Panama City on the GIWW

Hi F and F, 

Another sunny day , light breezes and cooler weather which makes these days very pleasant on the water .We continued our way round the Florida Gulf Panhandle .Left at 7.30 am after Erica had got fresh croissants at the Innerlight coffee shop on site. As this is mainly a charter fishing boat Marina , these places are open early.

We had a great run and were able to do 15 kts  for most of the way. Where were all the fishing boats and small water craft of yesterday? Very little traffic today thankfully  .Check out this fishing Dad and son!

The corps of engineers had done a great job cutting channels to link Pensacola with Panama City inbetween the areas such as Choctawhatchee Bay, Fort Walton Beach ( home of the Eglin Air Force Base ) and Destin.

We passed under the Hathaway bridge and the entrance to the Gulf and a Navy lab situated there.

Saw lots more water activity . A naval boat underway ,a  guard boat zipping past us light flashing.We had previously just seen two small either military or coast guard style boats practising their maneuvers.

Looked like boys having fun, making circles with their blue lights flashing and chasing each other .

Arrived at fuel dock at 2 pm and were greeted by Rick the  handy dock master. Good price here for fuel  and soon we were done and checked in. We received a little welcome pack with pen, notepad, key ring and even a popcorn packet, plus the map of the area. Nice touch. Rick then carefully guided us to our transient slip nearby. 

Checked with our new friends Lisa and Tom here on Betsy Marie who want to go on to Carrabelle  tomorrow and then crossing the big chunk of water over to Dunedin with us. We are both mindful of the hurricane forming in the Carribean and how that might affect our crossing. I would be nice to take it a little slower,  but weather conditions are an important factor we need to consider.

Went for a walk in the town , not much open and several shops closed for good. Decided to have dinner on board and enjoy the great organic pork chops we had bought at a farmers market in Illinois .

Saw another beautiful sunset again then time to relax and bed.

Over and Out, 

E and G

  

  

On to Pensacola on the Intercostal route

Hi F and F, 

Had a nice leisurely morning , no early morning start today! Watched our brown pelicans fishing, (they are so funny to watch) and having breakfast at a reasonable hour. As the diesel pump was fixed and the pipes cleared and filters replaced it was safe  , we decided to fuel up. ( Loopers get free night if you do so)

In our case, having  service done on the boat give you the nights free anyway.just like Aqua Marna.

Going back out on to Mobile Bay we were able to follow our line in i.e. the breadcrumbs on the charts.

Lots of seabirds around getting their daily quota of fish as well as the fishermen and the drag net boat was out operating again in the channel.We also passed a big container ship coming into Mobile Port.

Soon off the main channel and heading east to the inner coastal route called GIWW which started for us at 119 Green and 120 Red markers. There were dolphins in the channel and lots of houses on the waterway .

We had heard the place to stop for lunch is LuLu's , the popular waterside restaurant belonging to Jimmy Buffet's  sister. Free dockage right outside the restaurant, so very handy to ie uo and go on in.

Had a nice nice fresh grouper fish sandwiches and tacos.Left at 2 pm and headed for the Pensacola Beach Marina , our destination for the night. There was a lot of activity on the water fishing ,  jet skiing pontoon joy riding etc.

This meant we had to keep vigilant with our wake and speed for most of the run.

We even passed a couple of towboats.At marker 31 we finally left Alabama and crossed the line into Florida waters.Arrived at the Beach Marina 5pm and Justin the helpful office guy helped us with docking.

Not his normal job but he was friendly and willing.Two important aspects all marina staff should have.

 Went off for  Pina Coladas at Bamboo Willies a frozen drinks speciality Bar, on the waterfront opposite the Marina. There we enjoyed the well earned drink and the cool ocean breezes. Indeed the sand here is white and finely grained, and we watched some little children playing on the beach enjoying the interesting sensation.

We came back to the boat with a beautiful deep red orange sunset in sight across the water.

We had bought LuLu's fresh Gumbo to go, which we had for dinner onboard.

Over and Out, 

E and G.

Full day I Mobile at Dog River Marina

Hi F and F, 

Today Lynne and John head back to Virginia so after breakfast , they packed and were ready for Enterprise Car rentals to pick them up at 9.30am.

Last minute photos and brown pelican entertainment.The  car arrived at 10 am and off they went back up to Columbus Mississippi to pick uo their car and then head north.

The arrangement worked out very well for them and for us. Provides flexibility for both parties.

Erica and Graeme did a big boat clean inside and then  at 11 am the technician arrived with the new washer part and it was installed in 10 minutes! Then time to tackle the outside cushions and covers which had the evidence of spider activity i.e. Poop!

Easily washed off fortunately using Erica's  Wonder soap a eucalyptus based soap ,which she gets from NZ.

After lunch we got the courtesy car which had now turned up for our use , thanks to Glenn the service guy.Headed off to visit the famous Bellinggrath gardens and home.

It belonged to Walter and Bessie Bellinggrath.Walter was Mobile's first Coca Cola bottler and distributer and made a lot of money with this business.

Bit of a workaholic it seems , so his doctor advised him to buy an abandoned fishing camp in 1917 and get some relaxation there . The  gardens were developed ( Bessie was the gardener) and a new 15 room house as built.It sits on 65 acres.Bessie was also a collector of fine porcelain and furniture from France ,England and Germany.

They had no children so the estate became a foundation and the public since 1935 have been able to enjoy visiting the fruits of their labors.Seems Exxon Mobil support the Bayou Observatory  area which is a boardwalk beside the Gardens.

Lovely visit well worth it, about 1/2 hour drive from the Marina.

Got back and enjoyed a beautiful sunset after the clear blue skies of the day.

Had a pasta meal on board.

We heard from Lynne and John they had got to Columbus in just under 4 hours.

The same journey in reverse had taken the four of us 7 days by boat!!!

Over and Out 

E and G

Mobile here we come

Hi F and F,

We got up to a light mist hovering over the water after a very quiet night. Apart from Lynne and John had hear owls calling in the night.They are known in the area.

We set off at 8 am and headed back to the Mobile River junction. We started to see fewer herons on this river don't know if that's because we are near Mobile and the industrial area surrounding it or if the salt in the water has anything to do with it. The scenery was changin also and we saw more swamps and the trees looked different.

Started also to see evidence of the industry with the huge Barry's Steam Plant  at mm 33.

Then a train with an enormous amount of containers passed us by on a rail line beside the river. As we got closer to the Port of Mobile we saw lots of activity.

Container ships , Naval ships and more barge activity also. Last five miles we slowed down to wake speed and also took lots of photos.

Past the city of Mobile and just past Little Sand Island we saw a fishing boat dragging a net.This had attracted lots of seagulls and even a pod of dolphins.

We had crossed the 0 mile marker!!!

Then into Mobile Bay to find the entrance to Dog River Marina , our stop for two nights.Graeme had  called ahead to get a serviceman to look at the leaking window washer issue.

He planned to be at our boat by 1 pm. It was a little tricky at the entrance but fortunately there we good buoy markers to guide us in.

We have to say this Marina wasn't quite what we expected looking at the brochure! Definitely a no frill place, but the people are great and helpful. Good place to go to if you have any boat issues.

Arrived at the fuel dock to find the diesel  pump wasn't working , in fact it was completely dismantled.

Did a pump out and them tied up around the corner at the transient long dock. The serviceman duly arrive on time and Glenn the supervisor couldn't have been nicer.He soon had the problem diagonised ( another faulty solenoid ) and organized the F150 tuck belonging  to the boss of the Marina for our use.( the courtesy car was not in use today)The new washer part would be sent overnight and replaced tomorrow.

We were highly entertained by all the brown Pelicans just outside our boat dive bombing for fish , more like crash landing on the water.They weren't very elegant but certainly the method was  effective.Usually they came up with a fish which was swallowed whole. Lots of fishing boats going back and forth so a good spots for us to watch everything.

Found out the city is at least  10 miles or so from here so no fancy restaurant tonight!

Checked out the local scene and ended up going to Dick Russell's BBQ  for dinner.

Lynne and John wanted to host as it was their last night with us. The food was very good and as usual way too much , so  we got a doggy bag for lunch tomorrow!

Back to boat and Lynne and Erica played canasta, last round about 10 pm.

Guys had retired f the evening.

Over and Out, 

E and G

Some Photos Tensas and River scenes

Off we go Anchoring again

Hi F and F, 

Again apologize for some spelling errors ! Sometimes not much time to do a spell check!!!

We were up and away by 8.15 am after calling the lock keeper .

As we were clear to go, we headed off for the Coffeeville Lock about 2 miles away.

Aestival went ahead and we entered our last lock together!

Yippee! No more changing fenders and fender boards! We have done our share on this trip.

Another very hot day again so after a couple of hours we put the generator on and got our air con working to keep us cool. Luxury traveling style! The beauty of a non fly bridge style of boat, where you are not exposed to the elements.

Just after Coffeeville the water changes from fresh water to brackish( part fresh and part salt).

Nice and quiet today out on the river system , being a Monday.At one point we passed a dredge boating operation and realized one was the towboat and barge carrying metal pipes we had passed way back at the second lock after leaving Columbus . Remember we had to wait 2 hours there while the towboat Capt negotiated the lock with some difficulty!

The river then became a series of loopy bends including a sharp horseshoe bend at mm74 to mm 70 , the tightest we have seen so far. Still saw lots of herons, both white and blue .They are so elegant and make wonderful poses for photos as they sit on branches and logs at the sides to the river.

At mm 45 we came to the Alabama Junction and there the TomBigBee Rive became the Mobile River.Just after that we headed a 1/2 mile up the Tensas River to find an suitable anchoring spot.As it turns out we had the whole river to ourselves and we were well away from the tow boats , barges and any other water traffic back on the Mobile River. Erica read that it pays to be careful as mistakes can be made and barges have been know very occasionally to come up the wrong river!

We anchored in about 20 ft of water on a bend so could be seen from either direction.

A brief rain storm hit us just after we anchored , so a good free boat wash! We did have a couple of fishing boats pass us but that was it. This river was particularly calm very little current. 

Erica made hamburgers for dinner and we had an early night .

It had been a long run today of 8 1/4 hours.

Over and Out, 

E and G

Bobby's Fish Camp Another Loopers Hot Spot

Hi F and F, 

Very hot today around 94 degrees, feels like 104! so we are now using the air con  which makes. Ejournet so much more comfortable.Had our breakfast time in the cockpit surrounded by the lovely tranquil scenery .

We headed to Bobbys down the river.We saw little traffic on the way south , a few barges and fishing boats. Arrived at the dock at Bobby's Fish Camp around lunch time and decided to try the catfish up front even though we had originally  planned to only do dinner there.Good floating dock but only 150 ft long so good thing we are on our own so far. Apparently they sometimes raft up fve boats across.

That would be very interesting specially as we are directly on the main river with the barges going up and down.even at night.Wifi was good only if you stick with using it up at the restaurant.

Around 5pm Aestival the boat we had met up with in Demopolis  arrived at the dock and parked behind us.Later as planned we did go up to have dinner at the restaurant again.Lots of fun signs and memorabilia in this place and great friendly waitresses. 

Lynne and Erica had the whole catfish dinner

 1 lb which consisted of about five or six catfish dredged in cornmeal .very delicious an de ought to bring home for lunch tomorrow. Just got back on the boat before lightening and rain.

So cosy evening inside Lady Etica.

Over and Out, 

E and G 

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