Pensacola to Fort Walton Beach

We had heard there are docks right in the middle of town at Fort Walton Beach and being municipal docks –they were free for one night. So, we left out of our wonderful anchorage at English Navy Cove around 8am and shot for Fort Walton Beach before the expected rain. It is cold and overcast but the water was as smooth as glass. We got to the municipal docks about 2-2:30 and they are really nice, downtown and from what we can tell home to Northwest Florida’s homeless. I guess you get what you pay for. A stroll through the district also lets us in on the fact that all restaurants with “Bistro” and “Grille” in their name are closed on Monday. This is 95% of the restaurants. It is still cold and overcast but we are little over half way to Panama City and we are making progress.

Running with the Dolphins!

Today was a perfect day (but it could have been a tad warmer). We left out of the Wharf at around 11 am because the weather people promised cool but sunny skies after noon. These same forecasters indicate that we will have cold rain the rest of the week. We continued down the ICW and about noon the sun did start burning off the cloud cover. Then the darnest site—dolphins started swimming with the boat! You would have thought Santa Claus had just joined us on deck. No pictures –they are shy suckers—but it was very exciting. After about 30 miles, we passed the cut to the open seas and we can see how rough it is out in the open water. Then just past Pensacola we anchored in English Navy Cove. This is outside Santa Rosa Beach and said to be a good secure anchorage. This will be our first anchorage since we have been out of the Tombigbee and it is in sand—new territory. We had a fabulous sunset--first of many on the ICW. We are now one of those people—how many times have Fitz and I stood on a beach and looked out at boats passing and said we would someday be there. Here we are.


Sunset by Santa Rosa Beach

The Wharf at Orange Beach, Alabama



Christmas at the Wharf



Ice Skating in Orange Beach



Sunny Days with the yachts

We have lots of rain and wind today so we are hanging here at The Wharf. They are still decorated for Christmas and even have an outdoor ice skating rink (not much use today though). I went shopping and Terry started a project of putting in an extra bla bla bla down in the engine compartment and was just as happy to have me out of the way. The shopping was fun but this close to Christmas I was not tempted by much. I did find a really good Italian restaurant –Villaggio Grill—and we went back for a late lunch. It was wonderful. It is nice to be here among the yachts and glad we aren’t fighting the wind and rain on the water.

Back in the Saddle again!

It feels good to be back on the water. Christmas was awesome at the Barksdale’s annual party with family and our closest friends. Then Nick, Terry and I went with the Norris’s in Cookeville to enjoy Santa’s coming. We were all very good last year. It was everything we could hope for but now we are back to our dream and traveling the waterways. A quick trip to Mobile the day after Christmas and we found Sunny Days in great shape. She was well protected at Turner Marina and ready to go. We went to a restaurant that our Loop friends, Elvy and Roy Short told us about—The Mariner—it is close to Turners and their specialty is fried crab claws. OMG—they were terrific. Today I went to the store to shore up on groceries, Terry made a pilgrimage to West Marine, we gassed up and left around noon. The sun peeked out for about 45 minutes this afternoon and felt great but it is still chilly. The brisk 45 degrees we had this morning was a vast improvement to the frigid 17 degrees we left in Nashville. We are making our way out of Mobile Bay and onto the Inter-Coastal Waterway (henceforth the ICW—we will be on the ICW for 70% of the trip) It was exciting to enter this waterway. Passed Lulu’s (Jimmy Buffets’ sisters place and Tacky Jack’s on the way here to The Wharf where we are going to ride out the forecasted storm that is to hit tomorrow. We are eating soup on the boat (remember we gassed up –it will take us a while to forget that bill). And The Wharf is a big complex and promises a light show tonight. Fitz note: Lola is known here at the Wharf as “Olaf”. Notes: Local radio was a rock station with morning personalities Cue tip and Blondie—I was amused. When they gave an update on the Jersey Shore people, Fitz turned it off. Seagulls followed the boat all afternoon- cool.

Good restaurants --passed right by this time

Wrapping up this leg

Tombigbee—Terry says it was like getting in your car and going down the Natchez Trace for 450 miles at 10 MPH. We got through the river with only a few surprises. We figured in time for delays at the locks—our experience had told us we could wait up to a half a day for our turn to lock through. Of the 15 locks, the longest we had to wait was probably 45 minutes. We were very lucky. Fog—when we were in Knoxville a few years ago, we had fog delay us every time we set out. We had absolutely no delays because of fog. Courtesy cars were available at a couple of the docks for a couple of hours at a time. That is about enough time to go out and find a nice restaurant for lunch or dinner. Glad we were sort of “out of season” and didn’t have too much competition. Electronics—we Skyped with Katie and the kids 3 times and that was fun. Nick kept us up to date on his activities and Next Chapter. In Mississippi we did not have cell reception for days at a time. Maps and Navionics on the phone gave me my own radar charts and street maps which were really cool and kept me out of the Captain’s way. Keeping in contact through phone, email, and Facebook was enough to make us feel we weren’t in Outer Mongolia. Internet on the phone and computer was great for finding restaurants, cars, and keeping up with what is going on in the world. We have a MI-FI that gives us internet connection through LTE G4 reception but when there is no cell reception there is no internet either. We expected this and it was fine. At the docks, usually wi-fi was offered but not to be counted on from the transient docks. We were glad we had our mi-fi. Terry rigged up a Direct TV dish for TV reception (one dock had cable for transients) and it was fun to catch a little TV. TV reception was not available about half the time but we were pleasantly surprised when it was and saw some news and some football. Texting was also something I was glad to have—little conversations that were had at convenient times for all. Fitz is coming around on the texting thing. Weather—we wore our long johns, long pants and sweat shirts more than we thought we would ever wear them. Everywhere in the South, they were having record low temps. Daily we said we were going south to get warm. That is something to look forward to—not there yet. Today we will ready the boat for leaving for the next month. We went back to Turner on Mobile bay because it is better protected and they will be able to fix the dings on the hull that the storm caused last week. We leave in the morning and feel good about our first venture to the big water. Learned some lessons and gathered some confidence. We can do this!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We sit here in Fairhope Yacht Club and it got down to 20 last night but the wind has died down and we stay warm inside. They are doing Thanksgiving dinner at the Yacht Club today. My brother Tom and his wife Nancy are coming up from Gulf Shores where they have been spending the week with friends. We will not totally go without turkey and dressing and family on this our first holiday away from Nashville in many years. I am a little homesick when I see on Facebook the pictures of my grandchildren having fun (or not) in the snow back home. Nick called last night and he and some friends are getting together after all of them get off work—when did people work on Thanksgiving?? Tom and Nancy are going to take us to Pensacola airport this afternoon to rent a car so we can make our flight home on Saturday. Logistics of car management can be an issue. A lot of marinas have courtesy cars to go out and see some of the city but I look forward to working out the public transportation when we travel for real in February. Notes: local radio 96.1 they say classic rock but it is more hard rock. They are screaming about the record breaking cold temps last night. This morning though they have syndicated John Boy and Billy which I guess is better than listening to Fitz make fun of the parades that to him are marching ads for the latest TV show, movie and Broadway play. We have not had TV in here because of the wave action so football today might not happen – another tradition missed.

Happy Day at the Yacht Club Thanksgiving Dinner
Nancy and I even went shopping in Spanish Fort that evening

Charlie Delauvilier--wife sent him off while she cooked
 on Wed. before Thanksgiving to entertain those at the Yacht Club
 



Fairhope, Alabama



Fitz comparing notes about the incoming storm

This is a lovely little town and good place to be stuck (if you gotta be stuck). We have ducked into the yacht club at Fairhope and that is where we are supposed to keep the boat until after Christmas. Last night the storms came in with a vengeance there were/are 25 MPH winds and rough seas coming into the bow –really rocking and rolling—and it is to last all day. We are really glad that we are with the boat –with the tide going in and out the fenders need to be adjusted every time you can weather the storm and go outside. We have some dings on the boat from the pilings we are tied to but nothing major. The guy behind us says he is glad we are here –it cuts his waves. Not excited about being someone else’s wave break. I will have to wait until better weather to go into the town—it is a short walk into town -- a couple of miles and there are lots of touristy stores and restaurants. I know that Nashville is getting slammed with bad weather too and it is much colder—sorry for you all too. The rest of the story--People here at Fairhope Yacht Club are very nice and have come by all day to check on us. We have decided to move the boat back into the creek and will tie up in a guy's slip that is traveling in the Gulf right now. It is just too rough. Since we are leaving for a month we are going to have to make other arrangements for Sunny Days while we are gone. The transient slips here are out in the open and vulnerable to the north winds and channel waves.

Cool Sculpture at the Yacht Club

Mobile Bay -- ride out storm and frigid weather coming in from the northwest

Storms on the Bay

Turner Marine was at the rendezvous at Joe Wheeler in October. They are a pretty barebones marina but have a courtesy car so we can see a little of Mobile. Will do a lot of laundry, a little maintenance and mainly hide from rough seas. Mobile Bay is not the place you want to be when the winds are high. This makes for rough waves and the chill cuts right through you. So we remain in dock at Turner Marine. We went to a restaurant in Mobile called Felix’s Fish Camp and Grill and had a wonderful lunch of clam chowder and grilled snapper. We loved Felix’s in New Orleans so we were drawn to the name anyway—turned out there is no connection. But the food was great—we would go back. When we came back, Dream II and Misty Lynn were entering Turner to seek refuge from the seas and weather. They said it was really rough in the bay and they were glad to find terra firma. While we were gone the sailboat showed up too. The crew from Misty Lynn and Dream II reported tonight that Rick—captain of the sailboat—was coming into Turner Marine off the channel, got waked (rocked) by a big boat, his boom broke and fell on his shoulder barely missing his head. Lucky to be alive and in and out of consciousness, he had been drifting in a circle for HOURS before someone noticed and called the Coast Guard. He was towed into Turner and taken to the hospital. He is OK but his boat is completely disabled and he is out of commission (no broken bones but sore—very lucky). Rick broke all the rules: no life jacket, by himself, no communication—really glad he is OK and glad he is off the water. Notes: Vanderbilt beat Tennessee and Peyton got beat by Brady—glad I have another sport this fall. It is sad –even Jimmy Johnson won another NASCAR title—Fitz and I are starting to think it is us--everyone we are for loses.

On to Mobile Bay—

It took us a while to pull up the anchor because of a deep muddy bottom—the sailboat is long gone (turns out he pulled anchor in the middle of the night and drifted out into the channel--more later about this guy's tale) and we pass it within the first couple of hours. The Tombigbee turns a little trashier and a little less brown. Civilization is around the corner. We met 2 Tows running together with a big load of coal abruptly around a bend. Fitz passed this test but we were glad to be seasoned warriors of passing tows. Then we hit Mobile Bay—oh my-- open water and totally different. There are at least 30 tows moving around hundreds of barges. There are old battleships that are open for tours and new battleships (totally sand color for camouflage, I guess) that are being built. Lots of activity. Notes: We start with radio out of Jackson, MS and the Ric and Bubba Show and then move on to a Mobile radio station that played Joe Walsh, quoted Glen Frey and played the full version of Freebird.

Traveling buddies gather for dinner in Mobile

Banshee Creek to Three Rivers Anchorage

We are now in the boonies and rarely have cell service and thus no Wi-Fi. The only radio station is a Christian station and both of us feel like heathens but don’t even listen to that. We plan to put in a CD player and an iPod player on the fly bridge and this just proves it needs to be sooner rather than later. Actually this is as far away from civilization as we will probably be. Anyone hear the banjos playing? We pass under the I-10 bridge and know that we are getting closer. Three Rivers is past Bobby’s Fish Camp and our next anchorage. Most of our traveling buddies are stopping at Bobby’s but we don’t need gas and it a very small dock. People do raft out from it but we would rather practice anchoring out and we have a lot of daylight left anyway. Notes: the sailboat showed up after dusk. We yelled over to see if they needed help—they said they were fine and in some mud. Oh well, we have tried that—don’t want to again.



Dream II anchored in Banshee Creek



To the Banshee Creek Anchorage

The cruise to Banshee Creek was long and uneventful. The Tombigbee is a big ditch in this area with few houses and businesses. We saw a couple of young eagles diving for fish (dinner) –awesome. We are getting good at passing the barges and in the lock we got a lecture from the lockmaster. We were locking through with the marauders and knew they were not good at passing without rocking us so we graciously told them to go out of the lock before us. They graciously accepted. The lockmaster did not like this and when they passed us in the lock he told us in no uncertain terms to not let that happen again—go out as you came in and handle any wake issues in other ways. We said we were sorry and won’t do it again. We made our way down to Banshee Creek—the only good anchorage between Demopolis and Bobby’s Fish Camp. We are the first one to make it there but are assured others will use this creek for overnight. We back into the creek which is about 30 ft. wide and put out a front and rear anchor. Then arrives a boat we have not seen before—they are making the fast ride down the Tombigbee. They are the Pegasus out of Pauls Valley, OK—a long way from home. They have her Dad with them and he is the experienced captain. Then came the 2 boats traveling together—Dream II and Misty Lynn. They scrounge in and we fill up the small creek. Then came the SAILBOAT! Right at dusk the sailboat comes around the entrance and everyone gasped. There is no place for him and he doesn’t even have reverse. I believe he found a place across the channel but we were so embedded in the creek that I don’t know. Notes: We have no wi-fi or cell service so we watched the Pat Summit story. I have had the 3 CD pack for years and never watched. It was really good and we enjoyed it immensely. Bittersweet is the realization that within a couple of years her life will be interrupted with the dementia and Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Demopolis

On the way to Demopolis we pass the White Cliffs of Epps. They are in startling contrast to the trees and bush that line the big ditch of the Tombigbee. The name says it all-pretty. Demopolis is a little town in central Alabama and the Demopolis Yacht Basin and Kingfisher Dock is located about 8 miles from town. The dock is really nice and the good ole country boys that run it take good care. We meet back up with the marauders from the other day (they must go really fast from dock to dock and then use their extra time taking days in port). We also meet up with Dream II and Misty Lynn these are boats about our size that are getting their boats in position to do the Gulf crossing and eventually the Loop. There is also a sailboat with no sail, no reverse and no radio to communicate with locks and tows. We all agree we need to give the sailboat wide berth. We took the courtesy car into Demopolis and went to dinner at Smokin’ Joes. Nice to get off the boat and we even went to Walmart. Demopolis has up their Christmas Decorations and are getting ready to have their parade on Saturday. Notes: Radio out of Philadelphia, MS 100.1 Dixie Country --we like to listen to the local stations to get local flavor and local weather. We heard some country music person sing a remake of The Beetles—Revolution—interesting.

White Cliffs of Epps

From Columbus, MS to Demopolis, AL

This is uncharted waters for us. We had been to Columbus but no further so we were very anxious to see the new part of the Tenn-Tom -as they call it here. Sunday was rainy and cool (not cold) so we did a little maintenance and then went into Columbus for a great dinner. Went to a place called Harvey's and had a terrific meal and brought back some Bread Pudding to eat at half time of the Broncos/Chiefs game. The dessert was really good. Football was really good--so all was worth having the lay-over in Columbus. Out bright and early Monday morning and through the 1st lock by 7:30. Around 10:30 we entered our 2nd lock (Bevin) and in comes this big fabulous boat and aboard is an old friend from high school--Pat Lynch. He and his buddies make this trip almost every year and they were going to end up in Fort Lauderdale before Thanksgiving. They are hauling! It was good to see Pat and we discussed how we tell our children to act right in public because you don't know who might know you. We let them go before us and they are probably already in Mobile Bay (or at least Bobby's Fish Camp) way down the road. Notes: Tuscaloosa radio station had country music (especially Luke Bryan), ran a commercial for "Car Wash Confidential” really?!? and a lot of Crimson Tide news. Last night was our first anchorage on the trip and we learned a lot. We were way out in the boonies and the only anchorage between Columbus and Demopolis was an area called Sumpter's Landing. Fitz and I are very literal people and the list said it was at mile marker 270.6. There was a large embayment and the directions said to enter in the middle of the opening where it was about 6ft. deep. There was an island in the middle so we looked it over and decided they meant the right hand middle. We slowly entered and immediately hit a sandbar. Soooo we backed out and went to the left middle where we had about 6ft depth and then it opened up to about 14-15 ft. Then directions said look for the boat ramp, this would protect you from the winds that were starting to pick up. No boat ramp--but there were some inlets so we thought OK lets look in the first inlet. We watched the depth and it looked 14-15 feet until we hit something the lifted the boat like that girl in the pulpit of the Titanic and boy were we stuck. SCARY as Leeton would say. We managed after a lot of kicking up mud to get off the mound and Terry just dropped anchor where we were. Wind was the worrisome part but it usually settles down after dark. A couple of boats were about 10 miles behind us and we heard them on the radio say that they were going to Sumpter's Landing. We were anxious see where they went. Well, they went right past our embayment and kept going. It seems at MM 270 was a small inlet with a boat ramp and protection from the winds. They did just fine. It took us an hour to get out of our anchorage this morning and we are just thankful that Sunny Days appears to be unscathed. Lesson learned. Notes: Last night we had no cell service thus no wireless and no TV. We watched "To Kill A Mockingbird” with Gregory Peck--it was just the thing. We had a full moon and it was a beautiful evening.

Weekend in Columbus, MS

Saturday morning we were up and rolling by 6:30 and went thrugh 4 Locks (Fulton, Wilkins, Amory, and Aberdeen) by noon. It was still gloomy and had a drizzle but warmed up a bit and we didn't have but short waits for each of the locks. We still drove from inside but made good time. At the last lock, the lockmaster waited for a cruiser coming downstream for about a half hour. This was after we were already in the lock. After locking through, they blew by us and rocked the boat with huge wake -- things fell off shelves and crashing to the ground. Lesson learned. When we got to Columbus Marina, there sat the marauders beside us ready to make nice and be friendly. I find I hold a grudge (not a surprise to many of you). We made it to Columbus Marina by 3pm and we have made a pact that we will be docked or anchored by 4pm every day. So much easier less tense with the light and sunset come fast between 4:30 and 5. Katie, Leeton and Holden skyped with us (Leeton got a paper cut and Holden saw his Mama on the TV!) we hope to do this regularly--we don't want those babies to forget us- plus it is fun. We reconnected with the marina manager, T Caldwell and he is really nice gave us tips for use of the marina and stories of dumb boaters. Saturday night, I cooked on my new gas stove and as many have told me--I think I will love having the gas stove. We are going to stay here until Monday morning --the weather looks very threatening for Sunday. It is nice to have a morning to sleep in and clean house. We have the courtesy car reserved for tonight and plan to go into Columbus for a nice dinner. Looking forward to visiting Hancock’s in Columbus, it promises prime rib, luscious desserts and they will even clean up the dishes—who could ask for more?

Sunrise in Columbus

Cold, Gloomy and Rainy--Day 3



Grand Harbor --Iuka, MS--top of the Tombigbee

 Day 3 could not have been any more different than day 2. We woke up at the crack of dawn but the crew at Grand Harbor didn't get the memo. We finally got gas and paid our bill and got on the water at 9:20am. This is 2 hours later than the Captain would have preferred and 1 hour later than the 1st mate would have liked. It was really cold but the rain made it colder so we drove from inside. The weather people promised sunny skies in the afternoon but they never came. We had 3 locks today and at the first--Whitten we got right in but at the next 2--Montgomery and Rankin we got behind a Tow and had to wait. Not unreasonably but because of our late start, we got further behind. We finally got into Midway after dark (about 5:30)--scary because this marina has a lot of milfoil weeds that you need to avoid or they get in your props and the tree stumps dot the landscape like a page out of a Louisiana swamp. But Fitz is the man and Pat at Midway held up a big flashlight and walked us in. Both of us have drinks in hand as I write. Notes: Saw a deer swimming across the lake outside Rankin Lock--he did not take the shortest way either! I bet he swam the length of 2 football fields! Who knew Bambie could swim that far? Radio Station of the day--92.9 out of Tishomigo, MS. They have oldies and the Funeral Home Report from Cutshaw Funeral Home Terry's comment after we tied up --we have a lot of calm and bits of chaos.

Deer swimming across the river!



Midway

First Perfect Day

Well, we left Decatur, Alabama at 7:40am and just got into Grand Harbor, MS at 5:20pm today.  What a great day!  It was 42 degrees when we left and there was ice on the ropes.  But it was sunny all day long.  We had terriffic luck in that we did not have to wait at all for the Railroad Bridge to rise ouside Decatur, nor did we have any wait at Wheeler Lock and Wilson Lock.  What luck!  This put us at Florence at 1pm--this was where we were supposed to stop for the night. So we kept going.   The Pelicans were in flocks all over the lake--very neat.  We made it 92 miles, came in after sunset but Sunny Days did great.  This gives us a day pad on the schedule and we will take it when we can get it.  



The Captain is on his way!



   This is a good time to pay homage to Decatur, Alabama.  Five or 6 years ago we spent a year there and really enjoyed it.  It is a small town about an hour and a half south of Nashville and is the closest port on the Tennessee River.  Nice bar/restaurant --the dock doesn't offer a lot but it is very close to the interstate and the city.  You are guaranteed to fall asleep to Sweet Home Alabama every Friday and Saturday night.  Plus it has the Laundramat from heaven---a nail salon on one side, a Books-A-Million on the other and a Dairy Queen in the parking lot.   

Notes:

Not much color on the leaves--they have already gone to brown.



Found a great radio station Q107 out of Tuscumbia, Alabama--Classic Rock and they have tonight's Colts-Titans game.  Isn't Tucumbia a great name?

Spent the weekend getting Sunny Days ready for our trip at the end of the week. Leaving out of Decatur at the crack of dawn Thursday morning and will make our way to the Gulf by Thanksgiving. Really excited.