Port St Joe Marina

(Tuesday Nov. 23 - Dist: 49.6 mi; Avg Speed: 8.7 mph; TTT: 6:20 hrs; Fog Delay: 2:50 hrs)

After a 2 hour fog delay we left the marina and passed this American Bald Eagle sitting just a few yards away on the private channel marker.  The marina docks are in the background and the condos, marina building, pool, et al are to the right just out of view.  Look how beautiful the day looks.  NOT.  As we were approaching the narrow entrance to the Lagoon, fog rolled in and completely blanketed the markers and the channel.  Linda and I stopped and waited for 50 minutes before the fog lifted and we were again able to see all of the markers and buoys.

Once out of St Andrews Bay and leaving Panama City behind us we soon got into some very flat marshy areas that were very shallow.  We had to closely follow the channel and at one point found a buoy which was out of position.  I had heard a couple of other boats who had followed the buoy and ran out of water.  All were able to get out but Linda and I were very careful and ignored the bad buoy and for once did not go through one of those annoying soft groundings.  Shortly after this we entered a canal and basically followed the ditch for a few hours.  Boring. 

We had decided to stay at Port St Joe for a few days because we had arranged for a number of deliveries to the marina.  The mail from home arrived right on schedule thanks to our very good neighbours Rob and Cheryl.  I had also purchased a GPS puck from Ebay so that I could more easily use my laptop as a backup chart plotter.  Now if my primary Raymarine chart plotter fails for whatever reason, I will be able to use the laptop to navigate to our next port.

I believe that I had mentioned in an earlier post that I had ordered some zincs, again off Ebay, to be delivered here at Port St Joe's.  They were here when we arrived and we made the final arrangements with the diver to have them installed.  Well he came this morning (Saturday) and installed them in about 10 minutes.  He checked the whole bottom, including the props, and reported a very clean bill of health.  He even reported that the bow thruster had a good zinc still.  That is good because I didn't even know that the thruster had a zinc.  I am still learning all kinds of things about this boat.  Anyway, after a brief chat, he told us how much we owed.  Linda was shocked and refused to pay it.  I was pleasantly surprised even elated.  Even my Jewish friend Mitch would have been pleased.  We were asked to pay $20 for the diver's work.  This is even cheaper than having our good friend Jay from Windsong go below to just inspect the props.  Jay drank all of my Wiser's Deluxe and is still collecting beer as payment for his 10 minutes underwater.  Linda doubled the diver's rate and we are still very happy.

Thursday was Thanksgiving down here and fortunately for The Old Grouch (Cndn) and us that there was an American Looper here at the marina.  Lynn and Jack from Felix invited us to share this beautiful smoked turkey.  It was such a beautiful day, mid to upper 70's, that we took over the patio at the restaurant / bar at the marina and feasted there.  It was perfect; the food was superb and the camaraderie was fun.  It could not have been better in any way.

Linda and I had never heard tell of a smoked turkey but this was very, very good.  It was served hot and even the white meat was moist and tender.  We will have to keep an eye open for it.

We are now in the staging area for making the jump across the Gulf to either Clearwater or Tarpon Springs.  It is 170 miles from Carrabelle and just slightly more if one departs from Apalachicola.  Linda and I, along with most Loopers, are going to wait for conditions on the Gulf to be such that the trip across is relatively pleasant or at least comfortable.  Trawlers and sailboats will have to leave one afternoon and travel through the night in order to arrive in the daylight.  Linda and I on the other hand are going to leave at first light and should arrive in Tarpon Springs about 9-10 hours later, just in time for happy hour.  We are currently thinking of departing form Apalachicola so will remain here at Port St Joe until a couple of days before it looks like there will be a window to cross.  We will then go there for a couple of nights of good oysters then head across.  

One more odd tidbit in case you ever appear on Jeopardy.  This county, Gulf County Florida, has two time zones.  Many people live in the Central time zone and work in the Eastern zone or vice versa.  Worse yet, now that all of our clocks are set to EST, they should be changed back to CST when we travel "east" to Apalachicola.  Apalachicola is on Central time.  Go figure. 

So we now wait for the weather.  So far the longer term forecast is for two cold fronts to sweep through this area.  We will be here until at least the middle to end of next week.  We are going to relax in this beautiful town and if we get a chance will do some golfing.

Bay Point Marina, Panama City Beach, FL

(Sunday Nov. 21 - Dist: 65.0 mi; Avg Speed: 10.6 mph; TTT: 6:00 hrs)

Dolphins are becoming regular guests on our travels.  We saw our first one a couple of days ago, but this one and his partner stayed with for at least 15 minutes playing in the bow wake of our boat.  It was difficult to get good photos of them because they were so far under the bow and they were so fast.  It wasn't until a couple of days later that we actually witnessed a dolphin jumping completely clear of the water about 3-4 feet high.

There are quite a number of canals along the GICW which is boring except for the aforementioned dolphins.  We did see Mother Nature getting ready for the holidays.  I will let the pics speak for themselves.  Do not forget that when on the blog site you can click on the pictures and have them blown up and then you can easily return back to the blog.  www.qsend.blogspot.com

 

To get to Bay Point we had to go through St Andrews Bay which is where the Port of Panama City is located as you can see.

Linda and I were a bit disappointed in Bay Point Marina.  It was located in a well protected Lagoon and it was associated with the Marriott Resort but it was away from town, did not have WiFi to the docks and no courtesy vehicles.  That was the most disappointing because there were a number of places that I would have loved to take the other Loopers who were stuck here.  Carol, Len, Linda and I found a couple of real special places near here that I would have loved to visit again; for example: Hunt's, Ernie's and this small oyster bar for Happy Hour on the west end of Panama City Beach.  Oh well, we got the boat washed down (this salt is a pain in the a#!!) and we did have a full afternoon in the dinghy.  The sand is unbelievable; so pure and fine that it actually squeaks when you walk on it.  Very Nice.

Destin Harbor Florida

(Sat. Nov. 20 - Dist: 67.3 mi; Avg Speed: 9.4 mph; TTT: 7:30 hrs)


Alabama - Florida Border

We made it; Linda and I took our boat all the way to Florida.  Who would have thought?? 

It was a pleasant enough trip across the GICW with not much to really see and a few "No Wake" zones to slow things up.  

In these zones we have to go idle speed which in our case is about 6.4 mph or about "Mitch Speed".  (Other Loopers will recognize Mitch speed as the preferred speed that Serendipity travels... which is why we usually go ahead and then help them in for the night.)  We did pass by Fort Walton Beach with a free city dock in order to check out the town of Destin.  We had stopped in Destin for a day while visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Panama City Beach last February.  We were not disappointed.

Destin Harbor is spectacular, really, really, spectacular; a perfect postcard......unfortunately we did not take any photos.  I am not kidding about how neat the harbor is.  It is long and narrow with beautiful white sand on the barrier island across from the town.  There are dozens and dozens of charter boats, fishing boats and tour boats all backed in to the dock.  Many do not even have any fingers between slips so one has to disembark the boat from the stern.  (Are you proud of me, after 3 months on board I am starting to get the lingo down.) We were fortunate that we stayed at the Harbor Walk Marina which allowed us to use the fuel dock for the night.  A mixed blessing as it turns out.

All along the harbor there are restaurants shops and bars, a real tourist mecca.  We, of course, did partake as time allowed.  We arrived late, past Happy Hour, so after hooking up electric and water and checking in, we took off looking for a suitable establishment.  We found this neat place that got started with very humble beginnings, a family affair really, and grew thanks to the support and building prowess of its patrons.  Debby and Darrell would be proud (or envious) as this place was also featured in the TV show, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives".  You see D&D are planning on taking their antique (sorta) car across the continent to find places just like The Shed and Guy's Gumbo in Fairhope, AL.

Since it was still Song Writers Month there was live entertainment at many places along the harbor including the open air band shell right near our dock.  Linda wanted seafood so we settled on the Crazy Lobster; a poor choice in retrospect.  The food was only so-so compared to what we have been getting on this trip. I suspect that Harry T's or The Shed would have been much better choices.

After dinner and after listening to some of the entertainment, we headed back to the boat as it was nearing 10 PM.  We are starting to act like old people, no offense to my elders, and we were tired.  I am not sure when the music stopped or when boats full of party goers stopped dropping off or getting other equally loud party goers, on and off  their boats at the empty dock beside us but I do know when the Charter operators started preparing their boats for the day....5 AM.  At the very end of our bow was the ice house that fishing boats and tour operators used to obtain the crushed ice that they needed for the day.  It was like Grand Central Station.  Oh well, we had to be off the fuel dock by 7:00 anyway so we made our coffee and headed off.....forgetting to take any pictures.  Sorry. 

Crazy Times in Orange Beach

I guess that once you have completed the Loop you do crazy things. 

Mark here is modeling the bra that Susan and Linda were going to hang in the ultimate dive, Flora-bama.  Linda had read about this place in one of the guide books so we decided to stop for a beer before doing our shopping.  It was a neat place with a lot of character and history.  It was partially destroyed in Hurricane Ike in 2005 and since then they have added different levels and bars to the part of the building that survived.  The room with the bras hanging from the lines has different colored tarps lashed together to form the roof.  The "roof" is supported by white PVC piping which acts as the trusses which in turn are "ducted taped" at the peak to the cross piece.  Notice that the instigator, Susan is not in any of the photos.  She was the one who insisted that we go back that evening  and she was the one who insisted that we take them to a Dollar Store so that they could buy a bra to donate to the character of the place.  All the prep was done but the girls did not have the balls to hang the bra.  As it turned out, we got there fairly early (ie. before 7 PM) but after paying a $5 cover charge each (and after more shopping by the girls (she bought another T-shirt)) we discovered the place was fairly crowded.  It is "Song Writers Month" down here and there is live music almost everywhere.  We discovered that Flora-bama is quite popular, even more so in the summer.  They have been known to have 5,000 people a day attend some of their events.  In the end, Linda left her mark on one of the bars and it was dully recorded for our records along with the now useless bra.  There is hope though, Mark and Susan, on behalf of all Loopers, have promised to hang the bra so that the AGLCA patch (with Linda and Susan's name)  is hung in a respectable spot of prominence.  It was great fun.

There were a couple of other interesting sights at Orange Beach.  The Captain docking the boat behind us actually did the docking form up in the crow's nest.  It looks a little scary but I'll bet that he does not have any blind spots like I do.

Huh, I ain't the only one to touch bottom at this very spot.  This 120 foot boat ran aground the morning that we left Orange Beach.  This is the very spot where I touched bottom but was able to back off because I stopped in time.  It is now confirmed: it was not my fault nor the navigator's fault: the buoy needs to be re-positioned to account for the shoaling in that area.

During the last couple of days we have seen oil spill clean up crews working along the beaches, lots of them.  Near Orange Beach they were actually scrubbing in-between the inter-locking bricks.  In other locations I have seen heavier equipment moving the sand.  From my perspective everything looks normal in this area and I spent two weeks along this coast in February.  Although this area was spared for the most part, there is no hint of the oil spill from a visual perspective but the businesses sure can feel the strain from the lack of tourists since the disaster.

On Saturday we move on.

Orange Beach Marina, Perdido Key, AL

(Wed. Nov. 17 - Dist: 49.1 mi; Avg Speed: 9.6 mph; TTT: 6:30 hrs)

Lulu's was our first stop on the GICW.  If you don't know this is Jimmy Buffet's sister's place.  Everybody said don't waste your time stopping there but we are glad we did.  The place is right on the water with a long dock, it was noon, the music was playing and I could see the bar from the helm; I did not have a chance.  As we were docking ourselves a couple of ladies from the Red Hat Society were leaning over the railing giving Linda some verbal support (eg. you go girl; that away, etc.).  Inside a number of people came up to us to talk to us about how we got there from Canada and where are going.  It was a very friendly place and everyone was having a good time.  Even before we got our table, a waitress stopped Linda and said, "you can't stay here".  Linda was shocked until the girl told her that we had to agree to give her a ride on the boat to get a table.  The food was good and not that expensive for what you got.  Linda had the crab cakes which btw were not on the menu.  They were so much better than the Mariner Restaurant crab cakes.  I use that place as a comparison because they had the best shrimp and crab claws that I have had.  My burger was good and easily worth the $10 that I paid for it.  The beer at $3.50 was a bit pricey from what we have been getting used to but still miles ahead of Canadian establishments.  It was a good stop.

Continuing down the GICW it looked just like I had seen in Florida this past February: houses and docks and beaches.  We are feelin' good and the weather is low to mid 70's.  Then all of a sudden I saw a fin just in front of the boat.  We spotted our first dolphins.  They stayed with us a few minutes, diving under the boat and then they were off.  Neat.

Getting into to Orange Beach Marina was a bit tricky, especially looking into the glare of the afternoon sun and trying to figure out the different buoys.  That is my excuse for touching bottom again.  The directions had us go around green Buoy #1 then follow the private channel....  We did exactly that but the shoaling evidently has extended a little beyond the green marker.  I must learn not to cut corners down here.  No harm, no foul; I saw the depth drop quickly so was out of gear when we touched and I was able to back up without a problem.

Once in the small canal to the marina it is very nice.  Fishing seems to be a big deal down here but not the little bass boats that we saw all up
and down the rivers.  These are serious sport fishing boats.  The covered slips behind us are tall enough to accommodate the towers and the long aerials of these boats.  Sorry I do not have a photo of that.  The rest of the neighborhood has canals running through them and notice how green things are down here.  I saw them cutting the grass today.  We are going to stay another day here and just enjoy the area.  We will either get the bikes out or take off in the dinghy.  This is the area for both.

Congratulations to Mark and Susan on Squivot; they completed the Loop yesterday when they crossed their wake at the bottom of Mobile Bay.  They started in Texas and basically entered the Loop at the beginning of the GICW in Mobile Bay.  They arrived here at Orange Beach today.  Of course we helped them celebrate; 10 Loopers at Calypso Joe's for happy hours and dinner.

Fairhope, AL

(Sat. Nov. 13 - Dist: 12.4 mi; Avg Speed: 7.1 mph; TTT: 2:16 hrs; Hi Temp: 74)

Directly across the Bay is a town called Fairhope which is quite pretty and has a number of artsy-type shops and some other higher end jewelery stores.  I was somewhat disappointed, perhaps because my expectations were much higher.  It was an even bigger disappoint on Sunday because most everything was closed.  We got off on the wrong foot at this destination and that probably did not help my disposition or my assessment.  We could not raise anyone at Eastern Shores Marina; they would not even answer the phone.  I wandered around for 1/2 hour after docking ourselves at the fuel dock, and finally found the office and a young lad sitting in there.  He was too busy to answer the phone???  I won't belabour this but we were not happy in the least, especially after setting up and confirming reservations in advance.

Guy's Gumbo Shack was the best thing that we encountered on our first day here. It is not much inside but they serve really, really good gumbo.  In fact this place was featured on the TV show, "Diners, Dives and Drive-ins".  My pulled pork sandwich to go along with the shrimp gumbo was not bad either.

With most establishments closed on Sunday it was pretty much a write-off except for the beignet that we had at the local bakery.  Linda says not nearly as good as the ones that she had in New Orleans.  We tried the town again on Monday with only slightly better results.  More, but not all, stores were open.  It was pouring rain most of the time but we did have a very good lunch at the Dragonfly Food Bar.  Very eclectic and very tasty.  On the boat we bounced around an awful lot but we were able to get a good nights sleep.

Today is Tuesday and we are taking a weather day, the first in a long time.  The conditions on the Bay are "choppy becoming rough".  We can feel it even in the harbor here; we are rolling badly.  Our drink glasses are not falling off the table yet, but close.

Again I am caught up.  Tomorrow we leave for Orange Beach which is just inside the Gulf Intra Coastal Waterway (GICW).  It is about 50 miles to the marina that we have chosen so should not be too much of a problem for us except that the Bay here is fairly shallow and I may not feel comfortable running at high speeds.  We will see.

Lulu's, the place owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister is on the way but most locals say give it a pass; there are much better places to eat or spend your money.  We shall see.

Dog River Marina

Dog River Marina is a serious working Marina.  Not only do some fishing boats dock here but most Loopers bring their boats here to be repaired....and there is an awful lot of repair work being done.  I do need some work done but mine is minimal compared to everything else that is being undertaken.  In fact the owner himself suggested that I wait until I got to clearer water to have some zincs put on my shafts.  Evidently, in saltwater it is necessary to add more zincs than the customary single large zinc on the transom.  Anyway, I have lined up a diver in Port St. Joe to do the job.  I will order the zincs online and save about $15 for each of the six zincs that I need.  I wish that I would have thought about that last winter.

It was like old home week here at the marina.  There were at least a dozen Loopers that we had met before here at the marina.  We decided that we needed to celebrate a couple of birthdays (ie. Joan's on the 12th and Carol's on the 14th) before everybody went off in different directions.  Windsong is getting work done on the catamaran and won't continue the loop until January and Serendipity is headed home for a couple of weeks over Thanksgiving.  The  first place that we tried was the Mariner Restaurant.  Excellent fried crab claws.  We had a big platter as an appetizer for all six of us and everyone raved about them.  My seafood platter as an entree was also very good.  The shrimp was probably the best fried shrimp that I have had thus far.  The only thing that was mediocre at this restaurant was the stuffed crab.

Most of Thursday was spent around the marina and getting things done.  I did take Jay to the airport to pick up his rental car and spent some money in the West Marine store which is on site here.  That evening the six of us went to Wintzell's, a chain which advertises that they have the best oysters.  NOT.  Linda had the oyster platter with four different preparations (eg. rockefeller, broiled, bacon & cheese, Wintzell's special?) and was not impressed.  In February at a bar in Panama City Beach with Len and Carol, the oysters were much, much better.  The $3 pitchers of beer may have clouded are judgement somewhat but the oysters were much better.


After another trip to the airport on Friday morning to pick up Serendipity's car rental, we used it to do some tourist stuff.....first stop, lunch.  We just picked this place on the causeway and we done good.  Linda's shrimp boil was very good and my seafood basket of scallops and shrimp was very, very good.  My scallops had to be one of the best that I have ever had.  There is obviously some good food in this area.

The USS Alabama is the battleship that we spent the afternoon on. 

This display was particularly well done because there were 3 self directed tours and many of the areas were open for you to access (eg, engine / steam room, gun turrets, crew's quarters, etc.).  The second photo shows Mitch from Serendipity in a smaller gun turret on the side of the ship.  I think, what I will do, is finish off this day and then just add a number of photos which you might find interesting.

Jay and Joan of Windsong left for Boston but it was easy to replace them.  ;>)  Mark and Susan from Squivot joined us at the Mobile Yacht Club for dinner on Friday night.  Here is a photo of the gang: Mitch and Carol from Serendipity on Linda's side of the table and Mark and Susan with me.

Linda and I are setting off on our own in the morning as Serendipity drives home to New Jersey on Sunday and Squivot continues to wait for repairs to be completed.  Squivot is actually only about 20 miles from completing the Loop.  We may actually be there when it happens if the weather cooperates.  They left Texas last year and crossed Mobile Bay and entered the GICW at that point to start their loop.

Enjoy the photos.

Crew's Mess Area and Sleeping Quarters

Inside Main Gun Turret

Machine Gunner sans Technique



SR-71 Spy Plane (replaced the U-2)



The Admiral

Mobile Bay

(Wednesday Nov.10 - Dist: 31.7 mi; Avg Speed: 8.9 mph; TTT: 5:50 hrs)

We are getting closer to Mobile Bay and can smell the ocean already. 

There is no doubt when you reach the port of Mobile. 

I was amazed at the number of dry docks and the amount of boat repair that was going on. 

Of course numerous ocean going vessels were docking and unloading.

 

The City of Mobile was not so shabby itself.  Not a huge skyline but some notable buildings.

 

So many sights but I am afraid that the message will be too long.  We did continue through the port of Mobile into the Bay and headed off to the west shore to Dog River Marina.  We stayed three days there so my next post will cover that aspect of the trip.  I will just try to squeeze in a few more photos.