Windy and Challenging

Greetings from Gulfport, FL

We arrived yesterday and walked downtown last night.  The town looks artsy and fun.  There's a casino at the end of the street.  A huge crowd was in O'Maddy's, watching football.  Maybe Tampa Bay was playing?  We came on home for dinner because we are trying to clean out the fridge before we go to Atlanta.  If it's not raining too much tonight, we'll walk to a restaurant.

The weather is windy.  Rain and thunderstorms are predicted for this afternoon and evening.  We have our boat well tied and fendered.

Trying to dry towels on the porch.

A big challenge this morning was getting on and off the boat.  We wanted to use restrooms at the marina.  We also planned to wash the boat and put up the window coverings below and seat coverings on the fly bridge.  High tide was around 9:00 am, just when we needed to get off.  It was a three foot drop at least since the dock is not a floating dock.  I thought we were stuck.  Then we came up with a way to exit.  See George's demo: (Movie had to be removed in order to print this.)

Remember, this morning we had twice as far to drop down to the dock.  When we do a
maneuver like this, I always think, "That's why we didn't wait to do the loop."  We are just barely flexible enough for this trip.

This blog is going on vacation: to Dublin and Atlanta and Auburn to visit friends and family for two weeks.  We'll be back on Aunt Aggie by December 4 and resume the blog on December 5.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Anchoring Out vs Marina Life

We are in Gulfport, FL, very close to St. Petersburg.  We arrived around lunch and got into our slip all by ourselves.  This is a municipal marina with good services.  I am happy to meet Tony, the dock master, to whom I have spoken several times.  We are paying for a month here because it's cheaper than the two weeks we need.  We can leave the boat here while we go off for Thanksgiving visits, but we can only live on the boat for two weeks.  There are rules to keep people from moving into the municipal marinas full time.  We haven't explored the town yet.  Just had lunch and nap.  Guess who is still napping?

As we started our trip today, just 30 miles or 4 hours of boating, I felt anxious.  Why?  Because we stayed in a marina for three days.  (A body at rest tends to stay at rest.)  It's easier for me to keep moving than to relax on land and then get going again.  So I was thinking about the advantages of anchoring vs. marina life.

Anchoring -
1.  When we drop an anchor, we can do it by ourselves. We don't need help from others.  We just pull slowly into the anchorage, find a spot that's less than 10 feet deep if possible, and drop the anchor.  
1.5  When George turns off the motor, the quiet is a gift.
2.  In the morning we just pull it up and move back out onto the ICW.
3.  Anchorages are remote and beautiful.  Sometimes we see/hear fishermen, but they don't bother us.
4.  Often we see dolphins and birds.
5.  George fishes.
6.  We have sunsets and sunrises and starry skies that make us feel rich.
7.  It is easy to move the next day because staying in the anchorage is not an option.
8.  Anchoring is free.

One big drawback with anchoring is the weather.  The weather must be good, which means winds under 10 mph, and no storms predicted.

Marina Life - 
1.  It feels good to pull into a marina and have helpful dock hands take our lines.
2.  They often hook up the electricity too.  
3.  From the marina we can often walk into town, which is entertaining.
4.  We get more exercise when we are in a marina since we take walks.
5.   Sometimes we need a marina for a pump-out, laundry, water, or groceries.
6.  It's fun to walk around the marina and find loopers.
7.  We can have happy hour or dinner with other boaters.
8.  Marinas are important when a storm is coming.  
9.  We almost always can find a spot in the marina we want.  Marina managers are helpful and flexible about how many days we are staying.  We can add days or leave after one.

The big drawback for marinas is the cost.  They are $1 - $2 per foot, so for Aunt Aggie that is $35 - $70/ night.  

Now I just surprised myself with those lists.  I thought anchoring was preferable, but both choices have lots of positives.  

News Flash - We saw our first manatees today.  Couldn't grab the camera fast enough to get a picture.
Time to wake up George and explore Gulfport.

Football Saturday- Hooray for Tech and War Eagle!

We are still in Dunedin, FL; this is our third day.  The weather has improved.  It's sunny.  This morning an egret landed on our bow.  This is my view as I do the dishes:

I'm feeling lucky.  Last night Patriot and Blue Willow, two looper boats, hosted dinner.  They cooked hamburgers, and everyone brought a side dish.  Fourteen people gathered and shared funny and scary stories of their looping trips.  Navigator is finishing the loop in 100 miles.  We are the newest loopers.    We have been with some of these loopers for a few nights: We feel more relaxed and included with them.  To have friends on the loop, you have to push yourself socially, accepting invitations and showing up with drink in hand at cocktail hour.

Today George and I made more plans for December.  I spent a long time researching marinas in Ft. Myers and calling them to find out their monthly rates.  George worked on our accounting.

Finally it was time for the GA Tech - Clemson game.  We walked to Cricketers, an English pub in a shopping center, and watched the game.  It was thrilling.  Yes, I'm sorry the Clemson quarterback was hurt; I am also so glad his injury was not caused by a Tech player.

We walked home and are now reading.  My latest book is The Moviegoer by Walker Percy.  I tried it many years ago and didn't like it.  I have so much time to read now that I hope I can get into it and enjoy it.  I do appreciate the writing.  A fun thing about marinas is that they have places to share books and magazines, so I am reading a ton.  That is a way that George and I get distance from each other.

A forgotten beer becomes a little GA Tech celebration video.
(Movie had to be removed in order to print this.)

What makes a fun town?

We are spending three nights in Dunedin, FL.  Yesterday we came here to get to a new spot since we'd done enough time in Tarpon Springs, and the weather wasn't good for anchoring out.  Today we took the Jolly Trolley to downtown and walked around.  This is a cheery town.  Why?

1.  The trolley driver picked us up even though we were standing in the wrong place.  He put us out downtown and pointed out spots we might like.
2.  There is a farmers' market today in a park in the center of town.  A musician was playing "Peaceful Easy Feeling" by the Eagles.  The market has fresh veggies, prepared foods, soaps and crafts.
3.  There is interesting street art.  (See my photos.)
4.  There are several bars and restaurants.  We were looking for a place to watch football tomorrow.  We haven't planned well for GA Tech or Auburn football games this fall and haven't seen any.  This week we remembered to be in a town on Saturday.  So we're staying here tomorrow too.  We found two places we can walk to and watch games.
5.  Just the fact of having the Jolly Trolley run between Tarpon Springs, Dunedin, and Clearwater is pretty cool.  For $4.50 you can ride all day in a clean trolley.

This sign marks the Pinellas Trail, a biking trail that runs between the three towns.

I like discovering the men climbing the outside of this building.  Then I saw the telephone booth too.

This is a bike rack.

The dolphin is an apt symbol since they are ubiquitous.

Fun street signs add playful flavor.

When we returned to Aunt Aggie, we gave away our TV and VCR.  The marina said we could put it in the break room, and maybe a dockhand will take it home.  Since we don't have cable, watching tv has been a trial:  We get the weirdest stations with shows you've never heard of.  Once we decide to watch a show, it is interrupted by static, frozen screens, and dissolving images.  Now we are free.  Our main video indulgence is MadMen season 6.  It's rather grim, but it does have great stories and casting.  

George took away the VCR and TV.  Yahoo!  We have more space on a counter.

Dunedin, FL

This was a quiet day for us.  We are learning to consider the tides and the winds as we make plans.  Two new considerations = more to discuss. Before this week we left the dock whenever we chose.  Today we waited until 1:30 pm, so there would be enough water for us to leave our marina in Tarpon Springs.

We changed plans at the last minute because the marine forecast is not great for Friday and Friday night.  So no anchoring out.  We came south 15 miles to Dunedin, where there are lots of loopers.  Marker 1 Marina came to the Fall Rendezvous and impressed boaters, so here they are.

We've seen several people we know, and they invited us to a hamburger cook-out for Friday night.  We need to bring a side dish.  I am thinking of making mac 'n cheese in the crock pot.  Will that work?  I don't have any casserole dishes here.

We took two walks today:  first around Tarpon Springs while waiting for the tide; just now on the highway in Dunedin, looking for a bike rental place, so we can ride tomorrow.  There is a wonderful biking trail here + the Jolly Trolley.  We will explore tomorrow.

I have no great photos today.  Just a couple of fish sculptures and an egret movie.  I followed the egret on our dock.  They are landing all over the place.

This is a bike rack.

                                     

Tarpon Springs, FL

We slept 12 hours last night.  I felt as if I could sleep all day today too, but I didn't want to miss our day in Tarpon Springs.  This is another funky, fun small town.  The flavor is Greek.

Last night Laura and Ed Parvin, friends from Atlanta who sold their house and now travel around in an RV, came here for drinks.  Then we went to dinner at Dmitri's, a Greek restaurant.  We had a great meal - lamb for George and chicken skewers for me.  We have leftovers for tonight.  Laura and Ed have been traveling on the east coast.  Now they are staying in Dunedin, FL, just 10 miles away for the winter.

Today we were quiet in the morning.  We made plans for the rest of this week.  We changed our rental car, so we can come home next Wednesday.  (One week from today we will be in Atlanta!)

After lunch we walked to town and toured the sponge stores, watched a PBS film on the sponge industry, visited Hellas Bakery, and had a $3 margarita.  I also did some clothes shopping.  Lots of sales appealing to touristy women.  Here are some photos of Tarpon Springs.

This is the sponge dock.

Here are the boxes from Hellas Bakery.

We enjoyed going into the sponge market, watching the movie, and talking to the owner.  Her grandfather came to the US at age 13 as one of 300 sponge divers brought here from Greece.  They started the industry here.  She had photos of him, his contemporaries, and his old tools.

While I shopped, George wandered around the Greek area, taking a movie.
(Movie had to be removed in order to print this.)

A Once in a Lifetime Experience

We made it across the Big Bend and are now anchored outside Anclote Key.  The tide is low, and we were advised not to enter our marina for a few hours.  So we are in a pretty spot in 6 feet of water.

View from bow of Aunt Aggie

As we rocked and rolled last night from 2:00 pm - 10:00 am today, I thought of lots of headlines for this posting.

It Wasn't Pretty

 At one point we made a hard turn or had a big wave, and practically everything in the kitchen and salon fell onto the floor.  Yikes!

Poor George 

We started the trip taking turns driving the boat.  I drove for an hour and George napped.  Then he drove, and I lay down.  This worked until I woke up at 2:00 am and realized how rough the water was.  We had "following seas" which lift the boat and push it along, but can be very uncomfortable.  We were wallowing.  I did not want to be in charge with his sleeping at that point.  So from 1:00 - 6:00 am George had to drive with only two short naps (twenty minutes each).  I am sorry.  The responsibility felt too big.  He did a great job and is now napping loudly.

Dolphin Cruise

We had dolphins swimming between our boats and beside the boat before sunset.  The sunset was magnificent.  We took lots of photos.  

All's Well that Ends Well

That's easy for George and Shakespeare to say.  I just heard George telling Eddy, who helped us by leading the way, that he didn't think the crossing was that bad.  What?  Luckily, I never got on the radio and told everyone in the 9-13 boats around us what I was thinking.  I kept my craziness inside our boat.  We do agree that the main issue was the length of this experience:  It just went on and on.  So glad to be here now.  

Leaving Carrabelle!

It's a sunny day, and we are excited to report that we are leaving Carrabelle at 1:30 pm for the crossing of the Big Bend.  We found the perfect travel partners, Eddy and Linda Johnson.  They
have three great characteristics:
1.  They are experienced boaters:  They completed their loop last year and have done the crossing before.
2.  Eddy is the weather forecast person now for the AGLCA.  Every day he prepares a weather report telling loopers whether that day is a good one for crossing.
3.  They are Auburn grads.  War Eagle!

So we are having lunch soon and casting off.  We expect the trip to take 21 hours, so we'll be at Tarpon Springs on Tuesday morning.  I'll fill you in on the adventure tomorrow after a nap.

Carrabelle, FL

This morning we left Oxbow Anchorage at 7:30; however, it was really 8:30 because we are now back on Eastern Standard Time.  We made good time traveling to Carrabelle.  The day gradually became sunny.    On the way we saw bald eagles in a tree.

We continued through Appalachicola Bay and passed the town of Appalachicola.  It looked charming.  

I'm sorry we didn't stop in there.  Many boaters are there tonight.  We felt a need to get to Carrabelle and figure out who we can make the Big Bend crossing with.  The crossing will take 17 - 20 hours.  Boaters leave in the afternoon, travel overnight, and arrive in Tarpon Springs in the morning.  We need to arrive in morning, so we can see to come into the harbor and avoid crab pots.  We want to go with at least one other boat, so we are not alone on the gulf. 

This crossing is consuming my thoughts now.  I can't wait for it to happen and to be complete.  I do not want to wish my life away.  However, I have many questions and worries about the crossing.  These will all be answered soon.  

Loopers spend a ton of time studying and discussing the weather.  We also spend a great deal of time making our plans and checking them with others.  This crossing is combining those two obsessions.

We have contacted all the boats we know to ask when they are going.  We went to a cocktail hour meeting tonight to meet other loopers who are here and who are crossing this week.  "When are you crossing?  What is your speed?  What time do you plan to depart?"   These are the main questions we asked everyone as we chatted. There is a group going 20 mph, a group going 10 mph, and a group going 7.5 mph.  We want to go 9 mph.  Finally, we made contact with some 8.5 mph folks.  We still have to follow up tomorrow about plans, routes, expectations, and departure time. 

We had dinner (fried shrimp) at The Fisherman's Wife across the street with a fun couple from Our Last Boat - IX.  They are from New York and told us stories about the Mississippi section.  

We think we are departing for the Big Bend Crossing tomorrow afternoon.  I'll send out a note before we go.  

A Mess of Mullet

This morning in West Bay behind Panama City beach,  we had a magnificent sunrise.

Then the day turned grey.  It was not rainy or windy, but it was grey.  I felt blah.  I'm sure I would have an occasional blah day in Atlanta too, but out here, I usually feel energetic.  I am really affected by a lack of sunshine.  Anyway, we persevered and traveled about seven hours to an anchorage near Port St. Joe.  We didn't go into Port St. Joe because the trip into town is another 7 miles off the ICW, or another hour for us.   

As we approached the canal to Port St. Joe, we passed five small fishing boats, all using nets.  The first boat had a family with children.  They threw out three nets and pulled in loads of fish.  George described the scene as "Biblical."  We grabbed the phone and recorded quickie movies of the next two boats.  (However, we are in an isolated spot tonight, so I am having trouble downloading movies.)   Next we passed a guy working alone.  He yelled, "You want a mess of mullet?"  Then he picked up one of the fish to show us the size.  We were impressed.  

Now we are in an oxbow anchorage - absolutely quiet and isolated.  The land to our left is described as 'impenetrable swamp" on the map.  That sounds like something out of The Princess Bride.  We expect a peaceful night.  

Crossing Choctawhatchee Bay - Two Points of View

Last night at Ft. Walton Beach city docks, the water was shallow in the docks that were left when we arrived.  Four or five boats got there before we did.  We had to tie Aunt Aggie across the dock, blocking two boats.  Several guys came out to help us tie and arrange fenders.  We spent a quiet night in spite of the high winds in the bay.  However, this morning everyone was moving early.  So we ended up coming off the dock at 6:55 am.  Yes, it was sunny.  Yes, we were ready.  No, I did not want to go then.  Why?  The winds were predicted to be 13 mph all morning.  We were moving across a wide bay, so waves would build up on our beam.  When we considered traveling on Friday, George said (promised?) that we could stay at the dock until noon, when the winds would calm.  Now peer pressure and good manners dictated an early departure.  We were rocking on the bay for a few hours.  Here are two movies we made to show how we saw the trip:

This is Martha's view from the floor, where she sat for an hour.

This is George's view from the lower helm, where he had to "drive the boat" all morning since I wasn't much help.

(Movies had to be removed in order to print this.)

After a four hour trip across Choctawhatchee Bay, we entered a twenty mile ditch that connects Choctawhatchee with West Bay.  West Bay is behind Panama City Beach.  

This is the type of boating Martha likes.  Smooth sailing!  We ate lunch in this break between the bays.

  

As we entered our anchorage in West Bay, mile 278, dolphins and pelicans entertained us.  We are now at anchor in a beautiful spot.  We can see Panama City's high rises in the distance.  All we hear is water lapping at our stern.  The wind is now just 5 mph.

Excitement on the water on the way to Ft. Walton Beach

This morning we left Pensacola.  I was sad to leave Gus and Row on Summerland.  They are staying til Saturday.

We had two exciting events as we traveled:  At 9:38 the Coast Guard sent out a message which I am paraphrasing:  Pan-pan...Pan-pan...Pan-pan.  An F-16 jet has been reported downed 50 miles south of Cape San Blas.  Any mariners in the area, please provide aid and call the Coast Guard.  (They repeated the message every hour.  We never heard what happened.)

Later in the morning  a group of dolphins played around Aunt Aggie.  They jumped and flipped and swam beside us.  Two of them seemed to be racing the boat.  It was delightful.

We are tied to the outside of the Ft. Walton Beach City docks.  There are about six looper boats here.
The water gets shallow near shore, so we couldn't fit into a slip.  Thus, we are tied across the back of two slips.  We are expecting a lot of wind from the north tonight, so we are well tied.  In the morning we will have a ballet of boats moving to leave.

Ft. Walton is another smart town:  They have free city docks to encourage boaters to come and walk into town.  All of us strolled in this afternoon.  We found a cupcake store, a doggie bakery, and a Publix.  We bought biscuits and sausages for breakfast.  Breakfast is our most boring meal.

This is the Little Church at Vandegriff Park.  It was the original office of the First Methodist Church, circa 1949.

Pensacola, FL

We entered Pensacola through the bay.  Here is a spot George loves.  He has anchored here many times with buddies.

Of course, just after we took this photo, we moved into the bay and the inlet crossed, and the seas became "confused." Oh, no!  Lots of wind (15 mph) and waves hitting us in different directions.

It didn't last long, but I do not like that, Sam I am.  

Soon we entered Palafox Marina, and calm was restored to Aunt Aggie and Martha.  This is a great spot:  We can walk to downtown, which is my favorite activity.  We arrived around noon, pumped out and bought gas, and walked to their very cool historic district.  Within ten blocks there were lots of restaurants and two music venues and government services- all in restored, historic buildings.  We ate pizza, which is hard to find on a boat.  Then we walked to a cooperative food store and bought creme and bread.  They had good looking prepared food too, but we are all stocked now, so we couldn't buy much.  

This piano sits outside a music store.

Street view of Palafox Street

This is a corner on Main Street with four parked food trucks and an outside dining area.  The trucks are parked behind the
umbrellas and tables.

After walking back to the boat, we worked on our plans for getting to Carrabelle.  Carrabelle is the spot from which we make the Gulf crossing next week.  We want to get there as soon as we can, so we will have a half moon for the crossing.  Tomorrow we continue east to Joe's Bayou.

Fairhope Yesterday and Robert's Bayou Today

Fairhope, AL, is a charming town with a bustling downtown and interesting buildings.  There are unique storefronts.  Here is an independent bookstore.  I bought Being Mortal by Atal Gawande and an October Real Simple magazine.  (I may be a bit off on the calendar.)  George got 1942, a book about WWII.  A  woman in another store asked me if I was born in 1942.  No.

Page and Palette, a combination bookstore and art supply store, with Latte Da, a coffee shop, next door.
See the cool rounded storefront?


We walked around for a good while in the afternoon and stopped for ice cream at Gene's Beans, a coffee and ice cream shop. I had Rocky Road.

Gene's Beans

This is a store that has art from just local artists.  I like these wooden painted signs, my kind of art.  We spoke to the artist in residence and apologized for not being able to buy anything since we live on a boat with zero wall space.  He laughed.

This morning we left Fairhope at 7:35, moved through Bon Secour Bay, and entered the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW), going east.  The wind was light, and so was the chop.  I felt fine out on the bay.
(We are learning the new terminology in preparation for a big gulf crossing we have to do before Thanksgiving.)We stopped for lunch at Lulu's, a fun restaurant that is owned by the sister of Jimmy Buffett.  Our friends from Summerland came too.  We all ate cheeseburgers - what else?
It would be a busy spot in the summer; not so busy in November.

We are anchored in Robert's Bayou, a spot George loves. Many friends have been here with him.  It is a warm afternoon.  When we got settled, we changed into shorts.  As I write this, a dolphin is swimming around behind the boat. He was splashing around so loudly, I thought someone had jumped overboard.

If you like a quiet spot to read or fish or write, this is it.
Wish you were here.

Fairhope, AL

Good morning!
We are in Fairhope, Alabama.  We arrived yesterday, Sunday, at 2:00 pm, by going across Mobile Bay.  There was a lot of wind, but the waves were only 1-2 feet. I don't love the rocking surf, but I need to get used to it.  We are so happy to be here.  Although we enjoyed our river adventure, we are ready for a change - the gulf!  We completed 1500 miles on the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers, going about 8 mph.  Tomorrow we are headed to the ICW and east toward Carrabelle, Florida.
But before we leave the river section, I want to share some photos and memories of the past week.

We spent three nights at anchor after leaving Demopolis.  It is hard to find a safe anchorage off the Tombigbee.  In August we traveled north on this section going 60, 80, and 100 miles in three days.  However, then we had 14 hours of sunshine.  The heat was oppressive, but we moved in daylight.  Now our days begin with fog, so we wait to start our travel until at least 8:00 am.  Sundown was at 6:15 pm, so we only had 10 hours.  We really want to drop our anchor by 4:00 pm, so we have time to watch it, and be sure it is set.  Therefore, we broke the trip into 4 days of 60 miles each.

On the river there are long periods of quiet, broken by excitement. (There's a log! Here comes a tow!) During some of the quiet, we wrote a song and poems.  Look on the new page, Poems, to see our creative side.  You can sing along with the "Locksology."

The first day we went to Bashi Creek, which was a great spot.  Very narrow but 8 feet of depth all the way in.  We rafted for the first time with Summerland, a boat owned by Gus and Row, our new friends from Florida.  Immediately after we finished tying off our boats, Row invited us to supper, saying she had chili and was making brownies.  She offered George a chili cheese hotdog.  He swooned.

Meet David, Row and Gus's dog.  He likes to be called, "Dave."

Gus and Row are from Titusville, FL.  They have already traveled 4100 miles on the loop.  They're almost home.

This is a Halloween morning picture of Bashi Creek.  We enjoyed watching the fog that day.  It danced on the water.

The water in the river never looked so good to us.  I said to George,"I don't remember this river being beautiful in August."
George:  "It wasn't."  The air, colors, light - it was all lovely.  Even Bobby's Fish Camp looked manicured.  

On Halloween we stopped at mile 100, Lock #1.   It was too shallow to enter, but we needed to get off the river because winds were around 17 mph that night.  We nosed into the anchorage and had about 4 feet of water under our boat, minimum coverage.  George is not a worrier, or we wouldn't be doing this trip.  We spent a quiet, safe night. Gus and Row came over, and I served pot roast and vegetables. When we woke up, the river level had dropped, and we were sitting on mud.  We spent an hour and a half working to get off the bottom:  We pulled ourselves by hand to the anchor, we called the lockmaster upriver 13 miles and asked him to release water, we called boats going by and asked them to come close and give us a push with their wakes.  Finally, we got both boats, Aunt Aggie and Summerland, free.  We were so happy to be out in the river again.  It was chilly that morning, and I was shaking from adrenaline and cold.

Our last night on the Tombigbee, we pulled off into the Tensas River anchorage.  This is a beautiful spot with 20 feet of water and room for many boats.  We rafted again with Summerland and had a lovely night.  We felt grateful that our boats didn't have any damage from the morning's stress.

On Sunday, November 2, we made the last 39 miles to Mobile, entering the harbor.  It was accidentally smart - Is that the definition of lucky?- to enter on Sunday.  Mobile has major shipping lines and many tows and barges lining the channel.  We scooted by.  

We crossed Mobile Bay to Fairhope, using the compass bearings provided by our marina and watching our boat on the Blue Garmin app.  Mobile Bay is shallow, just 8 - 10 feet with spoil areas sprinkled throughout.  We did not want another grounding out in the bay.  Entered Eastern Shore Marine at 2:00 pm with lots of wind and got tied securely to their docks.  Marinas are very good about sending out helpers to the docks.  My brother John and sister-in-law Melanie came from Auburn to see us.  So fun!  It means a lot to us for people to really understand where we live and why this is a worthy experience.  We had fried shrimp for dinner at a restaurant, and we drove in a car to get there.  What a treat! 

Sunset from our boat last night at Fairhope, AL.

As I write this, George is planning next week's travels.  We will head east.