Pensacola to Ft Walton Beach

Its so nice to be back in the the clear blue waters again.

Jeremiah leads the way

We are docked at a FREE dock in Walton Beach time for cocktails and oysters.  Jim bought 2 dozen oysters at a fish market for $7 such a deal and they were great.  Thanks to Al  from our homeport of Westport Ma opening them was a breeze.  Al had given us an oyster and a Quahog knife before we left home.

Local oysters plump and sweet.

this is the free dock with a nice park with picnic tables decorated for the season.

A free dock, fresh oysters, a cold Shiner Bock and this view.... ahhh Life is Good.

Orange Beach to Pensacola FL

Jeremiah leads NautiNell and SweetPea into Pensicola

Yesterday was one of the most enjoyable cruising days we have had in a long time, the scenery was beautiful, the sun was shining and the seas were calm.  We traveled from The Wharf in Orange Beach AL to Palafox Pier and Yacht Club in Pensacola Florida.  We are now in what is considered old town, first order of business OYSTERS, the gulf coast of FL is known to be the oyster capitol of the country, some say the world but so do others.  Our plan is to eat as many oysters as possible while on the panhandle, last night Jim, Mike and I each eat a dozen, and they were YUM!

Jeff and Linda
Aren't they just sweet!

We will spend 2 nights here as we are planing to go to the National Naval Aviation Museum here in Pensacola it is also home of the Blue Angels.

Considerations for the Gulf crossing and Winter itinerary

We are hoping to cross the Gulf of Mexico in the next week or so, this will give us some time to explore the Florida panhandle of which neither Jim nor I have seen.  We will travel via Orange Beach, Pensacola, Ft Walton Beach, Destin, Panama City, Port St. Joe, Apalachicola to Carrabelle where we stage ourselves for the Gulf crossing to Tarpon Springs.  Staging, this is where we wait for a weather window to cross 160 miles of open water, no stopping a straight shot so weather needs to be ideal.  When at the staging area there will be others waiting for the go to cross, this is where you will be matched up with other boats to cross with as some boats can move faster than others.  The crossing WILL include night travel, some boats may take up to 22 hours to cross while others can do it in say half the time, we are somewhere in between.  We certainly can do it in say 12 hours but that may or may not be a comfortable speed and we will still have to deal with the crab pots, at the beginning the pots are not as much of an issue so that's where you would leave at night.  Then the next consideration is you must be 30 miles offshore of Tarpon Springs in daylight so you can see the crab pots, BUT, it is advisable to not get there until after 10am as the sun will be in a position to blind you from the glare off the water.  So much to consider, I guess, in the end, once in the staging area we will see who our boat buddies will be and go from there. 
Once across, we will travel the west coast of Florida to the Keys during the remainder of Dec and get to the Key sometime in Jan. We will have company to share this leg of the trip to the Keys, from there we are hoping to cross our wake in Stuart sometime in Feb.  For our non boater friends, crossing your wake is when you arrive at the place you began.  This will be the completion of our loop and where we take down our white tattered burgee and replace it with a gold one which now signifies to other boaters we have completed The Great Loop. 
Whats next?  Possibly a trip to the Bahamas, a (70 mile trek) for a few weeks in the Abaco's and Exuma's.
But 1st we need to get out of  AlaBAMA which we hope to do today!  Florida here we come, time to get the sunshine on?

Fairhope to Orange Beach AL

Today was the latest start ever for us, the winds were to lay down after 10am so we took SweetPea out for a test run to check out the work done.  The vibrations are gone so back to the marina to pay the piper, and get a pump out and finally move on.

Gotcha

what a show off

you can run but you can not hide

Smile

This is the beginning of the Gulf ICW

We caught up to Jeremiah and NautiNell at LuLu's  for a late lunch, this restaurant is owned by Lucy Buffet yes she is Jimmy's sister.  4 out of 6 of us had a cheeseburger in paradise.

This is the outside area, being 3 in the afternoon on a Wed. it was deserted.  Looks like a fun place though.  Theres a really nice bar under the tiki hut and they have live music here during the summer and on weekends.  Of course there was Jimmy Buffet music piped throughout the place.

Lunch at LuLu's

By the time we finished our late lunch it was getting dark we were planning on anchoring out but this marina was calling to us.  Besides it was suppose to be very cold tonight 40 brrrr.  Tomorrow we will move on again not sure how far we will travel but it certainly will be further than today.

SweetPea hauled out in Alabama for a check up

SweetPea has a checkup so out of the water she comes

Props checked.... lookin pretty good after 4500 miles since her last check up.  But Jim thought he was feeling a bit of a vibration when we were running the engines up the other day so with a closer look and a good shake we found that the cutlass bearings needed to be replaced. And since she is out of the water might as well change the Zincs since we are now in Salt water again and its been 8 months.

They had one heck of a time getting the props off.  Who knows when the last time the props were taken off, it may not have been since 2005 when the props were changed out after the re power.

They finally got them off and replaced the cutlass bearings.  They washed and waxed the hull and got rid of the mustache.  Shiny new zinc plate, and back in the water she goes.  All the other zincs were good.

Later the next day a mechanic came over to change out the impellers on the engines.  Since we again had no idea when they were last replaced and we have put 1000 hours on the engines we thought better safe than sorry, do it now as Preventive Maintenance rather than have a problem while crossing the Gulf.  Jim new he could change them himself but, one of the engines was going to be difficult with the placement.  This guy was in this position for more than an hour.  This is the first time we had a mechanic do work on the boat, Jim has always done it himself. So I won't complain.......too much.  Jim will do an oil change again on the engines before we cross the Gulf and change the oil and fuel filters at the same time.  He also wants to do and oil change and change out the impellers on the Genny.  But that can wait for another time as its still a bit early for that yet.

Thanksgiving with our harbour host in Fairhope Alabama

Bob and Vicki front and center

Today we were invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with Vicki and Bob Riggs who are the harbor hosts and Veteran loopers here in Fairhope Alabama.  Any loopers in the area was invited to attend, just bring a dish and they would open their home and supply turkey, ham and all the wine we could drink.  This is the 5th year the Riggs have opened their beautiful home for the loopers.  The shuttles began at 1pm from the marina and by 2pm everyone had arrived, dinner bell and prayer at 3pm.

Bob and Vicki's beautiful home

The girls

I really must agree

A good time was had by all!

Thank You Bob and Vicki it was very generous of you to welcome all of us to your home,  you made our holiday away from our loved ones very special.

Jim and I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Our last week as river rats?

We have spent nearly 3 months on the river system from Chicago to Mobile.  Too long?  Long enough is my answer!  This homemade sailing vessel (CharlieBrown) made of bamboo, plastic bottles and tarps was heading downbound, and barely moving, wonder where he was trying to get too.  Wherever it was it surely was slow going. 

Later in the same day we came across this raft named SlantyShanty, we have seen a few posts and pics of it on other blogs, on board is a young couple in their early 20's they are heading to New Orleans.  As we were passing by they had a VHF radio and asked if we had seen anyother rafts or homemade crafts up river, we mentioned the sailboat at mile marker 145 and they said they were trying to keep tabs on him.  They had last seen him at about the same mm a week ago.  This raft in the last week was averaging about 15 miles a day and was now about 100 miles from the sailboat.  An interesting journey for sure. They are called river rats by the tows, and not an uncommon site.  

Here is a look at our chartplotter as we meander down the Tenn-Tom.

This last week on the river is without marinas for over 200 miles so we have been on the hook for the past week rafting with others we are traveling with.  Here is Barb and Ken from Dallas TX on LoopDreams and Lynda and Bob from Mystic CT. on ErikaLin at one of our anchorages along the way.

Another night we rafted with our friends Linda and Jeff on Jeremiah along with 4 other boats, once all tied together it time for the pups to get to land.

That evening as always, its cocktail hours, we had a 5 boat raft on this night.  Lifestyles, CatNAround, Jeremiah, SweetPea and NautiNell. 

This is our first site of civilization, Mobile AL we have been without phone or internet for most of the week.

We traveled down the shipping canal in Mobile this is just about all we saw.

More of the same.

Ahhh, finally Mobile Bay, from here we cross the bay to our destination for the next week and where we will spend Thanksgiving with 34 other loopers in Fairhope Alabama. 

across the bay we go, it couldn't of been any smoother.

Land Ho!  Eastern Shores Marina in Fairhope.

We are very happy to be off the rivers and back in salt water.  We Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!