Crossing the Gulf and Coming Home

Thursday, 14 November – Apalachicola to Carrabelle – 25 mi., 5269 cum mi.

Beautiful blue sky, but breezy and 50 degrees. Last night we celebrated our 44^th wedding anniversary at the Owl Café – a wonderful restaurant. After a couple of oyster bars, it was really nice to get a gourmet meal.

With the coming weather in mind, we left for Carrabelle in the late morning, hoping to make the next available Gulf crossing window. It was windy, and the waves were about 3 ft. across Apalachicola Bay.

OK for this short run to Carrabelle, but it would not be comfortable for 24 hours. The trip across the Gulf to the Tampa bay area is 170 miles and takes a trawler overnight to make it. AGLCA’s Tom Conrad publishes his Weather Musings – daily Gulf winds forecasts during looper season. A good day to cross is when the winds are 10 knots or less and in the same direction for a 24 hour period, when waves are 1-2 ft or less. He analyzes several weather sources and looks for patterns. The Moorings at Carrabelle has Buddy, who does his own predictions. Loopers wait until both Tom and Buddy agree that it’s good to go. Tom called for a good window Sunday and Monday. SeaGlide, Summer Recess, Misty Isles, Mooring Dove, and others crossed. Our intention was to cross, but Friday we discovered a leak in our starboard exhaust hose. Not able to locate a replacement hose, we had to order one, and we scheduled a repair with Dockside Marine across the river. Another crossing window was coming later in the week. Our good friend Bob Dittmar joined us, since he wanted to experience the overnight crossing. He recently passed the Coast Guard’s Captain’s exam and was recording hours toward his license. We ate more oysters, enjoyed daily breakfast at the Moorings, and waited for the next window.

 

Friday, Saturday, 21-22 November – Carrabelle to Madeira Beach – 170 mi, 5439 cum mi.

Cloudy at first, then sunny 75 degrees. Both Tom and Buddy were predicting a good crossing window Friday afternoon. We had a pot luck dinner with other loopers waiting to cross, and we formed teams of “buddy boats” who would cross together.

On Friday morning, Tom Conrad said go after noon, Buddy said go in the late afternoon, so we went. We left at 1 PM with Carol Ann and Journey (cat) down the Carrabelle River, then picked up Humbug at 2 PM near the entrance to East Pass.

None of us had crossed the Gulf before, so we were a little anxious about the trip, but we were comfortable with our boat buddies and the planned 8 mph speed. The waves were about 3 ft, but we were heading into them, so the ride was not too bad. Tom had said that we might find calmer water to the east, but we decided as a group to take the shortest path directly toward Anclote Key near Tarpon Springs. Other groups were not far from us – we could see Southern Belle and Thanks Dad! ahead of us heading to Clearwater. We saw in the distance Rickshaw and others. We spoke with Cajun and Quimby behind us. And we were occasionally in sight of Osprey who was also headed to Tarpon Springs, but through the north channel above Anclote Key. This was an overnight crossing. Fortunately, we had Bob with us, so we took 3-hr shifts. It started out as a beautiful day on the water. Blue sky, warm, and reasonably calm seas.  We saw a beautiful sunset.

At dark, the stars were all out. The moon rose, reflecting on the water - what a beautiful night! Our brave band of buddy boats communicated often, keeping each other awake and adjusting our speed and course, so we would approach the coast after the rising sun was high enough in the sky so as not to obscure the dreaded crab traps. While our buddies headed for Anclote Key and down the ICW to Dunedin and Marker 1 Marina, we steered right to Clearwater, then Indian Rocks, then Johns Pass, 

then marker 7 at the entrance to our bay where we crossed our wake.

As we approached our dock, we found friends waving and cheering and popping champagne corks. 

We celebrated crossing our wake by replacing the worn and tattered white AGLCA burghee with a new gold one, signifying that we completed the Great Loop. What a ride! 8 months, 5439 miles, 152 locks, 4081 gallons of fuel, 725 engine hours, and a lot of wonderful docktails, dinners, and hugs with newfound friends – loopers who we will remember for a long time. Thanks to all of you who made this a great and enjoyable adventure!

Cruising the Florida Panhandle

Saturday, 9 November – Fairhope, AL to Pensacola, FL – 59 mi., 5070 cum mi.

Clear, cool, 53 degrees. We had the pleasure of dining with Brian Franc, our yacht broker, who lives in Fairhope and who showed us the first boat we looked at last year in Orange Beach, AL. We also met other loopers docked beside us – Tom and Nancy on Terrapin, from Petosky, MI. This morning, we fueled up and headed south down Mobile Bay to the Gulf Intracoastal Water Way. Terrapin was not far behind us after doing the same. The wind calmed down overnight, so the seas were relatively

calm. Other loopers were crossing the bay from marinas up Dog River on the western shore. We heard conversations between Journey and Meridian on the VHF. We entered the ICW at red buoy 120, just behind a tow heading west, and now were keeping between the familiar ICW markers. We saw Lulu’s – Jimmy Buffett’s sister’s

restaurant. Heard she served good food, and sometimes Jimmy stops in. We encountered a couple of tows headed west, occasionally waited a few minutes as they passed under

bridges. The first part of the ICW was in Alabama, then it was the
border between Alabama and Florida, then all in Florida. We were glad to arrive in the Florida panhandle, it seemed as though we were finally approaching home, especially after seeing dolphin and osprey. We docked at the Palafox Pier and Yacht Harbor, the newest marina in Pensacola, where we found Harmony and met Misty Isle from Maine. Just at dusk, Terrapin pulled in, and we all had dinner at Joco’s – a nice restaurant at the marina.

Sunday, 10 November – Pensacola to Sandestin – 61 mi., 5131 cum mi.

Beautiful day, 61 degrees. This section of the ICW has narrow channels connecting larger bays, with sand dunes on the barrier

islands and homes on the land side.

We docked at Baytowne Marina at Sandestin. Nice facility within a large development, with condos and restaurants. You can rent kayaks and paddle boards at the marina's beach.  There was a boardwalk leading to an entertainment village – pretty cool - and a parrot who said "hello." Our Captain Bob and his lovely wife, Cheryl, joined us for dinner. They live in Destin. They were the ones that delivered our boat from CT. It was great seeing them again. And another sunset – starting to feel closer to home already.

Monday, 11 November – Sandestin to Panama City – 51 mi., 5182 cum mi.

Beautiful day, 60 degrees. Capt Bob joined us for our cruise today. He left a car in Panama City, so he hopped on board to go get it. Of course, we put him to work at the helm (part time).

 Early morning run across Choctawhatchee Bay, then into the ICW canal and the “grand canyon” of Florida – it was just the sand dredged up from the ditch, but it was the nicest man made sand pile we’ve seen. Finally we cruised into St Andrews Bay and to the Panama City Marina, past a big container ship.We were soon joined by Terrapin and Misty Isles. Docktails and a gorgeous sunset marked the end of a beautiful day.

 

Tuesday, 12 November – Panama City to Apalachicola – 62 mi., 5244 cum mi.

Partly cloudy, 62 degrees. The weather forecast was grim for Wednesday through Saturday – cold front coming with gale force winds, possibly easing on Sunday. We were planning to stop at Port St Joe, a quaint town and nice marina marking the western edge of Florida's Forgotten Coast," but we didn’t relish the idea of cruising to Apalachicola in 4-ft seas later in the week. So we decided to make a run for Apalachicola while the weather was good. Terrapin stayed in Panama City to meet up with friends. We followed Misty Isles out of East Bay, through Wetappo Creek, Lake Wimico

(very shallow, so we were careful to stay in the channel, with several markers covered with osprey nests), down the Jackson River, down the Apalachicola River and up Scipio Creek to the Scipio Creek
Marina. This is an "old Florida" fishing village – very old. Dilapidated docks, house boats, a historic downtown. We docked in front of Papa Joe’s – the reason folks come to this rustic marina. We also chose it because it was more protected from the coming north winds. We tied up as securely as we could, with double fenders and spring lines, extra lines to the north side, and securing anything that could be blown away. “Hunker down” was the term used by the dock hand. And we did, preparing to wait out several days of the coming storm.

The Black Warrior – Tombigbee Waterway

Monday, 28 October – Demopolis to Bashi Creek – 71 mi., 4779 cum mi.

Cloudy, wet, since it rained overnight, 63 degrees. Leaving the marina we saw an interesting stern wheel paddle boat - The Spirit of West Virginia.  We are still traveling with Reunion, now entering the Black Warrior – Tombigbee Waterway on our way to Mobile. As we approached the Demopolis Lock (down 40 ft), we found three other boats approaching the lock: Summer Song, Elegante, and Scotia.

There were a few more white cliff formations on the banks. We passed at least four tows, communicating with each.

The Bashi Creek anchorage is a narrow inlet near a park with a boat ramp.
Active Captain advised the use a stern anchor to avoid drifting into the sides of the inlet. Rather than
stern anchors, we rafted our boats after setting anchors in opposite directions. It worked well. We celebrated over a drink then dined together on brats, hot dogs, and risotto. Life is good.

Tuesday, 29 October – Bashi Creek to Three Rivers Lake – 82 mi., 4861 cum mi.

Dark, 60 degrees. As we pulled out of the anchorage, we encountered some fog, with some rather dense patches. Our strategy was to take the inside of the curves in the river, in case we encountered a tow that will usually take the outside. We did approach a small fishing boat, for which we sounded our horn, but

no tows. The fog burned off by mid morning, and it turned out to be a sunny day. This was our last lock of the great loop, we cleared 152  (I think – we
will check). We had a celebratory moment in the lock, then headed downstream.
We’re going extra miles in order to cut out one day of normal travel, in order to beat the bad weather predicted for crossing Mobile Bay Thursday. We anchored in our back-to-back raft pattern again, in an inlet called Three
Rivers Lake. It was a little wider than Bashi Creek, but closer to the mouth, so we could clearly see the river – and a tow coming up river around the bend that looked as though it was headed right toward us. After sunset boat drinks on the flybridge, it got really dark. With no wifi, no cellphone service, no lights, the clear night sky was our entertainment, especially when Eli pointed out the International Space Station crossing the sky.

Wednesday, 30 October – Three Rivers Lake to Fairhope, AL – 75 mi, 4936 cum mi.

Dark, 61 degrees, no apparent fog.  One good thing about leaving early is catching a nice sunrise.   In this section the Alabama River joins the Tombigbee to become the Mobile River.

The upper Mobile River looks about the same as the Tombigbee – desolate with dense vegetation - then starts thinning out to look more like a swamp. Somewhere in between, near mile marker 27, we encountered the totally unexpected, and the first time on this trip that we felt in danger. We heard shots - three shots - perhaps about a half a minute apart, each
successively louder. There was some shouting from one of the cabins on shore. We still don’t know whether someone was shooting at us, whether they were hunting, or whether there was a feud going on between the Hatfields and McCoys across the river and we just happened to be in the way. We lay low on the flybridge, accelerated, and steered via the chart recorder until we felt the shooting was over. As we approached Mobile, the swamp turned heavily industrial.
Tows staging barges, cargo ships being loaded or unloaded, ships being repaired, a long freight train blowing his whistle, and in the middle of it all was a convention center. We were in the large ship channel headed for Mobile Bay. The wind had picked up a bit, but we crossed the bay in light chop (1-2 ft). So glad we accelerated our run from Demopolis, since 3-4 ft waves were predicted for the bay the next day. At the Eastern Shore Marine, we found Second Wind, Golden Hawk, Mooring Dove, and Sea Glide – it was like coming home.

After hot showers, dinner out sharing river tales, we listened to the last game of the World Series – Boston won. 

The next day, we enjoyed brunch at Panini Pete’s, in the French Quarter, including their famous beignets.

We happened to be in Fairhope for the annual kindergarten trick or treat day on Halloween, with more children roaming the sidewalks than we’ve ever seen. Each class of kids had original halloween themed t-shirts.  

We rented a car to deliver Eli to his parents who were visiting Orlando. After traveling over 500 miles with us, I think he will be glad to be home again, especially after dropping his new book in the river.

But we will miss him, it sure was fun having him along.