Marker 1 Marina at Dunedin

The Christmas Parade in Dunedin drew a huge crowd and was fun.  There were vendors set up with craft booths and true to their Scotch-Irish traditions, we had the bagpipe brigade.  It was still light when it was over so we walked back 3 miles to the boat along the Pinellas Bike Trail which was decorated –sorta like a Christmas lights ride we would take the kids on. There are lots of Loopers in Marker 1, docktails gather a crowd and we have met new friends and reconnected with those we have met along the way.  We turned one Docktails into a Dirty Santa and we scored some Grape Vodka—gotta get a new drink recipe or I may just smell it until it evaporates.  Craig Abington is here to visit his mom and brother and we are excited to go to lunch with them.  He even got down in the engine room—it is nice see a buddy from home.  The temps are warm (80/60) but the winds have kicked up—glad we crossed the Gulf when we did—so far there will be no crossing until at least late in the week. 

Merry Christmas!

 

Well attended Dunedin Christmas Parade--Santa dropped in

 

Could not get Fitz to stand with this elf and her dog for a picture

 

Loads of Elves

 

Decorations on the Bike Path

 

Docktails with the Loopers

 

Evelyn had the best haircut --I gotta see Joey

Craig's mother was a delight--at 102 years old she is as sharp as they come

 


Craig took us to lunch with his brother and sister-in-law

Crossing from the Panhandle of Florida to the Gulf west coast

On December 9^th we left a beautiful, dolphin filled anchorage at Carrabelle Beach at 5pm and crossed 170 miles to Clearwater Pass arriving in Marker 1 Marina around noon on Dec. 10^th.  We crossed with a flotilla of about 10 other boats and I must say this was easier than 2 years ago.  Both of us attribute this to the fact that it was warmer.  We did not have the full moon, nor the steady hand at the helm of Miss Lauren Grace that we had last time but we did have 6-7 boats in front of us and 2 behind so while we could not really see any land we did have the safety net of others.  We had batten down the hatches and prepared for rough seas but they never happened.  I had Gingersnaps and Ginger ale in case we were queasy—never happened.   When we arrived in Marker 1 there were Loopers galore.  We had a sandwich, went to bed, and at 5pm we awoke to the smell of docktails.  We celebrated with our friends from Nearly Perfect, Manana, LiLa Blue (Larry and Linda good friends from when we were here before—new boat for them), Corkscrew, and many others.  Then we went back to bed for a solid 12 hours.  Gimmetime, as it turns out, made a daytime crossing the same day from Port St. Joe  into Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs is a 20 minute trolley ride from our marina so we went and met them for dinner on the 11^th.  Greek—Hellas—fabulous.  Soooo…today—Saturday the 12^th of December we sit in 80 degree temps, finish catching up with sleep and will go into Dunedin tonight for their Christmas Parade.

Corkscrew and Sum Escape crossed behind us at about the same speed--they are anchored at Dog Island while we make our way to the East Pass and R2 to start our overnight journey

Sun Set at R2--cool to have the sun rise and set over the water--check that off the Bucket List

Sun rise as we come near the Clearwater Pass--this is where the trip starts getting long--you think you should be there and you still have 5 hours to go

Clearwater Pass

Up the ICW to Marker 1 at Dunedin--love the little sail boaters

Getting ready to cross the Gulf

First we revisit Apalachicola (or Apalach as the locals call it), have our fill of oysters, and dinner at The Hole in the Wall then we head to Carrabelle/Dog Island and wait until all the weather pundits say it is time to cross the 170 miles between Carrabelle and Clearwater/Dunedin.  Carrabelle was full of brown water and abandon boats so we anchor off Dog Island and wait for the window.  Well, that is today.  We leave out this afternoon around 5pm so we will have sunset and then again sunrise over the water--cool. There are about 10 other boats crossing tonight and at least 3 or 4 will travel our speed and so we will not be alone even though cell service will be nonexistent.  We should be in Dunedin by 1pm Thursday.  Yes, we are pulling an all-nighter and we are not teenagers so we are sure to arrive very cranky (we did last time) but we have cards, books, and cd’s ready to entertain.  The temps will be about 10 degrees warmer and we will have a week get everything ready to go home for Christmas. 

Merry Christmas from Apalach
 

This eagle was here 2 years ago too

Great combination right across the street from us in Apalach

Veterans Memorial in Carrabelle

Abandon shrimp boat in Carrabelle

Merry Christmas in Carrabelle

Great Anchorages, Pensacola, Panama City and on to Apalachicola

 

Two years ago when we started our trip, it was cold and stormy.  The panhandle of Florida is a blur of trying to get from Mobile to Apalachicola in terrible conditions.  This time we are traveling in mostly perfect weather and have at least a week to achieve the goal of being in Apalachicola in time to pickup a weather window to cross the elbow of Florida by the 15^th of December.  We had beautiful anchorages:  Ingram Bayou (Gulf Shores), English Navy Cove (Pensacola) and Hogtown Bayou (near San Destin)where dolphin play and clownish pelicans practice take off and landings—the cartoons have it right—I can’t wait to bring Leeton and Holden back and show them. Palafox Marina in downtown Pensacola where we had  great oysters at Shux and rode the bus to the Naval Air Museum—how awesome to see the  Blue Angels fly by . Then to Panama City Marina where we caught the trolley (city bus) to Walmart to reprovision.  Friday afternoon we find ourselves in Apalachicola which most of the Loopers have vacated the previous week and gone on to southern parts of Florida--the conditions had come together for them to cross.  There will be another window later next week most probably--wave and winds have to calm for an extended period--it will take about 18hrs. to cross with limited sighting of land and no cell service--you choose wisely and we will begin the search for a running buddy or 2.

Ingram Bayou--if you look carefully you see Gulf Shores in the distance

 

 

 

Infused oysters?! at Fort Walton Beach

 

Loved the Naval Air Museum

 

 

Naval Base from the water

 

Pensacola has Pelican Art throughout the town

 

New Naval ship design?

 

Pilot Fitz at the museum

 

Spectacular Sunsets--this is at English Navy Cove

 

Never get tired of the dolphin escort

This is how it should be

A wonderful day in Fairhope  (my idea of how to spend Black Friday) spent with a bike ride to town, meandering through the shops and lunch at Panini Pete’s. Then Sat bright and early, we head down Mobile Bay to the Gulf Inter-Coastal Waterway (ICW).  Sunny days with highs of 70 and lows of 60 is sharp contrast to our trip 2 years ago when we were weathering cold and rainy storms.  As we made the left into the ICW we saw our first dolphin since the Atlantic coast-mom and baby.  Ingram Bayou in Orange Beach offers a perfect anchorage about 3 hours outside Pensacola for the night.  The Vols play Vanderbilt this afternoon so we will anchor early and get our game face on.  If the panhandle stayed this way throughout the winter the marinas and anchorages would have a waiting list. 

Fairhope Yacht Club offers reciprocal dockage with Rock Harbor, it is about 2 miles from town and is a perfect stop for us. Two years ago we had Thanksgiving dinner here with Tom and Nancy. 

 

The city of Fairhope has a lot of consignment/estate shops, Christmas stores and great restaurants

 

Thought of our buddy Glen from Rock Harbor as he is recovering from surgery

 

Entering the Gulf ICW

 

Ducked into Barber Marina where our friends on Lauren Grace are docked--all buttoned up, we figure they are home in Missouri for Thanksgiving weekend

 

LuLu's is on one side of the ICW in Gulf Shores

 

Tacky Jacks and Acme on the otherside

 

Happy Thanksgiving!



Here is a shout out to all our wonderful family and friends—Happy Thanksgiving!  We had our dinner yesterday with our friends from Nearly Perfect and about 80 other boaters who gathered for a covered dish lunch at Turner Marine (next door to Dog River).  We certainly ate our share and I got the opportunity to fix our traditional cranberry/apple casserole.   The weather is coming together for good travel for the next few days—I guess being away from the family on Thanksgiving paid off because we are poised to travel when the conditions are nearly perfect.  Eat a little extra for us today and we will see all our folks in Nashville in 3 weeks.   Fitz and I are so thankful for our lucky life and for all of you. 

Such fun new friends with Jack and Patty and their family

This is the dessert plate for this petite lady 

Glimmers from home

We missed Dave Caldwell but Princess is from Rock Harbor too.

The Turners were gracious hosts

Dog River

Weather rules!  While the rest of the country is doused with snow and hard freezes, we are sitting in Dog River Marina in Mobile with cold-ish (50 lows-60's highs) and strong winds.  For the boater that means you stay put but comfortably.  Terry is happy with boat projects and Dog River is the place to get batteries and all the bla-bla that goes along with that project so were figure there are worse places to spend a holiday week.  Our sister Vivian came over from Hattiesburg, MS for the day and we haven’t seen her since she and Sue came to visit at Mackinac Island—good to catch up.  Looking ahead we want to be in Dunedin on December 15^th and that is our only hard goal.  We would like to stop in Fairhope,  Pensacola (definitely- the Navy Air Museum), Fort Walton Beach and or (San) Destin, Panama City, and on to Apalachicola to await good weather for the Gulf crossing to Dunedin. Turner Marine does a potluck Thanksgiving dinner on Wed. before Thanksgiving that is sort of a Looper event so we will go to that.  We heard from nephew Kelsey that he and his sweet Jamie are engaged and that his future in-laws live in Fairhope -- we are going to try to get with them before we hit the ICW.  Nearly Perfect (Pat and Jack from Houston) is here for the week too so we will have good company for docktails and dinner out.

Dog River Marina

 

I love the light headgear that Fitz wears in the engine room

 

Grand Mariner is a restaurant/marina across the way

 

Beautiful sunsets all week

Demopolis to Mobile Bay

My most favorite National Geographic photo of the trip--eagles were plentiful along the Tombigbee

Anchorages with our friends on Fugitive at Baschi Creek, Lock #1, Tensas River were really beautiful and calm.  That said we had very spotty cell service and bad weather in between anchorages.  Tuesday the winds were gusting up to 40 mph, then on Wed. the rain (with an occasional lightning) persisted all day—we did manage to anchor in between rain storms.  Thursday we woke up to thick fog which burned off by the 8am start engine time.  A terrific warm sunny day will take us into civilization once again.  We passed very few boats and more than our share of barges.  The tow drivers were all very adept at the complicated switchbacks of the winding Tombigbee and helped us in their very unintelligible language to pass them on their 1 or their 2.   The language that the tow drivers use is one without vowels and only the close ear can get what they are conveying—I listen carefully for the words “1” (right) or “2” (left) and then repeat back what I think they have said.  It is a 50/50 proposition.   Thursday afternoon we settled into Dog River Marina and promptly found Looper friends from Nearly Perfect.  They crossed their wake here about 3 weeks ago!  We all went out to dinner at Felix's--a Mobile favorite--and talked about our trip.

Storm clouds gather as we pull anchor at Lock No. 1

At Baschi Creek,  Terry got to use his hedge clippers

Charts are a must even on the ditch of the Tombigbee--we were startled to learn that we came through the Promised Land

Janis and Brian aboard Fugitive rafted with us in the anchorages on the Tombigbee

New friends made in Baschi Creek--Hattitude (Vebbie and Roger) is out of Kenlake in KY and we share some friends

Out to dinner in Mobile--Fugitive and new friends Jack and Patty on Nearly Perfect

Impressive Port of Mobile

The pirates are out here too (this one is for Leeton and Holden)