Mobile, AL to Port St. Joe, Fl

11/12 – 11/14/2015

Scenes from Mobile Bay

 Cold front coming at us across Mobile Bay

 Scenes from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

 Sunrise over Pensacola Bay

We left the dock at Dog River Marina before 8 a.m. and as we went down the waterway lined with docks and sheds filled with vessels of all kinds, we passed “Holiday VII”, and Richard was out on his deck waving “good-bye” to us.  We signaled back with our horn, which probably woke up the whole marina!  We now entered the Dog River Channel which led to large Mobile Bay, which was quite docile this morning.  A little while later we noticed two white-hulled vessels to our port stern, and then with our AIS we were able to identify them as “Ivory Lady” and “The Next Chapter”, who had just left the Eastern Shore on the other side of Mobile Bay.  They, too, were headed to Pensacola, as we were, but they would be staying at a marina there, while we would be docking at the Pensacola Yacht Club.  Eventually we looked behind us, and noticed that ominous cloud cover was forming, which was the pre-cursor of an up-coming cold front which was predicted.  Luckily for us, as bad as this formation looked, though the winds did pick up, we were able to continue to travel safely.  The scenery along the way as we moved through the Gulf Shores area of Alabama and Florida continued to change, and now we had large sand dunes on our starboard side, and eventually we saw a number of naval vessels on our port side as well as military air-craft in the sky as we approached Pensacola.  After 65 miles, we got tied up at the lovely Pensacola Yacht Club by early in the afternoon.  Pat was beginning to feel the on-set of a cold, and we ended up spending three nights here.  We had two excellent dinners at the Club, and George also enjoyed their luncheon buffet one afternoon.  This was also a chance for us to avoid the windy weather on Pensacola Bay.  We even got to observe a lovely wedding ceremony that took place on the Yacht Club’s lawn  late on Saturday afternoon, but Pat did not envy the bride and her bridesmaids who were obviously freezing in their strapless gowns!

11/15/2015

Sand dunes on the way to Fort Walton Beach, FL

Our destination today was the Fort Walton Yacht Club in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, a trip of 46 miles.  Though the waters were choppy with the wind on our bow, it was sunny, and we arrived at the Yacht Club at 12:30 p.m., just a little too late for their Sunday Brunch.  We were helped in by two gentlemen, one of whom was the Vice Commodore. There were lots of sailboats from the Club out on the nearby waters, either racing or practicing, and it made for a lovely scene.  In the early evening we had a knock on our door, and it was the Commodore of the Club, Reddoch Williams, who had come out to welcome us.  We invited him aboard, and had a terrific visit with this charming Alabaman gentleman.  He invited us to go out to dinner with his wife and him, but we declined his kind offer, due to Pat’s feeling “under the weather.”

11/16/-11/18/2015

Florida's "Grand Canyon"

 Panama City Marina

 

This morning we left the Fort Walton Yacht Club before 8 a.m. for Panama City Marina, a distance of 68 miles across the Florida Panhandle, and we arrived there in the early afternoon.  After filling up at the fuel dock, we were assisted into our assigned spot by a helpful dockhand.  A number of other “Loopers” were already here, and with rainy, windy weather expected in two days, we suspected that they would be here for awhile.  Also, since there were no expected good weather windows for making the 170+ mile Gulf of Mexico crossing from Apalachicola/Carrabelle to Clearwater, Florida  on the horizon, boats were backed up in ports all across the Panhandle.  We were lucky to have pre-arranged a spot at Port St. Joe Marina in Port St. Joe, Florida, and the only reason we were able to obtain this last open spot was because the slip-holder was having his boat hauled out of the water for three weeks, and we planned to move there on Thursday.  For the next two days we used our time well to do laundry, rest, and to get in touch with our friends, Ray and Caryl Houle, who might be joining us aboard for our jaunt across the Big Bend, depending on the time-table for good weather and meeting up.  They were originally supposed to join us here in Panama City, but that plan  right now was not going to fit in with their Thanksgiving Day family duties, so were considering lots of other options.  The nasty weather did show up on 11/18, and thanks to the many lines George had around the boat, springing her off from the wind and the waves, “Reflection” managed the conditions beautifully.

11/19 – 11/25/2015

Wetappo Creek

 Port St. Joe Marina

 Thanksgiving Day dinner invitation

 

 

It was a 44 mile trip from Panama City to Port St. Joe Marina, and the scenery along the Wetappo Creek, and the 5 mile long Gulf Canal through which we had to transit, were again reminiscent of the remote areas of the Tenn- Tombigbee Waterway.  As we neared the end of the Canal, we suddenly entered large St. Joseph’s Bay with our marina just around the corner. Of course, as we entered we called for assistance in finding our slip and for taking our lines, but no one answered on either the phone or the marine radio. So we took a good guess, and backed into an empty slip that we thought might be ours, and finally had several hands catching our lines.  Getting on and off our boat became a bit creative, since the only finger pier was about 10 feet long, which is really not long enough to reach our entrance door, so George rigged up a way for us to do so from steps in our lower cockpit.  Again, a number of “Loopers” are here, and some have come and gone including Bill and Jann on “Ivory lady” and willy and Caryn on “the Next chapter”.  This was a very convenient location for us with a “Piggly Wiggly” supermarket, a CVS Pharmacy, a liquor store, and lots of good restaurants in town, as well as another good one on–site.  We have received and sent mail from here, and the marina staff has been very warm and helpful.  We, as well as other “Loopers”, have received a lovely invitation to attend “Thanksgiving Dinner” to be served “family–style”at the home of Linda and Huen, our next-door slip neighbors, who live in town, and they even have transportation arranged!  This just goes to show the warmth and wonderful generosity of some people.  On Tuesday evening, we hosted our friends, Priscilla and John, and Dale and Andy from “Changing Latitudes aboard our boat for cocktails and munchies, and we had a great time hearing about their sailing days, and about John and Priscilla’s first grandchild who was born a few days ago, with another one due in a few days.  Their boat has been here for three weeks while they flew home to Waukegan, Illinois and back, and it looks like they’ll be flying out again shortly!  We have also been in touch with Ray and Caryl , and they be driving here on Friday from their home in Cape Coral, Florida, as we are hoping to get ‘Reflection’ across the Big Bend on Monday-Tuesday (11/30 – 12/1).  We are looking forward to a great Thanksgiving and are so grateful for all the wonderful people in our lives, and for all that God has given us!!!

 

Fulton MS to Mobile, AL

11/1/15

 Flooded timber on the Tombigbee Waterway

 Holiday VII

 Eagle

Aberdeen Lock

 

After getting filled up with fuel, we departed Midway Marina at 8:30 a.m. with “Holiday VII” in the lead, and were also accompanied by two “Looper” boats, “Nuclear Fishin”, and “3^rd Degree”.  The weather continued to be damp and dreary, and our 59 mile trip took us 8 ½ hours to complete, since we had four locks to transit, and lock-tenders like to lock through as many boats at one time as possible.  Though “Reflection” and “Holiday VII” operate at a faster cruising speed, we often had to wait for these slower-moving boats even though we had been in the lock and ready to descend for a considerable period of time.  This process cost us a lot of time, but there was no way around it.  We also heard today from “Ivory lady” and “The Next Chapter”, and learned that they were at Columbus Marina, which was our destination, and when we arrived at 5 p.m., they were there to catch our lines.  We had earlier accepted and invitation to have cocktails aboard “Holiday VII”, so we agreed to meet up with the other two boats tomorrow night, since we were all going to Pirate’s Marina Cove the next day.

11/2/2015

 

 Superman has a spot on the Tenn Tom

 Going

 Going

 Going

Gone

 

 

Our four boats left at 10 a.m. from Columbus Marina, and since we had only one lock to transit on our 28 mile journey, we arrived at Pirate’s Cove Marina in Pickensville , Alabama at 1 p.m.  We had great memories of this stop from our first “Great Loop’ trip, but a lot had changed here since that time, and not necessarily for the better. In 2009 we had taken the marina courtesy car to the “Down Yonder” restaurant for local Southern cuisine including delicious fried chicken, but now we learned that the establishment had closed.  Also, at that time the marina seemed “quaint’, but now it was really run-down with docks that were crooked and broken in spots, and some of the vessels of the clientele included those that were in various stages of sinking, and the marina store housed a dog with mange, and was over-run with cats!  To put it bluntly, this place was going down-hill fast, even though they had received government funding for new docks.  In fact, the boat across from us on our dock, DID SINK right in front of our eyes that afternoon!!!  We were just glad that it did not pull the entire dock down with it!  After the afternoon’s events, we joined Bill and Jan and Willy and Caryn aboard “The Next Chapter” for cocktails and appetizers.  They are friends of ours from the Marathon Yacht Club, and we were there when they started their “Great Loop” from the Yacht Club in April, 2014.  The appetizers were delicious, and we had a great time catching up on our recent adventures since seeing each other at the AGLCA Rendezvous a few weeks ago.

 

11/3/2015

 We traveled today for 38 miles on the Tenn-Tombigbee Waterway, which was like being in another world.  Homes were few and far between, and now anchorages and marinas would become very scarce.  This man-made waterway is very remote, and outside of towboats and barges, the scenery was made up of trees and water.  We and “Ivory lady” decided to head to Sumter Landing Anchorage which was quite sheltered, and we were able to anchor stern-to-stern.  However, “The Next Chapter”, who draws 5’ of water, did not feel comfortable entering this area, so they decided to anchor along the waterway a few miles down.  Eventually we wound up with 8 boats in this anchorage, which is actually located in a state park complete with a boat launch ramp.   After we were settled in, a large Carver motoryacht, “Stylist”, from New Hampshire drove by us and yelled over to us: “Are you “Reflection”?”, and when we responded: “Yes!”, they yelled over: “We have your book!” Once they were anchored, they then launched their dinghy and motored over to us with our first book in hand, and asked us to autograph it.  We were delighted to do so, and we invited them aboard, and spent at least an hour with them discussing their “Loop” trip, which they claimed was inspired by our first adventure.  They were absolutely charming, and we totally enjoyed being with them.  Of course, later on, we had to listen to the good-natured kidding of Jann and Bill about our being “celebrities”!

 

11/4/15



 

 Ivory Lady in the Heflin Lock

 White Cliffs of Epes

After releasing our boats’ sterns from each other and then pulling up our anchors, we and “Ivory Lady” met up with “The Next Chapter” a few miles south of Sumter and made our way through the Howell Heflin Lock and then down the Tenn-Tom waterway on a 55 mile trip to Demopolis, Alabama, one of the largest towns in the area.  We docked at Demopolis Yacht Basin’s new transient facility, Kingfisher Bay Marina, and that evening we, the Mellmans, and the Bains, all squeezed into the Mellmans’ rental vehicle, and had dinner at “The Red Barn”, a true southern restaurant with great fried chicken.

11/5/2015

Early the next morning, Pat headed to the large laundry facilities at Kingfisher Bay, and later, she Jann, and Caryn, headed to town, so that Jann could have some charts printed at the stationery store, and then they headed to the large WalMart to purchase tons of groceries.  Unfortunately, the town itself, had seen better days, and many of its lovely buildings with their antebellum architecture were in sad shape and/or boarded up.  Later that evening we all got together aboard “Ivory Lady” for cocktails and appetizers, steaks on the grill, and dessert.  It was a wonderful evening with terrific food, and great camaraderie!

 11/6/2015

 

 Demopolis Lock

Waterfalls after the lock



 Freeing ourselves from the "snag"

A number of “Loopers” left the marina earlier this morning, and after a call to the Demopolis Lock ahead of time, we were told to wait at the marina, because a tug and a barge were coming through, headed up-stream, so instead of waiting for an hour and a half outside of the lock doors, it would be better to sit in our marina slip. Our trip today would again take us though some remote areas where good anchorages were few and far-between, so we chose instead to pull off to the side of the waterway after 67 miles and anchor in an area recommended as a good spot by a fellow “Looper’ who had passed this way a few weeks ago.  “The Next Chapter” and “Ivory Lady” went ahead and anchored to each other stern-to-stern,  and we attempted to anchor near the shore-lin by ourselves into the current, but once we dropped the anchor, we knew that something was wrong.  The unfortunate possibility was that we had picked up a “snag”,  usually an underwater tree branch, etc., but it can sometimes be something much bigger.   We continued to struggle with the anchor but managed to get away from the shoreline and into the center of the waterway, while dragging the unseen “snag” with us.  If we didn’t get rid of it, we might have to cut our very expensive anchor loose!  However, Willy and Bill quickly came to our aid!   Bill launched his dinghy and outboard engine, and he and Willy climbed aboard with bolt-cutters in hand, and between pat at the helm, George at the anchor windlass, and Willy and Bill trying to grab at the anchor chain, we managed to finally drag up the culprit – a large water-soaked tree!  The pictures tell the story!  When we were finally able to release it, were we relieved, and greatly indebted to our friends for their efforts on our behalf, and we plan on treating them to a celebratory dinner when we all arrive in Marathon. Willy knew he brought those bolt cutters for some reason!  After things calmed down, we did successfully anchor and spent a quiet night aboard out of the way of any tugs and barges.

 

11/7/2015

 





 Waiting to enter the Coffeeville Lock

 The LAST lock

 Ivory Lady

The Next Chapter

Today we journeyed through our last lock on this “Loop” adventure – our 108^th lock – the Coffeeville Lock.  Our destination was 49 miles away, the Old Lock I anchorage, where we had anchored in the flood of 2009 with “Holiday VII” and “Freedom”.  Though the entrance can be rather shallow, we knew that once inside we would be very protected during the heavy rains that were expected later today and tonight.  We and “Ivory Lady” went ahead as scouts to sound the entrance depths,  but “The Next Chapter” was not confident that the soundings would stay deep enough for them over-night, so they continued on further and anchored a few miles downstream.  Shortly after anchoring, with “Ivory Lady” tied up to our starboard side, it started to pour, and it did so for a number of hours.  Only one other boat joined us in the anchorage, and Jann and Bill came over for cocktails and appetizers early in the evening. 

11/8/2015

Deer swimming across the Waterway

 

This morning again dawned dark and dreary, and we and “Ivory Lady” eventually caught up with “The Next Chapter” after a few miles.  We had decided that the Tensas River, some 62 miles away would be our anchoring spot for the evening, but the other two boats wanted to continue farther on down the waterway.  By mid afternoon we pulled into the river, and safely anchored by ourselves in this lovely spot which was not only protected, but also had very little boat traffic.  As the day wore on we were eventually joined by seven other “Looper” boats at anchor, and we enjoyed a quiet evening aboard.

 11/9 – 11/11/2015

The Port of Mobile

Dinner at Gambino's in Fairhope, AL with the Walkers and the Newtons

 

We lifted anchor at 7 a.m. with today’s 55 mile trip which would take us from the primeval scenery of the Tenn- Tom/Black Warrior Waterways to the big-city civilization of Mobile, Alabama.  This happened quickly as we noticed that the foliage alongside the waterway became more tropical in nature, and then suddenly we began to observe the sky-line of Mobile with its sky-scrapers, major ship-yards, and huge vessels of all sorts coming into view through the haze.  We also heard “Ivory Lady” and “the next Chapter’ conversing on the radio , and discovered that because of our early start, we were now ahead of them on the waterway.  Our destination was Dog River Marina, which was also Jann and Bill’s, but Willy and Caryn had opted instead to go straight to Fairhope on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay.  When we arrived at the marina, we went straight to the fuel dock to fill up with diesel.  The marina was jammed with “Looper” boats, and we were told that we would have to stay at this dock for a while until they could find space for us.  A little while later, “Ivory Lady” also pulled into the fuel dock, which was where they stayed, since they were only staying for one night, while we planned to stay for several days, while we had our alternator sent out for service.  Eventually we were move to a spot where we were blocking several boats that were having lots of work done near their service area.  This was quite the boat-yard, with boats being moved in and out of the water with a travel-lift almost non-stop.  While we were ther we had our engines’ starting batteries checked, and “Surprise!”, “Surprise!”, we found out that they both needed to be replaced, which we did.  On our last day there, we signed up for the marina’s courtesy car, and in a period of two hours we managed to go to a Laundromat, food shop, pick up parts at Advance auto, and have a Chinese food lunch!  This was also a nostalgic time for us because “Holiday VII” with Richard and Carol aboard was docked here, and we were also able to connect with Andrew and Sallyann Newton from “Freedom”, who now lived in Foley, Alabama.  “Freedom” was our “buddy boat” in 2009, when we both had the good fortune of meeting Richard, and then followed him from Demopolis to Mobile during the flooding of the waterways caused by a tropical storm on our first “Loop” trip.  Richard picked us up in his car, and then we all met for dinner at “Gambino’s” restaurant in Fairhope, Alabama on Friday evening, our last night in Mobile.  We shared lots of stories, had lots of laughs, and the food at this restaurant was exceptional!  It was truly a wonderful evening!