Crossing the Gulf to Clearwater, Florida

After waiting out Tropical Storm “Ida” in Orange Beach, Alabama, we departed November 12th for a great anchorage in Pensacola at Ft McRee. We passed this sign as we arrived in Florida and received an escort by dolphins.  Along with “Meander”, “Dar Sea” and “Bullitt” – including about 100 other boats – we anchored on the beach to view the Blue Angels Homecoming yearly air show. While there, we took the dink to a local fish market for fresh fish and shrimp and spent the afternoon on the beach to view the show.  Pictures below of "the crews" on the beach with the Blue Angels overhead.Good time had by all. Early on Saturday, we moved to a marina in Pensacola, rented a car and visited the house where Pia’s parents lived for 10 years and took the chance to reprovision. We left the marina on Sunday and, over the next week, made our way 200+miles through the intracostal waterway to Apalachicola to prepare for our greatest challenge so far – an overnight trip across the Gulf (Stopping overnight at several quaint fishing towns along the way ). We arrived in Apalachicola on the Panhandle on Thursday the 20th to wait for the right weather window to cross the Gulf.  The picture on the right is "Still Busy" at the Waterstreet Marina, taken from the dingy.

From Apalachicola on the northern Gulf, the trip to Clearwater on the Florida west coast is 185 statue miles with no place to stop in the middle. One option is to leave prior to dawn, travel fast – 15+ MPH – and try to make the crossing in daylight and hope we have enough fuel. The other option is to travel at a slow speed – 8 MPH to conserve fuel - requiring a 20+ hour trip and overnight travel. Along with 4 other Loopers, we chose the latter, leaving our marina at 11AM on Monday the 23rd and arrived at an anchorage in Clearwater on Tuesday at 9AM – a 22 hour trip. In 2 hour shifts, we alternated between driving and sleeping. The 2 pictures above are sunset in the Gulf after we were on the water for 5 hours and sunrise in Clearwater as we arrived the following morning.  The night was overcast with a quarter moon so our visibility beyond the bow was minimal and we followed the GPS and lights from the boat in front of us all night. The seas were rolling 3 – 5 feet so the entire night was choppy. When we arrived in Clearwater harbor at daybreak on Tuesday we were obviously tired but happy to be on this side of the Gulf. All day Tuesday was spent recovering (i.e. sleeping) and we then joined “Meander” and “Spey” on Tuesday evening for a celebration of our safe crossing. WOW – what a trip!

One of the best aspects of doing The Loop is the great people we have met. While in Clearwater, we contacted a Looper – Fred and Sharon from “Perfect Remedy” -that we have interacted with a number of times since leaving Charleston in April. “Perfect Remedy” finished The Loop a few weeks ago. When we contacted them that we were in town, they immediately offered to bring us a car to use while we are in town as well as an offer to tie up to their dock, which we will do on Saturday. Along with Ron and Marji, we used their car on Thanksgiving Day to drive to Tarpon Springs - the sponge capital of Florida, picture below of sponges being off loaded - for the day and to a local restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner. As usual, we all ate too much but still enjoyed the time with friends and the chance to think about all we have to be thankful for.

Our plans are to leave Clearwater on Sunday and take a week or so to travel the 100+ miles to Punta Gorda where Ron and Marji have offered us the chance to leave “Still Busy” at their dock when we fly home for the holidays. Over the next few days, we will spend time in Tampa, St. Pete, Sarasota, and other places of interest along the ICW before arriving in Punta Gorda. When we continue our trip in January we will travel to The Keys before heading up the east coast of Florida and/or the Bahamas. We are looking forward to a warm winter in tropical Florida!

We are now in The Gulf of Mexico!

At our last posting, we had arrived at Grand Harbor Marina at the beginning of the Tenn-Tom waterway, 450 miles from the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico. We have been on the inland rivers since leaving Chicago and look forward to completing this phase of our journey. The inland waterway which connects Chicago to Mobile is almost 1300 miles long and includes the following Rivers – Chicago, Sanitary Canal, Des Plains, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Tenn-Tom, Black Warrior, Alabama, and Mobile Rivers. After many weeks traveling the 1300 miles of the inland waterways, we arrived in Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, November 7th along with Hurricane, turned Tropical Storm, IDA. As we post this update on the blog, IDA has passed over us and is now headed NE into the Carolinas after a lot of wind and rain at our marina in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
Before leaving Grand Harbor Marina on October 30th, along with John & Dottie on “Dar Sea” and Ron & Marji on “Meander” we spent a sobering day touring the battlefields of Shiloh National Military Park where over 23,000 Union and Confederate soldiers lost their lives in the Civil War as the Union forces began the campaign to recapture the Mississippi Valley. The day spent at Shiloh (the sight of one of America’s National Cemetery ) was as impressive as our time spent at Arlington Cemetery while in Washington early in the trip.
We are always amazed at the sights we see coming down the rivers - from white cliffs that are majestic to rural houses on the edge of the eroding shore. Our 450 mile trip from Grand Harbor Marina at the entrance of the Tenn-Tom to Mobile Bay took seven days and included a good mix of marinas and anchorages as well as the final 12 locks on our journey. Our first night out was on anchor on Bay Springs Lake just before our first lock at Whitten Dam. We rafted with “Dar Sea” and “Meander” and had a “pot luck” Halloween dinner with no tricks, but many treats (if we count the good food and wine). We departed early on Sunday the 1st, traveled through six locks to one of the most rural marinas we have visited. The next three pictures are of the marked channel off the river to Aberdeen Marina, the Marina/gas station (notice the marina gas at the back and auto gas in the front), and “Meander” in the early morning mist as we departed the marina the following morning. The combination of trees, stumps, and shallow water presented a challenge.
In the last few weeks, this part of Mississippi and Alabama has received a tremendous amount of rain which has resulted in strong currents and debris in the river. This next picture is of the grass and logs which have collected in one of the locks, requiring us to actually dodge debris while attempting to lock through. After 3 more locks and 70 miles, we anchored at Cochrane Cutoff along with 2 other boats already anchored when we arrived. Once again, we rafted with “Dar Sea” and “Meander” for the evening.
The last marina before reaching Mobile is Demopolis Yacht Basin in Demopolis, Alabama at mile 216 of 450 on the Tenn-Tom. For the next few nights, we have no choice but to stay on anchor. Consequently, Demopolis also is the last chance for fuel before arriving in Mobile Bay and is a popular marina for loopers and other boaters headed to Florida. We stayed for two nights, which included sightseeing, and provisioning. This next picture is of all the boats waiting for the lock on Thursday the 5th as the sun was rising. The race is on to find the best places to anchor for the next few nights before arriving in The Gulf.
Because of the recent rains which resulted in strong currents downsteam, we were able to travel almost 90 miles to the Okatuppa Creek for our next anchorage. This next picture is of us in the narrow creek as we anchor for the evening. As we were leaving on the 6th, the fog was thick and actually got thicker in the river, forcing us to “hang around” in the river and hope we didn't meet a tow. This picture is of “Meander” and “Dar Sea” in the fog.
After 143 locks since leaving Charleston, we performed our last lock through at Coffeeville Lock at mile 117 on the Black Warrior River on Friday, November 6th. Pia had the honor of taking us into the lock as Jack handled the lines and took this next picture. We are happy to be close to the Gulf, sandy beaches, and warmer weather. We are happier to be finished with LOCKS!
We arrived in Mobile Bay (last picture below) on Saturday, November 7th with reservations for the weekend at Eastern Shore Marina in the east side of Mobile Bay. On Saturday, we visited Fairhope, Alabama and were looking forward to spending the weekend in this charming seaside village. A little shopping and sight -seeing, even took in a Motorcycle parade, with Santa as the star ! On Saturday evening, we bought fresh shrimp from a local shrimper and had boiled shrimp at the marina with the crews from “Dar Sea” and “Meander”. Dinner was enjoyed by candlelight at a picnic table at the marina. We were awakened early on the 8th by another looper in the marina that advised us that the east of Mobile bay was not the place to be with the approaching Hurricane Ida from the Gulf. We were fortunate to find a marina in Orange Beach on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway which was fairly protected from the approaching downgraded Tropical Storm. The wind from Ida was strong and the rains were intense on Monday and Tuesday. However, not nearly as bad as we had feared !!!! The marina was well protected and our plans are to leave here on Thursday to begin our 250 mile trip along the Panhandle of Florida before crossing the Gulf to the Western coast of Florida. The Blue Angels have a homecoming air show in Pensacola this weekend and we hope to be anchored for the show. We actually saw the Blue Angels while in Annapolis earlier in the trip and am sure we will enjoy the show again!