lot of visiting on the docks for the next hour and a half.   When we heard from the lock master that we could approach the lock, David coordinated getting the faster boats in first.  The boats that had planned to go later now got going with us too.  We filled the lock with looper flags.

The BWTW, the Black Warrior Tombigbee Waterway, slowly turns more and more brackish.  It becomes tidal but the tide is not really noticeable.  John had his eyes out and spotted the first alligator swimming to the side of the river. 

Many of our companion boats had great alligator sightings.  The river is still narrow here with cliffs and rolling hills on the sides.

It was a long day as we did 61 miles and three locks to the Bashi Creek Anchorage.  While it was narrow, there was a sailboat already in it and Time Out and the Hydrophilic fit snugly in there too.  It was hot dogs and beans for supper.  Dark came quickly and the stars were out.  It was cooling off at night, which was good for sleeping.

The next morning was chilly and there was fog on the river too. 

We started the day in jeans, hats and gloves and ended the days in shorts and short sleeve shirts.  There was no cell phone service.  Neither John nor I had service.  Occasionally, we would see a bar or two but it would quickly lapse.   Our first decision was to go 26 miles to Bobby's Fish Camp or  92 miles and one lock to the Alabama River Cutoff Anchorage.  Bobby's is famous because it is the only non-anchorage stop until Mobile.  Bobby's is known for having a face dock that will accommodate 4 boats.  If more boats come, they must raft up to the other boats.  The kicker is that the boats that raft up pay the same price as those on the dock, but have no electricity.  Also the area does not offer wave protection from the tows.  The restaurant there is open Thursday to Sunday and serves catfish.

We knew we were looking at a long day and left our anchorage at first light.  As we passed Bobby's, Dan on Time Out commented that if we stopped it would be for brunch, so we kept going.   We went went through our final lock on the Tombigbee.  There will be more locks between here and home but none of the big Army Corps of Engineer Locks that accommodate tows.   It was dusk as we pulled into the Alabama River Cutoff.  This was the best anchorage we had been in on the Tombigbee.  It was wide, deep and protected from the wind.  We set a stern anchor to keep us straight in the anchorage.  We could see the tidal changes in the river now.  But 92 miles makes for a long day.  We grilled Italian sausages and had them with pasta.  Once again the sky was beautiful and we slept with the windows open.

Finally, it was Friday and we awoke to fog and the narrow BWTW.  The fog cleared though.

The narrowness of the river was about to change.  We were 67 miles from Mobile Bay and our plan to head for Dog River Marina. We headed down the river.  The river had many twists and turns still.  Here is what it looked like on our chart.

One could go around the bend and be less than 1/2 mile from where you started.  We began to see more sand on the shore.

The river was running faster and became the Mobile River.  Finally, we saw palm trees on shore. 

 We began to see industry again like this big steam and steel plant. 

As the river widened, we saw all sorts of AIS indicators ahead.  Each one of those triangles is a ship.

There were very new, sleek and powerful looking Navy vessels being built.

We saw this working platform hanging off the side of one ship. 

This purple hulled ship was appropriately named the Gigantic.  Most of those cranes are on the ship.

Ocean going vessels were here too.  In this picture of the ocean going Autoliner, you can see the tow with barges on the right for perspective. 

The city of Mobile beckoned us forward.

And finally, we entered Mobile Bay.  It was about 2 in the afternoon.  The sun glistened on water.  The bay was filled with dolphin coming to check on us.  The shrimp boats were trawling back and forth.  Most of all the aroma of the ocean was intoxicating.  I was so excited to be back in salt water.

Dog River Marina was our stop for the night.  The crew from Diva Di welcomed us as cruised into our dock space.  Not quite time to relax just yet.  Our front eisinglass zipper blew out and John called the canvas lady so she could come to the boat and get it.  We are going to get work done on our chart plotter at Turner Marina and John made sure we were on for that.  We had been traveling these long days with Dan and Jean from Time Out.  They would be leaving the next morning, so we headed out to dinner.  When you stay here, they give AGLCA reciprocal privileges at the Mobile Yacht Club.  It was founded in 1847, making it one of the oldest in the country.   It is just a short walk there too.  The food and the company was excellent!  The shrimp was very fresh.

Saturday, we started in with boat cleaning.  We helped Time Out cast off their lines.  Then we moved the boat less than a mile to Turner Marina where they will do our Raymarine work and we will get an oil change.  It was afternoon, as I was checking into Turner and heard our friends, Tom and Carolynn, on Su Sueno call to Dog River for their dock space.  When John took a nap, I walked over to Dog River to see them.  They are staying a few days to rest up from the rivers too.  For dinner last night, we went back to the yacht club and I had the best fried oysters I have ever had.

John got this picture of the sunrise here this morning.  It is just that nice. 

The courtesy car here broke down on Thursday and is in the repair shop, so we rented a car today.  That was good because we went to church, got some things at Home Depot and picked up some medications at CVS.  We had lunch at a Five Guys.  You know how they have signs about their burgers winning best burger in some city or another.  Imagine how we laughed when we saw this?

I really love the breezes off the bay here.  It is warm but the breezes make it bearable.  I told John I could live here and he could come visit.

Lat 30 degrees 34.02 North
Long 88 5.26 West

10/25 From Columbus, Mississippi to Demopolis, Alabama

So it is time for another geography lesson.  The Tombigbee Waterway runs generally to the south southeast.  I say generally because parts are very winding.  We left Columbus Marina in Columbia, Mississippi for an early lock through.  Another Mainship, Time Out, headed out early with us to go through the Stennis Lock.   While it was cold,  is was a beautiful morning in the lock. 

Time Out took this picture of the Hydrophilic in the lock. 

Once through the lock the fog on water under this bridge made for a good photo op.

At this point the Tennessee River is what makes up the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway.  It wasn't long before we had crossed state lines and were surrounded by Alabama on both sides.  One never knows when you might need to make a phone call on the edge of a river in rural Alabama, but we found one just in case. 

We cruised easily down the Tenn Tom, the views were terrific.

This is a picture of our boat going down the Tenn Tom. 

But one cannot lose sight of the fact that these waterways were made to make it easier for the tows and barges to get to the Gulf of Mexico. 

After the Helfin lock, both the Time Out and the Hydrophilic anchored in an oxbow to the right of the river.

Once the anchor set we were snug for the night.  The weather has been cool at night with temperatures in the low 40's.  By the end of the day though, temperatures have been in the high 70's to low 80's.  John took a swim off the back of the boat but put me on alligator duty.  We are getting to alligator country and another looper, Barbara on Miss My Money said she saw one the other day.  The stars were beautiful overhead and reflected in the water.  Time for a good nights sleep.

So today, we were up early to head down the Tenn Tom.   We passed the White Cliffs of Epes, Alabama.  They are part of the Selma Chalk formations that were laid down at the same time as the White Cliffs of Dover.  As we rounded the corner on the river, the cliffs were stunning in the sunlight.

Today was an easy day with no locks and we arrived at Demopolis, Alabama about 3.  That was plenty of time for a long shower and 2 loads of laundry before the BYOB docktails at 5 pm.  The captains have decided that the first flight of boats will leave at 6:30 and David on Miss My Money will communicate with the lock master for all of us.

Demopolis is where the Tennessee Tombigbee meets the Black Warrior River.  So from here down to Mobile, it will be the Black Warrior Tombigbee.  We will be anchoring out the next one or two nights so do not expect updates to the blog in a couple of days.  Soon the water will become tidal and progressively more brackish.  I miss the smell of salt water and look forward to the aroma soon.

Lat 32 degrees 31.86 North
Long 87 degrees 50.51 West