Apalachicola to Mobile Bay (Remembering fall of 2009)

On our way.  Apalachicola river is swampy, beautiful and full of alligators.  JoAnn actually became fond of one little fella following his mom???  This is a woman who is terrified by a garter snake.  Go Figure!  Said he was qute but not enough to cuddle.

Great Escape at St Andrews Marina on St. Andrews Bay. 

bridge on the intercostal waterway ( ICW )

Lake Wimico is a beautiful treat on the ICW but it is very shallow and you gotta stay in the narrow channel!  This is not easy as the markers are very far apart, requireing binoculars to see them.  We didn't go aground but did touch bottom in there.  Scarry!

Panama City Bridge after crossing East Bay after comming out of Lake Wimico.

Saville Harbor is a wonderful stop in Pensicola Bay.  The "Fish House Resturant" in the backround is a must while staying there. 

Bear Point Marina's boat store at the gas dock.  Bear Point is one of our favorite stops in Orange Beach on the ICW off of Perdido Bay.  We've actually docked there 3 times over the years.  Free coffee on the porch every morning and great people there.

Bear Point Marina.  The porch at the store is called "the porch of knowledge" and no matter what the subject in the morning someone will proclaim to have all the answers. There is also a resturant called "Flippers".

LuLu's dock and resturant on the ICW is a favorite Orange Beach "hangout".  LuLu is Jimmy Buffett's sister and he occasionaly makes unanouced appearences to play there.  She also has a marina called "Home Port" next to the resturant that is a good "hurricane hole"

Cruising on down the ICW passed LuLu's and Bon Secour.  Lower helm in the pilothouse of Great Escape.

Following two other boats leaving the ICW to enter Mobile Bay.  Our goal was to get accrost and into the Tenn-Tom Bigbee waterway before the bad weather thats was predicted got to us. 

Mobile Bay.

Shrimp boat in middle of the the Bay  The next day when we continued the last 12 miles, the Bay was very rough with 4 to 5 foot waves.  Normally we don't go when the seas are over 3 foot waves.

Tied up at the dock of Grand Mariner Marina on Dog River just south of Mobile. The goal was to leave early the next morning as the bad weather with "small craft warnings" had been issued for the a.m.  The goal was to make it above Mobile (12 miles) to the Tenn-Tom Bigbee waterway to escape the heavy seas predicted.  If we didn't go we would have to stay in Dog River for 2 weeks waiting out the storms.  Our next blog will be remembering the Tenn-Tom Bigbee from Mobile Bay to Kentucky Lake on our way home to St. Louis.

Remembering Carabel to Apalchacola fall of 2009

Docked fishing boats on Apalachacola waterfrount.  After leaving the Moorings Marina in Carabelle its a short trip acrost St. George Sound to Apalachacola Bay.

Shrimp boats are a fading reminder of days gone by  when the area was a major port.  The town now has become a "yuppie" place to visit along the panhandle coast.  Lots of shops and resturants and fresh seafood from the bay.

Looking back at Apalachacola Bay as you start to pass marinas heading up Scipio Creek to "Scipio Creek Deep Water Marina"

Sunset

Papa Joes resturant at Scipio Creek Marina.  I'm reminded of the time we ate there two nights in a row while waiting for the Gulf to settle down.  Apalachacola is a major "jumping off" spot to cross the Gulf of Mexico.  Anyway, when I told the waitress that I wanted the fresh grouper dinner again, she said " you mean the chicken dinner don't you?"  When I replied that I didn"t see chicken on the menu she said, "Yeah, thats what we call the grouper when you were afraid to go across the Gulf".  JoAnn and I have a self inflicted rule that we don't criuse in seas over 3ft waves.

Apalachacola docks

"Great Loop" Boaters stop over at Port Charles

 

Last week 6 transient boats chose to stay at  our harbor.  All of the boaters were doing the "Great Loop" and several of them were friends that we met at the "Great Loop" Rendezvous last fall in Joe Wheeler Lake on the Tennessee R. "Port Charles", being a transient friendly full service Marina was a factor in JoAnn and I signing up as harbor hosts for AGLCA.  Some of the men met in our pilothouse as the wives had wine and appetizers in the saloon of Great Escape.  A main concern was where to anchor around Cape Giradeau as the Little River Diversion Channel is currently silted in at the mouth."Native Son" one of two boats getting halled out for prop repair.

After cocktails on the Great Escape the fellowship continues at Dinner at the Duck Club Marina.  The cocktail party had to be moved on to our boat due to a thunderstorm that hit as we met on the dock at Port Charles.  The food at the club was highly complimented by out guests.

As harbor hosts for AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association), we escorted the loopers to tour Grant's Farm and naturally consumed some free beer and brats for lunch.

One of the Clylesdales

Loopers, Rusty "The Judge" and Jan  on "C-Bay" from Marietta Georga get their picture taken. They're almost finished as they started on Kentucky Lake . ( Check out their blog listed on our profile.  They've had 80,000 hits!)   

JoAnn and I having a great time with new and old friends as they experience an adventure of a lifetime.. The Great Loop from St. Louis is to cruise down the Mississippi to the Ohio R, to  Kentucky Lake , to the Tenn-Tom Waterway , to Mobile Bay, to the Gulf of Mexico, accrost to the west coast of Florida to eastern seaboard of the US,to the Hudson River, Erie Cannal, thru Canada on the Trent-Severn Waterway, to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, Lale Michigan toChicago, down the Illinois River to Grafton and St Charles and St Louis Mo.

Tarpon Springs and on to Steinhatche (fall of 2009)

Early start to get acrost Tampa Bay before it "kicks up" as we've been warned of possible thunderstorms later in the day.  Tom and Lisa left us yesterday and flew out of Tampa, home to St. Louis.

Its a strange feeling heading forTampa Bay all alone since we've had our friends traveling with us since we left Ft. Lauderdale.  JoAnn and I are  very comfortable traveling aboard alone as we've lived as long as 7 months aboard our last boat the "Free Spirit" traveling from St. Louis to Palm Beach and back..

The Skyway bridge is scary to drive over but not so threatening when on the level of the water.Main problem crossing the Bay is that some of the water is very shallow and you have to stay in the marked channel.  This picture is the Duneden Marina on the ICW after crossing the bay.

White Heron visiting with me on the Great Escape aft deck.  This new friend followed me around after I gave him a piece of balonga.

Our slip at the Municipal dock in Tarpon Springs.  The language among the residents here is Greek.  Thats right , Greek!!  They are descendants of the Greek sponge divers who came  100 years ago.  The food here is awesome.

Ancalote river in backround.  We waited several days here as we only cruise with seas less than 3 feet waves.  This is our own rule that we, through experience,  found to be comfortable.  AND as luck would have it, NOAA weather isn't always correct in their predictions.  My usual routine is to wake early and listen to the weather report and make a decision based on wave height, wind direction, and the distance the wind has traveled over the sea.  The term for distance over sea wind is "fetch".  The greater the fetch, the greater the wave action.  If NOA says "waves 4-5 feet with 20 knots" wind I go back to bed and tell JoAnn that we have another day in paradise.

As we leave the Ancalote river and enter open water we leave the few small islands that guard the enterance to Tarpon behind us.  The sun has just risen and its light enough to see the many floats that are attached to "crab pots" that fisherman put out.  We will cruise 10 to 20 miles off shore to Stienhattache to avoid shoals and more crab pots.  The trip was 120 miles and NOAA weather called it wrong.  In spite of that calm water in the begining, we had a rather rough trip taking waves over the bow at times and with a strong wind on the port beam causing us to roll a lot.  It really felt good to see land and find our way into the Steinhattache River after 9 hours of "rocken and rollen" out of sight of land.

Fishing boat in enterance to Steinhatche.  This is a small fishing village on the "big bend" area of the Gulf of Mexico.  The only store in town is a Dollar General that the locals call the "Steinhatche WalMart".  There is one bridge over the river and thats the only place where a cell phone will work!  Its not uncommon to see someone parked on the bridge to make a call.  True diehard fishermen and their families come here, rent a cabin and fish.  The one "fancy" resturand in town will prepare your catch for your dinner.  We enjoyed our stay here as the people at the marina were very nice to us.

Sea Hog marina is the place to stay if your in a cruising boat.  The other marinas are more for small fishinf boats.  Our next blog will be about our experience on the north gulf coast Destin, Panama city etc.  I already covered the trip from Steinhatche to Carrabelle Fla. In the "Blog in the Fog" blog.   JoAnn and Dave. (currently "dirt dwellers")

Orange Beach Annual Treck

After a day and a half of driving we finally arrive at "Beachside", a small community of 12 homes with a pool and tennis court on the beach.  When housing 12 people this is the most ecconomical way to go.

 The house we rented this year is beautiful and right on the beach.  View of galley.

 The house

 Grandkids try out the net I made from an old volley ball net.  You never know what treasures they will find.

 My morning walk shortly after day break.

 Pool at Beachside

 Annual event is building the castle

Granddaughter Chloe showing off her Orange Beach T-shirt that the grandkids dye as one of the evening projects.

 Evie burys Michael

 Family room from balcony

 Grandkids on ramp to Sea and Suds cafe on beach

  Mandy, Evie, and Chloe on the front porch

Meeting in the loft

Grandma and Grandpa on the frount porch with Jon

cleaned the fish

Jon in the galley

 One goal was to have Jon catch a fish, clean it, and fry it up.  This is Snapper being fried as proof the goal was met.

 Mandy's insulin pump broke on the way down to Alabama and she was very upset that she would have to go back to those shots that she didn't have to get since age 4.     With the spare pump back in St Louis we couldn't get a replacement for 2 days.  The good news was that when she found out how painless the shots are she chose to use shots and keep the new pump off until we headed for home.

View from the porch

When I called the ER, I told the Doctor at Foley Medical Center I knew all about heart attacks and gun shots but didn't know crap about Sting Ray stings.  Should this ever happen to you DONT PUT ICE ON IT!  The pain is terrible and is only relieved by submerging the foot in water as hot as you can stand it.  After loosing a lot of blood and suffering severe pain, the hot water stopped the pain in 10 seconds. Son in law Rich, was back on beach fishing within 1/2 hour???

 Spaggetti night

Walkway to beach over the dunes with the begining of our "tent city" in the backround.

 Sorry I got carried away with the pictures.  We're home now and heading to Port Charles and our boat.  Next blog will be recalling trip from Bradenton Fla. to Clearwater accross Tampa Bay.