February 2013

We departed Panama City February 2nd.  Cruised to Apalachicola.  Zia's drove in from Mexico Beach to have dinner with us. We went to Papa Joe's at Scipio Creek Marina.  Good to see them again.

Had been watching the weather and it looked like we'd have an opportunity for a crossing in a few days so we wanted to get to Carrabelle.  February 4th was the day we opted to cross. A couple of  Endeavor Catamarans were crossing too, Ann and Bob, Sandpiper and Rick and Ann on Assisted Living.  They traveled faster than we did but we kept in touch until about 4 am.

 The crew from Makin Memories hanging out at C-Quarters when we pulled in.

Busy dock at C-Quarters getting a fishing boat loaded with ice and fuel.

 

 Zia's stopped by before we took off. In fact they threw off our lines.  Okay, Roz didn't really help with the lines.

Jerry caught this picture of dolphins riding our stern wave while we were underway. 

 

Sunset at the beginning of our crossing.










The crossing started about 15:30. Seas were .5-1 ft until about 1900. Got bumpy. Jerry and I took 2 hour shifts. Worked good. However I missed a spectacular moonrise at 02:52.  Seas calmed about 04:00. Pulled into Anclote Key anchorage about 12:30 on February 5th. 165 miles, 21 hours.

Clearwater was our next stop. Stayed at the City Marina a week. Jerry took one of the charter boats out into the Gulf.  Brought home several gray snapper.  Did a sunset at a bar in Clearwater with Jo and Nate, Bob and Ann and Rick and Ann.  Free shots at sunset!
Jo was running a marathon in Jacksonville.  We worked a deal for her to take our car to Sadler's. worked great for both of us.

Jerry went on an all-day charter fishing boat.  Wasn't looking good for anyone in the morning but they moved a few times and finally everyone came home with a catch. 

He caught about 10 gray snapper.  Tasty! 

 

Moved to anchorage, Penthouse just around from the marina.  Nate rafted with us for 2 nights.  We moved to the Holiday Inn marina just 7 miles away to meet up with April, Craig and the girls.  Took everyone out Saturday morning as weather was turning cold and windy.  It was a fun trip, saw dolphins.  Brooklyn drove the boat and we all had a good time.

We celebrated Harper's first birthday a little early since we wouldn't be in Atlanta for the big event.  She was a little hesitant at first but got into the icing eventually.  Forget the cupcake, go for the sugar!

We left the Holiday Inn about noon, a few hours after the kids had taken off.  Cruised about 5 hours to an anchorage call Longboat Key.  There were 8 other boats and it was close quarters.  We were mostly out in the current so we weren't swinging with everyone else.  Not a bad place but we were ready to hit the water again. 

Last year we bypassed Cabbage Key.  Read and heard from others what a neat place it was to visit.  So we decided to do a night there.  They had power but no water and you couldn't leave your trash.  But they have a quaint restaurant and bar.  Also there are cabins and villas for rent.  We walked a trail but should have asked about walking the entire island.  Next year, maybe.  We did dinner in the restaurant, find out later we could have brought our own bottle of wine, damn.  Met a couple, Norm and Nancy on True Loev, traveling on a sailboat.  Struck up a conversation about our journey.  They have been traveling back and forth between the northeast and Florida for about 18 years.  We decided to meet for breakfast the next day so they could show us charts with great anchorages.  Really enjoyed our visit with them.

Sunrise from the dock at Cabbage Key

The morning brought fog.  We had breakfast then waited for it to burn off.  It was almost noon before I was comfortable enough to take off.  Didn't travel far, only 17 miles to an anchorage suggested by Norm.  Ding Darling is a wonderful area.  Dolphins and birds. 

 

Needed fuel.  Jerry had scoped out the cheapest around.  Ballard Oil was the best price and only a quick hop from our anchorage.  The guy there said he had been doing this for 35 years and in the past had as many as 30 employees.  Now it's just him.  He also used to fuel around 200 shrimp boats, now maybe 2.  A lot of the shrimp boats are now corporately owned and they have their own fuel.  Average cost to fill up a shrimp boat is around $20k using about $2k of fuel a night.  Hard to break even selling shrimp at those costs.

Leaving Ballard we headed for Naples to meet the people interested in buying our house.  They were in Naples for business.  It was great to finally meet them.  Stayed around Naples for a few days checking it out.  Went to the farmers market Sunday.  Biked around town.  Nice place but wouldn't want to live here.

Departed Naples City Dock 2/25.  Met up with at Nate and Jo Smokehouse Bay, only about 16 miles away.  Spent a couple of nights here.  Well protected and easy access to facilities like groceries and restaurants.  Had dinner on the boat both nights with Nate and Jo.  Good company! 

 Nate retrieved a couple of coconuts from the water.  And typical Guyer approach to a challenge, power tools were brought out.  Jerry used a saws all to cut them open.  Nate picked out the coconut meat.

The dinghy dock is by the Winn-Dixie.  Jerry and I went in to have lunch.  Needed to make copies of our tax stuff and get it mailed off.  found a great marine store at Rose's Marina.  Jerry picked up a couple of fillet knives.  While we were out and about, we found out later, the tide came in and our dinghy had been pushed up and under the dock.  Fortunately, a few other boaters saved it, getting in and pushing down on it.  We are so thankful they took care of it.  We thanked them later profusely.  What a disaster that would have been.

 

A sailboat anchored on the other side of this little cove was loaded with kids and dogs and cats. Mom, dad and 5 kids as well as dog and cat. They were on their to the Dry Tortugas. Fun group and the kids are extremely well behaved. Home schooling at it's finest.

Also met Tom and Ollie on Our Freedom and a couple, Art and Elise on a Great Harbour N37.  Art helped save our dinghy.

 Finally took off about 10 in the morning 2/27.  Another short day.  Only 11 miles to Tripod Key. It was quiet after the fishing boats left the area about dusk. 

Next day we are picking up the pace and want to get to Marathon.  Did a 52 mile day anchoring at Shark River.   Jerry threw out a line, trolling while underway.  No luck but once we got to Shark river, he caught 2 catfish and 2 Jacks.  Didn't keep any but felt good to finally get something on the line.  I liked this anchorage.  We saw Egrets on shore and the mosquitoes weren't bad.  Getting low on water, or so we thought. 

January

1/8/2013 Reprovisioned yesterday and moved the boat to the fuel dock at Columbus Marina. Fueled up and paid cash to get a 10 cent a gallon discount. Also did laundry.

This morning we departed at 6:45 along with Playtime, a 65' yacht. Stennis lock is just outside the marina so had talked to them about locking through together. There was Hydrilla, an invasive aquatic weed, in the marina and along the river. It was in the lock entrance along with logs and branches and other trash making it a challenge to get through. Just go slow is how I handle it.

Out of the lock, Playtime took off heading for Orange Beach. Obviously going faster than we care to travel. Went through Bevill lock. Met Ashleigh tow and Point Isabel tow today.

Temps were cool, 31F when we left Columbus this morning.

Went through Heflin lock about 3:45. Anchored just past the lock in an oxbow. Traveled 70 miles today. Feels so good to be back on the water!!!!

 We passed this house last year, it was for sale then, still for sale.  We really liked the house, setting and the out buildings.  But we're not in the market for a house now.

Went through Stennis, Bevill and Heflin locks today.  Anchored in the oxbow just past Heflin Lock.  70 miles today.  

 

 

 

 

1/9/13 Rainy and foggy this morning.  The chill went right through us.  Jerry brought the propane grill up to the bridge.  It warmed things up nicely. 

 Last year when we passed the white cliffs of Epes, the sun was shining and it was absolutely spectacular.  This year, overcast and rainy made the cliffs kind of blah.  They are really a site to see.

Met Joe Cain tow along the way.  Passed a fisherman who didn't look like he was anything but cold. 

 

Made it to Demopolis, AL marina early afternoon.  I backed into the slip.  Only my second time backing the boat.  I did good!!  Last year the marina was packed with loopers.  We are so late this year but did come across one looper boat, Jet Stream.  We partied with them in Hammond, IN just outside Chicago along with Canadian and New Zealand loopers.  They loaned us their Jag so we could drive into town to pick up milk.  They were watching the weather and planned to stay another day or so.  We, on the other hand, planned to push on.

 

1/10/13 Before 7:00 we were on the river.  Thirty minutes in we are at Demopolis Lock.  Things are looking good so far this morning.  As the doors to the lock opened, all we see is fog.  For the next 2 hours, we are in pea soup. 

 

 IFR on the boat but no ATC to guide us and watch for traffic. 

 We can watch the tows on our chart plotter so at least we know where they are, thank goodness.  One was going to meet us on a bend in the river.  We thought we had timed it so we'd be around the curve before we met, but we forgot that the barges are a good distance ahead of the tow which is what we see on the chart. 

Finally cleared up about noon.  We passed the Keith Gelvin.  Jerry talked to the tow captain to see how we should pass.  I could actually understand him.  Most of the captains talk so fast and with a heavy southern accent, I have a difficult time understanding what they say. 

 

The winds kicked up about 1:00.  I was concerned about weather since there was a huge cell on the radar that I'd seen this morning on the news.  We talked about getting XM weather for the Garmin chart-plotter.  Jerry looked it up and would run us over $500.  He then remembered we still had the GPS 496 that we'd used in the airplane and we had XM weather on it but cancelled the subscription.  Looked up options for marine weather.  We could reactivate for $30.  Much better deal for now.  Called XM and had weather in about 30 minutes.  Yeah!!



We anchored in Bashi Creek. Much deeper than last year.   Last year we tried to anchor here but the entrance was only about 3 feet deep. We need at least 4 feet.  The only problem was that the tree branches were pushing against the isinglass.  Jerry got his trusty sawsall and took care of most of the bigger branches. Used a bow and stern anchor to hold us close to the shore.

Capt. Jerry relaxing with an adult beverage after a 71 mile day.  This is a narrow anchorage, backing out to get back on the river.  Only PBS stations on the TV and they were iffy.  We watched Magic Mike, a movie Pearl loaned us.

1/11/13  Sunny and 65F this morning.  Can't believe the difference in temps but loving it. Easy cruising today.  No cell signal.  This is one of the dead spots we've experienced on the Tenn-Tom. 



This is Bobby's Fish Camp.  Just a small dock and the only place to get fuel and stay on a dock.  The only one between Demopolis and Mobile.  A 240 mile stretch.  I've seen pictures from other loopers with 8-12 boats rafted to this small dock.  There's a restaurant that serves fried catfish, supposedly the best around.  We've not stopped here but talked to Seasation, a 125 ft mega yacht that stopped here on it's way to Mobile.  They tied to the underside of the dock and also ran lines to shore.

 Wide open on this part of the river.

An Egret hanging out on a log in the water.  Jerry saw the first of many Cormorants.

Changed into short sleeved t-shirts and opened the forward hatch for a nice breeze through the cabin.  Coming into the creek leading to Old Lock #1, this pontoon/house was tied up.  Didn't see anyone around.

The water is way up in here.  Last year we went ashore.  This is where we found pecan trees in the park.  We stayed on the boat.  Jerry cleaned the engine strainers.  All the weeds we'd gone through he was sure we'd collected some.  Sure enough, he had a bucket full. 

1/12/13  We're off early today, 6:30.  As we come out of the creek from Old Lock #1 onto the Tenn-Tom, we hit fog.  It's 66F.  Thirty minutes in, we see T.H. Kelly tow on the chart plotter.  It looks like we'll meet him on a straight away, but soon realized we were seeing the tow not the barges in front of the tow.  We heard him before we saw him, kind of scary.  I had us over to the side and we were close. 

 Lots of hairpin curves in this part of the river. 

This log actually was large enough to show up on radar.  It was probably 16" diameter and about 30' long.

We passed a huge mill.  The sign said it was"Scott's Paper Mill".   Several small tows were moving barges around for unloading as we passed by.  Busy day for tows.  We met or passed at least 7 today.  Arrived at Big Bayou Canot planning to anchor.  It certainly didn't look as good as what the guide books said it would be so we moved on to our next choice. 

 Tensaw Cutoff lead to Briar Creek where we anchored for the night.  The shrimp boat was anchored at the entrance to the Creek. 

Things are starting to look more tropical around here.  It's only about 12 miles from downtown Mobile.  Really pretty spot to stop.  This turned out to be a long day, almost 10 hours on the water and 92 miles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 2012

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted anything.  Whirlwind times since we added the Gold burgee to Wind Song.  Our plan in October was to get a few doctor visits in, check on the house and beat feet back to the boat.  Big plans for the winter didn't happen as planned.  Be flexible is my motto.

Elizabeth was offered a job in Atlanta with Life Time Fitness.  They paid for the move and potential for bigger and better things to come.  She had to move before Thanksgiving so lots to happen.  We found lots to do getting the house ready to put on the market in the spring so it wasn't any trouble hanging around to help them get ready to move.  The movers came before Elizabeth had a chance to get them a rental.  But all worked out. 

One of the doctor visits was the dermatologist.  A spot on Jerry's nose turned into quite an ordeal.  It was what the doctor called "pre-melanoma".  Treatment was to remove it, which sounded reasonable but turned into lots more than expected.  It ended up being about the size of a half dollar and all skin layers were removed.  A plastic surgeon was called in to determine the best method to close.  A skin flap was the remedy.  A patch from Jerry's forehead was applied to his nose while still attached.  It was outpatient surgery.  Good things about the doctor from the nurses made me feel better about the whole thing.  This was before Thanksgiving. 

Even with the skin flap, we traveled to Santa Fe and Colorado Springs over Thanksgiving to see Trudy and Kendell.  So good to see eveyone.  Back home to get stiches out.  We scurried back to the boat to move it further south to Columbus MS.  Had to be back home before Christmas for one more surgery to remove the flap. 

The Eggers Ferry Bridge.  Our starting and ending place last year.  We probably won't see this bridge for a few years.

Beautiful sunset on Duck River.  We anchored here after a 68 mile run.

Cool house on the bluff.  12/2 we traveled about 58 miles anchoring at Swallow Bluff Island.

12/3/12 Left the anchorage this morning with the water glassy smooth.   Traveled 45 miles today arriving at Grand Harbor Marina.  Stayed here a couple of days.

Jerry tending the lines at Pickwick Lock

Each horizontal break in the lock wall equals 5 feet.  This was a 55 foot lift. 

This guy is hanging out on the front of this barge.  Moving lots of coal.

 

Moving again 12/6/12.  Rainy off and on so didn't leave the marina until about noon.  Traveled 38 miles stopping at Cotton Springs anchorage. 

 

12/7/12, Jerry called the lock before we left the anchorage.  Were able to get right through Jamie Whitten Lock.  An hour later we are through Montgomery Lock then another hour and through Rankin Lock.  By noon we are through 4 locks.  Only traveled 36 miles today.  Locks really slow our progress.  Fortunately we didn't have to wait long on any of them.  Anchored just before Wilkins Lock.

12/8/12 lots of junk in the water.  We're seeing Hydrilla only we didn't know that's what it was called until we asked at Columbus Marina.  Went through Wilkens lock, Amory Lock and Aberdeen Lock today. 

 Had fog for about 2 hours today.  Makes things interesting.  Pulled into Columbus Marina about 1:15. 









Jerry suspected clogged fuel sender on both tanks.  Started with starboard tanks this afternoon shortly after we pulled into the marina.  Had to move the sofas and pull up the carpet.  His feet are on the top of the engine.







Spent a few days here.  Rented a car to retrieve the BMW from KenLake.  Drove to Atlanta for a visit before Christmas.  Had to be back for the surgery.
 

This side was a pain.  Everything was blocking access.  This called for drastic measures.  Power tools of all shapes and sizes.  Sawsall, hole saws, drills and anything else we might have.  It was quite an ordeal.   But Jerry made it happen.  We now can tell how much fuel we have using the fuel gauge (cautiously).   

It's hard to see but about an inch at the tip of this rod is the clogged fuel sender

1/3/2013  We took a car trip to the Tom Bevill Visitor Center, the home of the 108 foot snagboat Montgomery.  Having seen this from the water last year, it was incredibly bigger up close. 

The Visitor Center was built in southern tradition.  It looks like an antebellum home but was built to resemble one.