CROSSING INTO THE SUNSHINE STATE

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9 - After spending a lovely night at anchor rafted to Sundowner.  We woke to a beautiful dawn with dolphins feeding only feet from our boats.  We had a little breakfast and enjoyed the solitude of the setting before moving out to the next spot. 

Captain Jack...just being himself!

A dolphin scaring up some breakfast

We know this bird well, can Kennedy students identify?

Continued down the ICW (the Inter Coastal Waterway, same as GIWW but most people call it the ICW).  More cool houses, docks and marinas.

ICW view

This bird was drying his wings, they do that a lot.  What is it?

Bye bye Alabama, bring it on Florida!   We still have a long way to go but boy are we getting there.

And we have dolphins alongside once again.  They are so graceful, so amazing!

.  

This weekend is the annual Homecoming Air Show at the Pensacola Naval Base.  How lucky for us!  We were planning to anchor at Fort McRae, just off the Base but as we approached we saw a wall of fiberglass – literally boats of every size and shape were stuffed into that anchorage.  Seems the locals had the same idea and beat us to the spot.  Rather than wedge in, we decided to drop the hook in Big Lagoon near the shore of a long white sand beach that divides the Gulf from the ICW with the plan to move over to the other anchorage (that is in a NO WAKE zone) once the show is over and some of the folks go home.  Meanwhile planes are zooming through the air overhead and in front of us.  Truly there wasn’t a bad spot to anchor in the whole bay. The air show is a celebration of 100 years of flight at the Base.  It has been running since Friday during the daylight hours and we are catching the tail end of the last show.  Sundowner anchored next to us and we both took our dinghies to shore armed with blankets, some snacks and beverages.  We thought we’d take a beach walk and watch the Blue Angels when they take flight.  

We crossed over the dunes and put our toes in the Gulf – yay!!!  It felt so good, can’t believe we made it this far!! 

The Johns

Girlfriends...

Next thing we know the Blue Angels were flying directly over our heads.  Time to get back to the beach for the grand finale!  We started back across the dunes when all of a sudden we heard someone yell “Estreeeelittta”!  It was our friends Burke and Stell from Estrellita. 

They saw our boats there and they anchored and brought their dinghy in too.  Were we surprised to see them!  We all went back to the beach and put out our blanket and shared took in the acrobatics of the planes. 

It was an amazing show and it was so cool to be sitting there with this group of people taking it all in. 

The guys gawking at the planes

Our dinghies from WI, FL and SC

Beach party!

We just hung out and waited for the parade of boats to go by after it was over and then made our way into Fort McRae cove.  We anchored and this time Sundowner rafted to us and Estrellita anchored just in front of us. 

We hosted the 4 of them on Free Bird for cocktail hour and dinner.  We grilled a Pork Tenderloin and I threw some greens bean together.  The others contributed purple potatoes (yum!), brussel sprouts and fresh baked bread.  It was a feast and a good time was had by all.

TIME TO SAIL AWAY!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 - We are almost ready to put the sails up once again and sail away...almost.  Our last day at Turner Marine was a busy one and included a final grocery run, painting Marley's bottom, and cleaning the boat up inside for me.  

John changed Free Bird's oil among many other things.  We have put 140 hours on the engine since we left Grafton, IL so it was time for a little lube job!  He also gave Free Bird a much needed bath!  Being in port for over a week we dragged grass and all kinds of muck on board.  We can already see the effects of salt water, it is not only in the water but in the air.  There is residue all over our windows, all over our hull!  This marina was not exactly a garden spot, but it did have a token palm tree.  At least that makes it feel a little tropical!

And we had some more friends stop by - Mike and Sheila Newton from West Plains, MO.

They had been down in Gulf Shores, AL and stopped to see us on their way back home.  We took a break from chores and they drove us down to Pelican Bay at Fowl River Marina for lunch.  Nice to see them and catch up.  They will be coming to Florida to visit in January too.  They dropped us back off at the marina and we finished up our final tasks.  We spent a little time kind of saying goodbye to a few folks and enjoying the rest of the evening.  

 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11 - We left at 8AM with another Catalina 42 (the same boat as ours) owned by a local gentleman named Barry who we met the week before.  We raised the sails and headed out together across the bay weaving our way through all kinds of nautical traffic including but not limited to towboats with barge loads, cargo ships, supertankers, shrimping boats and more.  

It wasn't long before we had dolphins!  Almost everyone we had talked to had seen dolphins coming into Mobile and we had not.  That was about to change! 

They were riding our bow waves and were right there!  Oh they are cool, what a wonderful welcome to the Gulf!  Can't wait to see more of them.  Molly was sitting out back with us in the cockpit when one surfaced right in front of her...she jumped about 2 feet straight up in the air!  She ran downstairs and then came right back up to look for them again!

We had been in communication with the crew of Sundowner who had been in Fairhope, AL and planned to meet up with them today at the next anchorage in Ingram Bayou.  As we went across the bay, lo and behold who do we see but boats Estrellita and Sundowner coming down the coast.  We couldn't have planned it better if we tried!  Unfortunately the wind died so we had to motor so we could make it to our anchorage at a decent time.  

We entered the GIWW (Gulf Intercoastal Water Way) and we are now officially on the "Intercoastal" - yay!!!  What a different world we are in compared to the rivers were have been traversing of late.  Started seeing some cool condos and homes.  Loved looking at all the neat things people had in their yards, their docks and boat houses.

Sundowner went ahead of us and got anchored in Ingram Bayou.  Estrellita stopped at the Wharf marina they had heard good things about and said they would see us later.  We rafted with Sundowner and went up onto their deck for a nice sunset cocktail.  Here is girlfriend Karen in her fun hanging chair on their back deck.  I think I need one of these!

Captain Jack was in his prime and was hoping to meet Miss Molly.  

Molly was not quite as receptive but she she did see him and didn't hiss.  I think that is a step in the right direction.

Karen made a pot of Jambalaya which combined with a few rum drinks made for a great evening.  It was a great spot with just a few other boats, very relaxing.  It sure is nice to be out of the marina and on the water again!

CATCH UP TIME!

FRIDAY, November 7, 2014

Time to backtrack a bit, OK – a lot!  Oh my, so much has transpired since we have done a serious post.  Here is a synopsis of our journey from Demopolis, AL to our present location at Turner Marine on Dog River in Mobile, AL.

 

We were in Demopolis, AL at Kingfisher Marina for 2 nights.  We were put into a slip that was covered with a corrugated steel roof which actually ended up to be a godsend as it provided very necessary shade - it was HOT! 

Didn’t do a thing for our cell phone coverage but it helped keep us cool.  I mean it was like mid 80’s and humid!  We got into our slip, got on our bikes and took off.  It was Sunday and so not much was open.   We rode for miles.  The downtown was completely closed up and so we kept going.  We just wanted to have lunch somewhere, anywhere!  The best we could find was a Pizza Hut, not exactly what we had in mind but beggars can’t be choosers!  We then went on to Walmart for some supplies and back to the marina.  Wow – what an outing that ended up to be.  Were very thankful that we have air-conditioning!!!  Lots of interesting boats as usual.  This home-made boat caught our eye...not sure I would ever want to sail on it though.  Kind of a fun name!!!

We met another couple on sailboat Amada who were also shipping their mast on the same truck that ours was on.  We ended up travelling with them (Rick and Sherri) for the next 3 days and have been here in Mobile with them for over a week now.   We left Demopolis and went through Demopolis L&D.   Then on to Coffeeville L&D - our 26^th and final lock!  We are done with those now and are happy to be getting them over with.  It has been an interesting part of the journey but we are ready to move on!

Our first anchorage was at Bashi Creek.  John and I arrived first and didn’t know if Amada would make it that far or not as they travel a bit slower.  About sunset they came around the corner and rafted up with us.  When I say that, I mean we had an anchor down and they actually tie their boat to our boat so we are right next to each other.  It is a great use of space when there is not much room and it is kind of fun to be together with someone else.  There are not many places to get “off” the river in these parts and there were already 2 boats above us in the creek.  We were happy to have them tie up to us for the night.  We had them over for a beer and got to know them a bit better.  They are from Grand Rivers, KY and moved there not long ago from Missouri.  Nice folks!

The next day we both headed down river and went to an anchorage we thought may work but it didn’t.  Turns out we are in tidal territory now that we are below the last lock and were approaching this particular place at low tide.  John went in on Marley and the entrance was only 3-1/2 feet deep – too shallow!  That was not going to work as we draft 5’.  So we started to head back UP river to another spot we thought would work.  We didn’t want to go in the opposite direction as our destination but nightfall was coming and we just wanted to get somewhere safe and be done for the day.  A towboat hailed us on the radio and asked if we were looking for a place to anchor.  We said yes and he suggested a place under a bridge abutment down river.   So we turned around again. At least we were now heading back in the right direction.  We didn’t like being under a bridge but knew we would be safe there as towboats would not head directly for the bridge pilings.  We anchored there putting down not only our bow anchor but setting out a stern anchor as well.  Not a picturesque setting but it served us well.  I just put in ear plugs and went to sleep!

The next morning we woke and Amada was already gone.  Caught up to them and we both anchored at the Tensas River and had lots of room to spread out.  Back to a decent anchorage! 

This will be our last river anchorage.  John and I got in Marley and went gator hunting (just kidding, well – kind of)!  Big clouds started moving in and we went back to the boat to be with Molly. 

I am happy to report that Molly is doing well by the way.  She is getting more used to the boat all the time and developing her own rhythm and routine. 

The next day it is off to Mobile we go.  Into the Mobile Shipping Channel, how exciting!   We are now hanging with the BIG boats. 

We have pulled up along 1,000 foot Laker boats before but these were ocean-going vessels, I mean massive!   We sure felt like a little fish real quick!  There were cargo ships, ships in dry dock (meaning they were lifted out of the water on big docks, probably for repair), navy ships, all kinds of ships from all over the world!  

We were definitely in the big water now, salt water and heading for our new home down south.  It was a milestone!  We spent 6 weeks in Dauphin Island, AL earlier this year (Jan and Feb) which is just 20 minutes south of from Mobile.  We did not have any clue at that time that we would ever be back here again, let alone by boat!  We weaved our way through the ships and the pilings toward Dog River. 

Our navigation markers have changed and are now these huge wooden pilings that stick up out of the water instead of the little red and green buoys that had been floating in the rivers.  The waters outside of these pilings are shallow, like get-stuck-in-the-mud shallow!  It’s a whole new world with all the new navigation and tides!  How exciting to move on to the next part of our journey and get our mast back.  We stopped to pump out, take on fuel and then went to our new home for a week at Turner Marine.   

We are wondering if Mrs. Noonan's class knows what kind of bird it is in the last picture above???  

  

HOORAY - WE ARE A SAILBOAT AGAIN!!!

WOW - it has been a very busy time since we last posted.  We will catch you up on the journey portion later.  For now I am going to move on to present day.  Today is Wednesday, November 5th and we are in Mobile, AL at Turner Marine.  We arrived here on Thursday, October 30th.  We have been graced with visits from some of our marina dockmates from Sturgeon Bay, Ed and Fran and our former dockmates from Menominee (and still great friends) Dennis and Dawn. Both couples helped us out immensely providing engineering consultation, wheels to go to the local Lowe's, physical labor and yeas, moral support.  And we found time to get off the boat and out for a couple of nice dinners and a little sightseeing on Dauphin Island and the USS Alabama.  

Thanks to them and a whole lot of work by my captain, we got our mast stepped (put back on for you landlubbers) and are now a sailboat again!

The process of stepping the mast is an arduous one.  We had to unwrap it, clean it, sand it where it had chaffed during shipment, paint a bit of it, wax it and put all the electronics back on it.  John even fashioned a new part to elevate our anchor light so it sits above our TV antenna which we moved from the back stay to the top of the mast.  Looks great, he can do anything I swear!

Lots of legwork needed to be done before we could even entertain the actual stepping.

Then comes the big moment...raising the 58' mast and sticking it in the little hole!

Will post soon with details of our journey down the bottom of the Black Warrior and Mobile Rivers to our current point. There is still much to do putting on our sails and getting the boat all rigged but we are excited to be half way there.  

Sorry for the delay in posting.  There is only so much this crew can get done in a day!