To Petit Bois Island

3/6/07 - This morning we continue west in the peaceful Perdido Bay; as it thinned into even a smaller cannel. It didn’t take long however for the boat traffic to pick up, we passed the first of 10 barges upon entering these ‘more narrows’ I like to call them. Fortunately, we never got stuck behind any slow movers – just movers. They are doing a great job at maintaining the integrity of the canal – but this means lots of working barges and tugs moving ‘stuff’ to and fro. This far north there is lots of sweet smelling pines lining the channel, so much more different than the marshes and cypress we’ve been used to seeing. We passed LuLu’s Restaurant, owned and operated by Lucy Buffet (sister to Jimmy). Further on down the canal and on into Oyster Bay, there is much development, which is unfortunate; takes away so much of the rustic charm. On the south side we continued to see waterfront homes with their waterfront docks; some delightfully decorated and other simply functional. On the north shore there are numerous condo complex sites being constructed with oversized marinas associated with them. From Oyster Bay we moved into Bon Secour River and finally into Mobile Bay. As they say in mariner talk - the water gets wide here - and there is little to look at, other than an occasional passing vessel. We did run across the Coast Guard working on a navigational day marker that shapes our watery path. Mobile Bay is dotted numerous oil derricks and various other working rigs, commercial traffic seemingly going in all directions as well as the ever present sport fishermen running in and out of the gulf passes. We anchored out in the lee of Petit Bois Island, a nature preserve about 20 miles south of Pascagoula. There was little to tuck in behind since there were very few trees on the island, but we managed to settled in a nice quiet spot for the night. Off in the distance we could hear the repeating sorrowful sound of a fog horn.

To Orange Beach ALABAMA

3/5/07 – Hey Toto – We’re not in Florida Anymore!!! Not by much but 35 days later – we’re in Orange Beach, Alabama. We took off across Pensacola Bay in some pretty rough and choppy water this morning and still very cold. It's not wonderful traveling in an open pilot house when it's 40 degrees! Can't wait for warmer weather so we can both defrost. I did have a couple of dolphins come by to play in our bow wave and I knew it was going to be a good day. With a variety of little islands between us and the gulf we had choice of homes along the north shore and clean white sandy beaches on the south to look at. Located on the western tip of Santa Rosa Island is the remains of Fort Pickens, which was the largest of a group of forts designed to fortify Pensacola Harbor; constructed in the 1800's. The cold winds subsided once we entered the Big Lagoon where we again confronted more barges, Lucy and Hunt Girls, which I always wave at while passing. We entered ‘the narrows’ along the intercostals known as the Perdido Key region, more colorful homes painted in what I call the Padre Island theme. These colorful homes are such a treat to the eye, so perky, playful and frisky. We’ve arrived at the Bear Point Marina for a good nights sleep, it’s a larger marina tucked into a nice little cove. Tomorrow we traverse Mobile Bay and Mississippi sound where we expect to see larger vessels as we navigate shipping lanes.

To Little Sabine

3/4/07 - Did I say “never a dull moment”?!? How about 3:30 am the winds are howling and we’re drifting into the abandoned sail boat. Yup, neither anchor seems to be holding anymore, the winds are dragging them, slowly, in unison. Neither anchor would budge when we try to pull them in, but yet neither would hold against the wind. Our only alternative was to cut the stern anchor and let us swing with the wind, which worked for a while until we noticed we were still easing back towards the sailboat (SH**T). We weighed anchor 4 different times, each time trying to get a solid hold, but the winds were too strong. Even though the sun had not quite yet rose, we decided to make a run for it, only to have a barge, at a snail's pace mind you, enter the bay. It’s not a big channel and very shallow water on either side, so we had no choice but to wait. Tom danced the boat around for a bit until the channel was clear. We felt it was better to move forward then take any chance banging into another vessel, so we departed at 6 am. It’s very cold at that hour of the morning in the pilot house even without a 40 deg wind chill. The weather did not improve as the sun rose behind us.

We did pass by Fort Walton Beach, which seem to be a great little town, again lots of cool houses dotting the shoreline and there was a military training ground of some sort along the south shore for miles.

It’s not easy keeping a 35 ton vessel traveling in a straight line with strong winds pushing you, can you image how it must be for a tug pushing a couple of barges? We passed such a vessel, very closely.

After a short rough 37 miles, we opted for another night at a marina – warm, safe and secure. If the weather was better this would be a great little spot to go exploring, but since it’s still so cold outside, we’ll have to postpone any outings for tonight. We’ve docked at the Beach Marina in Little Sabine Bay just east of Pensacola. The sand bar just to our starboard has been occupied all day with various birds, either grounded or simply hunting for food. Since I wanted to release our third little stowaway I opted for a safe place under the boardwalk, far from watchful eyes.

To Joe's Bayou

3/3/07 – It seems every day there is something new to experience on this trip, truly, never a dull moment and I’ve come to appreciate all of them. We cruised across the St. Andrews Bay and entered the West Bay Creek, where we knew it would become tapered. Just at the entrance of the creek they were putting in new pylons, I’m sure all the workers wore ear plugs it was the loudest BOOM BOOM I’ve heard; interesting operation. I also saw my first seaplane today.

Just on the other side of the bridge was a slow moving barge. Ugh! There was no room for us to pass and being the larger, less maneuverable vessel he had the right of way. For close to 10 miles we had to follow behind this barge (Captain Dean) at a screaming 4 knots. It’s not like we go very fast anyway at 7-8 knots but it really made us slow way down. I drove for a wee bit and took the opportunity for (you guessed it) tea and coffee. We passed by what was called the "little grand canyon" and other remarkable shorelines. After about 1-1/2 hours the barge pulled over to the right and stopped is engines, allowing us to pass. Actually, it turns out there was another barge coming downstream and this was the widest part of the creek to enable them to pass each other.

After we got ourselves back up to speed (haha) we soon came upon a big red thing being maneuvered by a tug. Turns out it was a dredger (as the tug captain informed us – oops) It was hooked up with miles of piping and other little red pieces of dredger. This was a very intriguing operation, the miles of pipe go up and over the banks, delivering and separating the silt and/or creek bottom then depositing the solid and pumping the water back into the creek. See, everyday it’s something new. We’ve anchored in Joe’s Bayou off the Choctawhatchee Bay for the evening. There are 3 other vessels anchored here, one is a rust bucket and the other two look abandoned. There would appear to be an airport close by, we’ve seen a few older bombers fly by with landing gear down. I caught a baby lizard today, and will keep it until he hit dry land. I think we caught his mama in Panama City and already put her ashore there. We were blessed with another beautiful sunset tonight.

On Hold in Panama City

2/28- 3/2/07 – We passed a brand new tanker this morning apparently pumping out its ballast, it was an enormous amount of water! We pulled into Panama City pretty early in the day so we’d have plenty of time to get the water pump and install it. One gentleman in the office overheard us asking for directions to a marine store and quickly offered up his friend to give us a lift; he only asked that we return the favor to another cruiser stranded in our home port. AH HA! That’s how it works! Pretty cool system – again, what goes around comes around. With a new water pump installed we had the rest of the day to walk around the city. It would appear that we are in ‘old town’ and it’s not very big. We were able to do two trips to the store and walk the piers checking out other boats. Some merchants appear to be working very hard at improving the ambiance of this general area; there are a number of ‘antique’ stores, various eateries and for some strange reason a large number of attorneys. Perhaps Panama City is a district seat for the courts or something.
Each time I look overboard more and more jellies become visible in the marina. There always seems to be some attention-grabbing creature to watch on this journey.
After watching the weather channel (It’s great to have cable TV) we’ve decided to hold up one more day here in calmer waters. Good thing, even here in the marina, which inside the bay, the waters are a pretty wicked chop. So we’ll take another down day and as they say ‘wait for our weather window’. After this storm passes, in a day or two, we expect to have nice weather along the intercostals for the next several days as we continue to head west!

To California Bayou

2/27/06 – We both woke up around 5am; it was so dark we could not see our hands in front of our faces and so very quiet outside it was downright eerie. We went out on the aft deck to discover we were in an incredibly solid fog. Whelp, nothing to do about that but go back to sleep and hope it was lifted when we awoke again. When we did, a few hours later, it was a little thinner but we then noticed how much the tide had gone out and there were little sandbars all around that weren’t there the night before. Pulling anchors was a little trickier since we didn’t want to edge any closer to the sandbars, but Tom managed just fine without incident. Today we left the gulf for the quieter waters of the intercostals. Passing the Gorrie Memorial Bridge we saw lots of little fishing boats, doing what I assume is clamming. They were using hole diggers with wire nets. We entered at Apalachicola Bay and passed a fleet of fishing boats then the surroundings quickly became marshy. The water returned to the root beer color we’ve seen so much of inland. We did see a few bald eagles, and of course the ever present, entertaining dolphins. We only passed one other cruising vessel so for the most part we were the only vessel on the river. The terrain changed from marshlands to tall pine, still keeping the backwater atmosphere. We did pass an occasional fisherman either on shore or in their little boats along shore. As you would imagine, there were numerous houseboats tucked in bayous and inlets along the river. It was by far one of the most pleasurable and relaxing days we’ve had. We anchored in the California Bayou of East Bay about 300 yards from shore using two anchors again. There is a military base across the bay and numerous times today we were buzzed by jets; tonight we’ve seen (and heard) them take off. At night you can see the jet engine flames. Somewhere along our route today we changed into central time.

To Dog Island

2/26/07 – (Happy Birthday Charlie!) We settled up our bill with Sherri, the owner of River Haven, and we were seen off by Bill and Thomas, such good guys. It was pleasure to meet them and I sure hope to run across their paths again someday. I imagine we’ll keep in touch regardless. Our gulf crossing was very mild and uneventful; other than an occasionally dolphin swimming along side or in our bow wave. We made about 72 miles and anchored out in a small bay of Dog Island, one of many in the St. George Sound. This should be the last we see of the big open water for some time as we can re-enter intercostals again tomorrow. Just as we put out our anchors I spotted a large jelly swimming by, it was beautiful shades of pink and purple. Dog Island appears to be a small island with some houses on it, also listed is a small runway for planes – however and fortunately I don’t see it from here. This is the type of island you can image that would not be inhibited and the white sands are virgin, never before stepped on by man. The various birds flap and croon as they search for food plucking along the ground. It’s tranquil here and hopefully no other boats will join us tonight in this quiet little bay. Well our water pump finally died tonight, it’s been singing a sad tune for some time. This just means I can’t cook because I can’t clean dishes – sounds good to me. We will need to find a marine store in the next few days to purchase a water pump. Just before bed we sat on the aft deck enjoyed the soft hues of the sunset while listening to a hooting owl.