Thursday, November 19, 2009

We got underway at 6:00 A.M. this morning. The day was cool and sunny and we couldn't have asked for better seas. We left Fairhope and traveled about 90 miles to Santa Rosa Island which is only about 10 miles from Fort Walton Beach. It was so strange to be in the middle of a big body of water and only have a narrow channel that was deep enough to navigate. When we reached the Pensacola area, we had two dolphins that swam along with us for awhile. They swam right in front of the bow and swam exactly the same speed we were going. They were quite the entertainers. They rolled over for us and jumped in the air. I tried to get pictures, but I don't think I got a very good shot. Sue said they love the attention and as long as you watch and make over them, they'll stay. As soon as you stop paying attention to them, they leave.

We also saw the Pensacola Lighthouse. I did get a picture of that which I will post once we get somewhere with WI-FI. We are anchored out in front of a Park called Navarre Park. We did not travel with any other boats today, but it was a fun and uneventful day. That's the kind we like.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

This is the swing bridge. Isn't it cool!

Happy Birthday, Bob! Sorry there is no cell service here, so I can't call you on your birthday. Love you and hope your day was great!

Today Norm & Sue, and John & I spent the day in Fairhope. We started at Walmart grocery shopping. The Walmart Greeter was hilarious! He sang us a rap song about shopping at Walmart and being happy. It was funny and very strange. We took the groceries to the boat and then spent the rest of the day in town walking through all the little shops. One thing we noticed was that 75% of the shops had dogs in their shops. All of the dogs were nice. I just thought that was odd. The town itself is quaint. There were very few vacancies in their store fronts, there were lots of fall flowers around the business district, and the houses and yards were extremely well taken care of. We had lunch at Mary Ann's in their outdoor courtyard.

At dinnertime, we were planning to go to Ben's Bar-B-Q that we had passed early in the morning. A 8:30 A.M. they had the food cooking and it smelled so good when we passed by. However, when we got there for dinner, it was closed. So, instead, we went to Old Bay Steamer and had delicious seafood.

We are hoping to leave at first light in the morning barring no fog or big time waves.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

We had another interesting night at anchor. Around midnight we woke up and John went out to check on things. Our anchor was fine. However, the boat that was anchored behind us had their anchor let go and they drifted back on the boat behind them. He reset his anchor and most of us went back to sleep (not John).

It had rained during the night, but the morning was cool and cloudy, but not raining and not foggy. We left our cozy Three Rivers Anchorage at 7:00 A.M. We saw a raccoon swimming in the river. I'd never seen that before.

Coming through Mobile Bay was intense. It made me feel so tiny and insignificant. There are so many barges, tugs, and freighters moving about. My mouth hung open (no wisecracks) in awe of all the commerce and activity. It was amazing.

We arrived at Eastern Shores Marine, Inc. in Fairhope, AL. "Finally", "CC Manhatten", and "Theresa" are here with us. Norm and Sue drove from Ft. Myers to accompany us on the next leg of the trip across the Gulf. However, we are taking tomorrow off and going into Fairhope to investigate. It is so good to see them and spend time with them.

Monday, November 16, 2009

We were up early and ready to go. However, Mother Nature had other ideas. We had to wait for the fog to lift and then for barges at the Coffeeville Lock. All six boats left together and stayed pretty close together all day. We ended up at an anchorage called Three Rivers. The six of us were there plus one more. Again it was dusk when we arrived at our anchorage for the night. It's beautiful back in this creek and we anchored in a single file. The Skipper Bob Book says that there is 6 feet of water back in this creek, but we were in 25 feet of water.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

We left our anchorage around 9:00 A.M. and headed on down the river. We are still in the company of three other boats. We went as far as Bobby's Fish Camp and stopped for the day. It was only 2:00, but after last night, we needed to be tied to shore to get some serious sleep. This is the last "marina" until you get to Mobile. Bobby's costs $1 a foot. There is no electric or water, just a dock that holds only four boats. Usually, he allows people to raft off one another, but because the water is so high that is not an option right now. We were lucky that there was no one else at Bobby's when we got there. He does sell gas and diesel fuel ($3.15 a gallon). There is a restaurant here, but it's only open Thurs. through Sat. Bobby opened his marina in 1956. He had a stroke this past September and has just recently come back to work. This is an interesting place to say the least.

We had Happy Hour on "Moon Beam" and got to know one another better. One couple is from Montreal, one couple is from Minneapolis, and the other couple is from Charlottesville, VA. They are all very nice people.

Underway Again

On Friday the 13th, we decided to leave on the following morning at first light with three other boats. So, on Saturday, we were up and ready to go at 5:00 A.M. However, there was so much fog, we couldn't leave right away. By the time the fog lifted, there were a number of barges ahead of us at the Demopolis Lock. Our "early" starting time ended up being 11:30 A.M. We hesitated to take off at that time because there didn't seem to be any good anchorages close enough to make by dark. The people at the fuel dock at Demopolis Yacht Basin told us about a barge facility off the river, that didn't have a contract this year and so is closed down. They told us that would be a good place to anchor. We arrived there just at dusk and this facility is a very active barge facility. Uh oh, time to reevaluate. The lead boat contacted an oncoming tow and asked if he had any suggestions of where we could anchor for the night. He told us Old Lock #2 at mile 168.6 That's where we ended up. We rafted with one of the boats in our group. Everything was fine from 6:30 P.M. until 1:30 A.M. Evidently, when a barge went by, it loosened the anchors. Both boats' anchor alarms were chirping. We had to get up and found ourselves in the middle of the channel with one anchor now holding in the channel. It took awhile to release our rear anchor and haul it aboard. Then we went back to where we were before and anchored separate from each other and stayed put the rest of the night. We weren't comfortable just going back to sleep. So, we took turns staying up and monitoring the situation. Of course, we didn't move at all after that. Thank God for anchor alarms.

Thurs., Nov.12, 2009

I had to look at my phone to know what day it is. The days are all running into one another. Yesterday the manager of the marina made gumbo for everyone for lunch and then gave us his take on the situation. He said that if you have only one engine, don't even think about attempting to leave. If you have two engines and have enough power to motor against the current, then it's up to you. However, there is a really swift current and a lot of debris in the river. Two boats left yesterday and three left today. We heard one person say he is leaving tomorrow morning, and some are talking about leaving on Saturday. John is leaning toward Saturday at this point. We'll see how things are by then.

Today to keep busy, I did laundry, baked a pie, and made two Christmas presents for grandchildren. John put the numbers on the dinghy, fixed a wire that pulled out of the marine radio, did some computer stuff, and watched a movie. I believe we are going out to dinner tonight. There is a restaurant at the marina.

While doing laundry, I was visiting with some of the other women here. One of them said she has a Designer I sewing/ embroidery machine (just like me) which she brought with her. She also brought her serger. We seem to have a lot in common. We miss everyone at home. Til tomorrow.....