Month: November 2017

Well, we are finally gettin’ ready for the big night – The Gulf of Mexico Crossing !

I was telling Jonell that this may be one of the most exciting & boring things we have ever done.
Exciting – because it’s CROSSING THE GULF OF MEXICO overnight !
Boring – Because it will likely be, 20 uneventful hours of plodding along at about 10mph

You may ask, why not go during the day, why not go faster than 10mph ?
1. It is about 200 miles from Carrabelle to Clearwater Florida.
2. At 10mph, we burn about 10 gallons/hour = 1 mpg = 200 gallons will be used
3. At 20 mph , we burn 30 gallons/hour = 0.66 mpg = 300 gallons will be used
4. Gettin’ Looped has two 150 gallon tanks , 300 gallons total.
5. You may recall that in spite of the 300 gallon capacity, that we did have an issue and ran the port tank empty going into Green Turtle Bay @ 256 total gallons used (the port engine is less efficient than the starboard engine).
6. Gettin’ Looped needs 17-18 mph to stay on plane, so we either go 10mph or 18mph, nothing in between & fuel burn is still near 30 gal/hr at 18mph.
7. Running the powertrain at 10mph / 1900rpm is 40% of it’s full rated duty cycle, running at 20mph/3400rpm is about 74% rated duty cycle. The slower speed is much less taxing on the powertrain.
8. Going slower at night is probably a better idea than going fast.

We will depart Carrabelle about 4:00 pm tonight/Thursday night – Nov 30
We will arrive in Clearwater about 12 noon tomorrow/Friday – Dec 1st
It is about 6 miles from Carrabelle to the mouth of the Gulf
It will take about 45 minutes to get to the mouth (due to no wake zones in Carrabelle)
We will have about 1 hour of daylight to get our sea legs before dusk
The trip will be 200 miles / 20 hours / mostly overnight.
We will arrive in Clearwater about 12 noon Friday.

We don’t leave earlier than 4pm, because we do not want to get near Clearwater too early in the morning, because there will be many off-shore crab pot nets to steer around.
If we hit a crab pot harness, it will tangle in the prop/output shaft of the boat and we will lose propulsion.
Heading southeast, if we arrive too early, we would get blinded by the sun rise off of the water, and not be able to see the markers for the crab pot nets.

Checklist – Are all systems ready = yes Done !
1. Lights –
– can we see the graphics on both chartplotters at night ?
– can we read the gauges backlighting ?
– do the NAV lights still work – needed to replace green NAV light bulb
– is the spot light charged ?
2. Are the Charts Programmed ?
3. Is the Fuel Topped off ?
4. Are the Heads Pumped Out ?
5. Did we Secure the Cabin of items which could fall/break ?
6. Tow Boat US 24-hour Dispatch Phone Number Ready = 800-391-4869
7. Nearest Coast Guard Stations to hail on VHF & their phone numbers if within range ?
Carrabelle = 850-697-9835
Clearwater Air Rescue = 727-535-1437
7. Emergency Distress VHF Radio Button Understood by All ?
8. Is the Dinghy Cover Removed for quick access ?
9. Is the Ditch Bag Ready with Personal Items ?
10. Are Reservations made at Clearwater ?
11. Is the final wind/wave report still good ?

I think we are ready !!!

If you wish to follow along, you can watch our GPS Track every hour by clicking on the following Link = https://share.garmin.com/GettinLooped2017

There are little dots recorded each time the GPS Tracker sends a mark.
You can click on the dot to see if we are still doing about 10mph.
If you see multiple dots in the same area, that means we have stopped moving (we intend to keep moving).

Friday – Nov 25
We left Panama City on Friday morning and traveled 65 miles to Appalachicola Florida. The ride down the GCICW was again a nice series of lakes connected via narrow canals.
After 4 months, we have now covered a significant portion of The Loop. If you have not yet used the GPS Tracker on the Welcome Page to see our location, here is a copy of our path & current location.

We arrived in Appalachicola, at Water Street Marina, about 2pm.
Appalachicola is one of the 2 ports the Loopers stay at, immediately prior to the Gulf Crossing.
Appalachicola is a town of about 2000 people, and seems to be a combination of ; active fishing town, tourist-hotels/inns/bed breakfast places, restaurants/bars/music clubs, knick-knack shops, art galleries, historic homes, & botanical gardens.
The town appears to have a lot to keep us occupied for a while.
And it appears that we may be stuck here for a while waiting for the next weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico – We need Low Wind & Low Waves for a 2 day period (more about this topic later).

After check-in at The Water Street Marina, I washed the boat (heavy salt water film making my shiny boat dull, yuck), and then we went for a walk to scope out the town. Friday was some king of big Christmas event day, the town was all decked out in Christmas attire. The streets were lined with luminaries. Santa made appearances on both a Fishing Boat & the local Fire Truck.

We ate dinner at the Tap Room Pub within the Owl Cafe. During dinner we met, and had a nice 30 minute conversation, with locals Michael & Carol Seibert.

Saturday – Nov 25
On Saturday, I went for an early morning bike ride to get a larger scope of the city. I was searching a dinner place for later in the evening, when we would welcome friends from metro Detroit; Dominic & Lara Ronzello.
I made dinner reservations at the Gibson Inn (more on this later).

The Ronzello’s arrived about 2pm; Dominic, Lara, Josephine, & Jamieson.
I met Dom way back at the Jeep/Truck- Plymouth Road Engineering Complex about 20 years ago when we worked on the 2008 Ram Heavy Duty Trucks.
Some of you may recall that prior to The Loop, we had a nice pre-trip party at Dom/Lara’s 5600 sqft house in Richmond Michigan.

Dom has a great family, and has two of the best behaved children we know. We originally got to know Josephine (Jo-Jo/Josie) & Jamieson about 4-5 years ago during a boat ride down the Detroit River in the ole Four Winns. Below are photos of the kids a few years ago vs current.

 

After some greetings on the aft deck of Getting’ Looped, we went for a walk around town visiting the knick-knack shops & art galleries.

 

After walking the shops in town, we returned back to the boat/hotel (the Ronzellos had a very nice suite at the Water Street Hotel, connected to the marina we are in). We cleaned up, and then went to dinner at the Gibson Inn, that I had made reservations at earlier in the morning.
The Gibson Inn is an example of the Florida “Cracker” Architecture. This was the style of wood frame structure used widely in the 19th and early 20th century in Florida. Characterized by metal roofs, raised floors, high ceilings, center hallways, and large wrap around porches. Built in 1907 of native heart pine and black cypress, the inn soon became known as a first class luxury hotel and was the only one between Pensacola and Jacksonville heated entirely by steam.
It is now listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places.
The Inn was decked out in Christmas colors & the dinner was great.

After the Gibson Inn, we visited a few pubs with low-key musicians , and played bag toss with the kids in the rear gardens of the club.
We ended the night with ice cream on Gettin’ Looped, and about 20 minutes of Tommy Boy (the humor is only apparent to me, Dom, and mutual pal Pat Gibbons).

Sunday – Nov 26
The Ronzellos were heading off to a week at Disney World, but we did have enough time for a breakfast @ Carolines on the River.

After the Ronzellos departed, Jonell & I went to one of the many historic houses in Appalachicola, a place called the Orman House.
Built in 1838 by Thomas Orman, this antebellum home overlooks the Apalachicola River, and was used for both business and social gatherings. Orman was a cotton merchant and businessman in Apalachicola from 1834 to the 1880s. He helped the tiny town become one of the Gulf Coast’s most important cotton exporting ports during the mid-19th century.

We then rode the bikes to the Botanical Gardens. A bit disappointing, there was a larger botanical assortment behind the pool at the hotel than in the Gardens with the big sign.

We also went to a memorial for the Vietnam War called The 3 Soldiers.

We ended the day with dinner @ Up the Creek restaurant.

Next Post / Coming Attractions
Now we sit and wait for “The Weather Window”, to cross the Gulf of Mexico.
The Gulf crossing will be about 175-200 miles.
Our plan is to cross from Appalachicola/Carabelle to Clearwater Florida.
The crossing will be done overnight at about 10mph, and take about 18-20 hours.
We need to wait for wave heights below 1.5 ft.
There is a guy within the AGLCA association (Eddy Johnsen) who volunteers his time and experience, to guide Loopers to when his weather metrics indicate that it is safe to cross.
Eddy sends out an Email to all the Loopers, every morning from November to February.
It is a thankless task (because if he is wrong everyone bitches), that all Loopers are greatful for.
Here is an example of the typical “Eddy’s Weather Wag” email that we get about 6am every morning.

Example – Thursday Nov 23rd
Gobble, Gobble Fellow Loopers!
Do not despair, for the dream is still alive!

Just when you think Mother Nature and King Neptune have conspired to make your life miserable, you catch a glimmer of hope.  I’m hopeful once again that the Friday-night / Saturday weather-window will open in time for those of you needing an overnight crossing.  If it doesn’t, just put up with leftover turkey for one more day and plan to cross on Saturday night instead!
                                                                                                                                
Go-Fast Loopers should have good sea conditions for a daylight-only crossing on Saturday.  
 
Brain Clutter:  Turkey Day!  There is no definitive proof that the bird we wait all year to eat was even offered to guests back in 1621.  However, they did indulge in other interesting foods like lobster, seal, and swan.     
                                                          
Be well, keep safe, and enjoy the journey!
Eddy J.
aboard Spiritus, Grand Banks 36 Classic

 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.
On Tuesday, we moved from Destin Florida to Panama City Florida.
The update from Panama City Florida (72 & Sunny today, while we were indoors watching our Lions lose).

Tuesday – Nov 21
The first interesting thing on the ride to Panama City was MORE DOLPHINS, right next to the boat, it was so cool.
Dolphin Video = https://youtu.be/rcv8ZS4lX3o

The second interesting thing on the ride was a section of the GCICW called The Narrows, over 10 miles of what appeared to be a man-made cut between Choctawhatchee Bay & West Bay. It looked very narrow on the charts, but was actually a very easy ride.

We arrived at St Andrews Marina in Panama City about 2pm, and were greeted with tie up help from locals Mike & Bill, very nice friendly guys.

The marina at St Andrews is a combination of pleasure boats & working fish boats. There is also a large gazebo with swings looking over the St Andrews Bay.

St Andrews Marina is also home to a historic boat, built in 1877, called The Governor Stone. 
The Governor Stone is a historic schooner, built in 1877 as a cargo freighter (140 years old), and is the oldest active vessel in the country. In December 1992, the schooner was designated a US National Historic Landmark. She has had several ports listed as her home port, but in 2014 was moved to its current home at the St. Andrews Marina. The vessel is maintained completely by a volunteer organization (Friends of the Governor Stone), and she sails or motors every month during several community events during the year.

We are in the Historic Panama City area, not in downtown Panama City. The area we are in, features a bunch of restaurants & bars, but also has a real nice little park area, complete with Christmas decorations. We went for a nice walk thru the park after dinner Tuesday night.

Wednesday – Nov 22
It was a somewhat dreary day. We spent most of the day doing boat work.
While working on the boat I heard a lot of sizzle/ticking/clicking noise from the inside bilge area of the hull. I thought ” crap what issue is happening – some electrical issue, a leak” ?
But I came to find out that it was due to a bunch of little 4-5″ sucker fish, sucking/cleaning the bottom of the hull of micro-organisms (Thanks Mike & Bill for the education).

We went to dinner at a nice restaurant called Uncle Ernie’s.
Mike had ; Shrimp + Andouille Sausage & Grits
Nellie had ; Shrimp Tacos

We went for an after dinner walk and finally found a place that made us think of our son Daniel (note- there have been no boats named Daniel on the trip so far, only Ashley). Here ya go Dan !
Love Ya

Thursday – Nov 23 (Happy Thanksgiving)
We spent the day ; watching the Parades on TV, watching our beloved Lions lose to the Vikings on the Biker Bar TV (only place open at 1pm) , making phone calls & texts, and went for a walk around Historic Panama City.

Below is the same park walked thru on Tuesday night. We were able to see a lot more during the day. The park featured, what is supposed to be the only 4-headed Palm Tree in the World !

We also walked around an area called Finn’s Little Village. It was closed on the holiday, but it is known for being a waterfront shopping and grub venue, where you can trade in the sun and sand, for shade and serenity.  Little Village has items from around the world and from local artists.  It looked like a cool place, we should have visited on the dreary Wednesday.

Tonight, for Thanksgiving dinner we will eat at The Thai Basil Restaurant, a Thai/Seafood place, & the only place open for dinner on the holiday night. Maybe we will have to eat a Duck with the Full Head, and sing “Deck the Halls with Bells of Horrie”

We depart early tomorrow for Appalachicola Florida, where we will do 2 significant things.
1. We will visit with my FCA pal Dominic Ronzello & family on Saturday, while they are in route to Disney World.
2. We will stage & get ready for our 170 mile crossing of the Gulf of Mexico (a 16-18 hour ride over night).

That’s all for now, hope you all had a great holiday.

Late Add = Christmas Park Video 
We just went for another walk in the local park, it was beautiful tonight.
It’s now officially legal to start to get pumped up for Christmas.
Especially a 70 degree Christmas with palm trees.

Click the link = https://youtu.be/JTrRFc3p9JM

 

 

 

Quick update today, we are only in Destin Florida for 1 day, on our way to Panama City for 3 days.

We left Pensacola to moderate wind/waves, but as Sailflow predicted the wind/waves smoothed out about an hour after we departed Pensacola. The ride down the ICW was very smooth, low-key, we only passed one other boat.

As we approached Fort Walton Florida we observed significant air traffic. This turned out to be from Eglin Air Force Base, just north of Fort Walton. There were several low flying military aircraft.
Aircraft Video  = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4TiefrDW2w

Between Fort Walton & Destin, we encountered a large school of dolphin. We saw over 10 dolphin within a 30 minute span. Hard to catch on video, but we did get some video.
Dolphin Video = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg6lKYR2-BQ
It was a very wild experience in real life to see the dolphins so close to the boat.

After arriving in Destin, we went for a walk with our pals Dennis/Dana from Pharm Life.
We walked from the Harbor Docks Marina to the downtown Destin boardwalk. We had afternoon drinks on the 3rd level of a waterfront pub (nice view of the harbor).

The boardwalk was lined with fishing charter boats. It appears that Tourism & Fishing Charters are a big part of Destin’s economy. The aftermath of the weekend fishing tournament was still evident.

We also saw a few late day fishing boats coming in, carting the bounty off to market.

On the walk back to our boat we saw a few funny things; an outboard engine which obviously had seen significant salt water action & a boat which made us think of our daughter Ashley.

 

 

Friday – Nov 17
On Friday we continued east on the GCICW (GULF Coast Inter Coastal Waterway) from The Wharf Marina in Orange Beach Alabama to The Santa Rosa Yacht Club in Pensacola Florida.

We arrived at Santa Rosa Yacht Club. It is a private club but does have 2 transient slips. You cannot reserve the slips, but harbor master Howard had assured me on Thursday that we could get in on Friday.
We chose Santa Rosa due to:  great ratings on Active Captain, the fact that it was just off the ICW, and the marina is centrally located between Pensacola Beach & Downtown Pensacola. There are other marinas on Pensacola Beach, but lots of warnings about shallow water.

Friday night we had dinner with our ole pals from Pharm Life (Dennis/Dana).
It had been over a month since we last saw them at Florence Harbor.
We had borrowed their DVD about Muscle Shoals and were finally able to return it to them.
Dennis & Dana were staying at a marina called Palafox in downtown Pensacola. As we arrived, Dana met us at the front gate, and while walking to their boat we watched the end of a fish cleaning task. Dana said that 1 hour prior to us arriving, the fish was a Tuna about as big as her (5ft long).

We took an Uber to their marina and walked to the downtown for dinner at a place called The Global Grill. I had a Cajun BBQ Shrimp Tapas & Nellie had a Potato Encrusted White Fish.

During our 30 minute walk from the marina to the restaurant, we were treated to a downtown festival complete with street bands, beer, many people, and CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS already !
The town was really alive.

Saturday – Nov 18
On Saturday, we rode bikes over the bridge from Santa Rosa Marina to Pensacola Beach, about a 2 mile ride.

We stopped at a place called the Casino Beach Bar/Grill.
Luckily for my finances, there was no casino for Nellie, just restaurants, bars, gift shops.
We had lunch, watched the Michigan Wolverines tease us with an attempted victory over undefeated Wisconsin (we lost 24-10), and laid out on the beach for several hours. The weather was 78f  but with intermittent clouds and lots of wind making it feel cool (not swimming weather yet).

On Saturday night we were a bit tuckered from the day at the beach, so we laid low, spoke with my sister Brenda (#2) and son Dan, had Domino’s pizza delivered, did laundry, AND SET OFF THE ALARM TO THE MARINA.

When we arrived and checked in, the marina gave us a key to the courtesy room & exercise rooms. The marina did not have cable TV at the slips, and we could only receive 1 channel with the air antenna. We were not really in the mood for the normal Netflicks (NCIS, Cheers, Mad Men), and did not really want to fire up a long movie, so we decided to go watch the cable TV in the courtesy room.

As soon as I unlocked & opened the door (about 8pm) a very LOUD alarm went off and would not time out and shut off. We were the only boaters around, the marina was empty of regular members and the harbor master office was closed. I attempted to call the harbor master using the after hours contact number, but there was no answer.
Shortly after attempting to contact the harbor master, I was in the courtesy room watching TV (Nellie was in the women’s shower room), the alarm was still going off outside, and A POLICE OFFICER ARRIVED.
I told him what happened, he did a check on my license, and asked to see the key that I used to open the courtesy room. But Jonell had the key in the women’s shower room. So me & the officer had to go beat on the women’s shower room door to get the key from Nellie. She was right in the middle of the shower, heard me yelling, put on a towel, and handed me the key through a slightly opened door.
The officer & I went back to the courtesy room, shut off the TV, used the key to lock the door, and he shut off the alarm. Afterward, the officer & I talked about boats, The Loop, his boat, Pensacola, metro Detroit, etc.
Unfortunately, I was a bit frazzled and did not remember to get a photo of the officer for the blog.
On Sunday morning we spoke to the harbor master, and he apologized for not setting the alarm bypass. He said that they get so few transients that he forgot to set the bypass.

The night was not over yet.
After going to bed about 11pm, We were awaken 3 times by the HILLACIOUS  40mph WINDS. We got up 2 times to re-snug lines, add an extra line, and reposition some bumpers. We got up 1 time just to go out again and watch all the boats exercise their docking lines to the fullest extent of their tensile strength. Many of the member boats were dancing much more than Gettin’ Looped. The water was loudly slapping up against the hull of the boat all night.
It was a very uncomfortable night.

Sunday – Nov 19
Sunday was a very laid back day. It was cool (high of 65f) and still windy.
We wrote the blog, watched Football & the NASCAR final race (congrat’s Martin Truex Jr, farewell Earnhardt Jr), and went to dinner at a place called Peg Leg Pete’s Oyster Bar on the Pensacola Beach side of the GCICW.

Peg Leg Pete’s owns and operates their own seafood market and fleet of fish/shrimp boats in Pensacola for an advertised daily fresh catch.  The ambiance of the place was great and the crowd was packed for a Sunday/school night (I thought most folks are supposed to be at home on Sunday night, gettin in their work mood) .
I had Grouper stuffed with crab meat, covered in some kind of white sauce.
Nellie had a combo plate with fried Grouper, Oysters, Shrimp, & Scallops.

 

Next stop = The Harbor Docks @ Destin Florida (1 nite) & 3 days at Panama City

 

 

Tuesday – Nov 14
We left Dog River in Mobile and did the Mobile Bay crossing.
We had heard from other Loopers how easily Mobile Bay could get whipped up into some high seas.
Our wind apps “Sailflow & Windy” predicted low wind days on Tuesday/Wednesday.
We were supposed to leave Mobile on Monday, but we delayed 1 day.

The 1-day delay was worth it, the ride across Mobile Bay was wonderful, the water was almost glass near shore & only 1 footers in the center of the bay.
We did encounter some fishing boats with their flock of birds following for the tasty overboard samples.

We also saw some large structures listed on the charts as “man-made reefs, by Exxon Corp”.
Here is an article about them = http://alreefs.com/resources/executive-summary.pdf

Now it was time for a memorable day for us, our entry into the GCICW (Gulf Coast Intercoastal Waterway), where we will now spend a lot of time cruising inside the protected covering just inside of the Gulf of Mexico. We were excited about this, but
our entry into the Gulf ICW was somewhat uneventful – No big signs saying “welcome Mike & Jonell”.

About 3 miles after entering the GCICW we passed a Looper Famous place, called LuLu’s Restaurant. All the Loopers stop here for lunch or dinner. We came back at night for dinner.
LuLu’s has a couple of distinctions from other waterway restaurants around here;
1) It is owned by Lucy Buffett, sister of Jimmy Buffett.
2) It was constructed and is operated as the first Green Restaurant on the Alabama Gulf Coast, using eco-friendly wind turbines for power, and grass fed beef & organic tomatoes on their “Cheese Burger in Paradise”
https://lulubuffett.com/gulf-shores/#/boards/lulu-s-gulf-shores-facebook-content

Down the ICW another 3-4 miles was our marina, The Wharf at Orange Beach.
After the somewhat rustic marinas we had stayed in over the last few weeks, the princess Jonell & I were happy to get back to a 5-star rated marina complete with restaurants, pubs, & shops all on-site.
As shown below, they also have some nice boats around these parts.

Wednesday – Nov 15 (Good Luck Deer Hunters)
On Wednesday, we swapped the props from the ones we have used the entire trip, and installed the spare set. We have had several underbody knocks/clunks during the trip, and as you recall we did have a slight grounding about 6 weeks ago. But about 5 days ago we had a clunk/knock from a submerged debris which resulted in a vibration and a buzz/humm in the rudders. Most folks driving the boat would never be able to tell there is anything wrong, but I could tell there was a difference from previous operation over the last 4 months.
We had heard good reports from our friends on the vessel Craic (Tim/Patti) of a diver who swapped their props without pulling the boat out of the water.
Diver “Danny Hand” arrived about 11am, and had both props changed and underbody inspected by about 12:30pm, for the cost of only $250. A haul-out in this area for our boat would be $400-600.
Let’s hope the prop swap works to eliminate the vibration. The props we installed were reported as “Good” by previous owner Dave Sylver Sr, so we did not have them scanned before install. We will get the removed props repaired while we are stationary for 1 month in Fort Myers Beach.

Later that afternoon, we washed the first batch of salt water off of the beautiful Gettin’ Looped. I am sure this will become a 3-4 times/week task in the upcoming months. The salt water leaves a very heavy film on the gelcoat.

We also sat out on the dock and watched boats go down the GCICW (Gulf Coast Inter-coastal Waterway) in front of us, and zip liners traveling between towers behind us.

On Wednesday night, we went to dinner at an Italian place called Villaggio, with very nice ambiance & average food taste.

Thursday – Nov 16
On Thursday we had an awesome fun day. We went to a Bar/Restaurant called “Flora-Bama” made famous by many singers/songwriters, but especially Kenny Chesney in the song by the same name,  “Flora-Bama”.
Kenny Chesney has also done at least 1 very large concert on the beach at the Flora-Bama !

Flora-Bama Kenny Chesney Video
https://youtu.be/kqzM7bP6aRY

The Flora-Bama Lounge, located in Perdido Key Florida, on the Alabama/Florida state line, is a honky-tonk, oyster bar, beach bar, and Gulf Coast cultural landmark, touted as being America’s “Last Great Roadhouse”.
The Flora-Bama takes its name from its location on the Florida-Alabama border line, the property does lie in both Alabama and Florida with the bar sitting right on the line.
Widely known as a place where “you can have a millionaire sitting next to a biker,” this unique make-up of bar patrons is one of the contributing factors to its large appeal and attraction.
The Flora-Bama first gained national attention when former Oakland Raiders and Alabama quarterback and NFL MVP Kenny Stabler referred to the Flora-Bama as “The best watering hole in the country”.

Much to our surprise when we arrived, we learned that this week was the once/year “2017 Frank Brown Music Festival”. 
The Frank Brown Songwriters’ Festival is the oldest festival of its kind, and has been referred to as the largest gathering of songwriters at one time anywhere in the world.
The festival is dedicated to the late Frank Brown, who was night watchman at the Flora-Bama for 28 years, and whose moral values, integrity and strength of character still endure. Mr. Frank, who was 91 years old when he retired, was featured on Paul Harvey’s syndicated radio show, “The Rest of the Story.” In recent years, the event has attracted more than 200 artists from around the world.

We had planned on staying at Flora-Bama for about 5 hours and listening to a little music, having lunch , and spending the afternoon on the beach (oh yea, Flora-Bama is right on the Gulf of Mexico).
We did stay 5 hours, but spent 4 of the 5 hours up in the stage section of the bar listening to all the great music, and only 1 hour on the beach.
The musicians were performing all their original music, it was all very good.
There was a new musician on stage about every 15 minutes, so we saw about 15-20 different acts. This was between 1-5pm, some folks we spoke to said it gets really good at the night time shows.

And the white sand on Perdido Beach was incredible – very white, very clean, & very soft.

It was a wonderful day !

Next stop = Pensacola Florida

 

 

There will be 3 posts from Mobile Alabama.
This is the second of the 3 posts from Mobile ;
1. The ride down the Mobile River into downtown Mobile
2. Our visit to the USS Alabama Memorial Park
3. Our visit to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab Estuarium

On Friday Nov 10th we had a very special day.
It was Veterans Day, and we celebrated the day with a trip to the USS Alabama Memorial Park.
The USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park is a military history park located on the western shore of Mobile Bay. It has a collection of notable aircraft and ships including the USS Alabama Battleship & and the USS Drum Submarine. The USS Alabama and USS Drum are both National Historic Landmarks.

During our visit, we were treated to the following :
1. The World War II-era battleship USS Alabama (BB-60).
2. The World War II era submarine USS Drum (SS-228).
3. Bombers and fighter planes ranging from a B-52 from the Vietnam War, a P-51 Mustang flown by the Tuskegee Airmen, & an A-12 spyplane.
5. A River Patrol Boat used in the Vietnam War.
6. Military equipment ranging from items such as a Skysweeper M51 anti-aircraft gun to a M4 Sherman tank.
7. A Redstone MRBM (medium range ballistic missile)

But on Veterans Day, we were also treated to some indoor ceremonies & an outdoor 4 person parachute jumping demonstration.
It was an awesome way to spend the holiday.

The USS Alabama Battleship
In May 1962, USS Alabama had been ordered scrapped along with her sister ships, USS South Dakota, USS Indiana, and USS Massachusetts. Citizens of the state of Alabama had formed the “USS Alabama Battleship Commission” to raise funds for the preservation of The Alabama as a memorial to the men and women who served in World War II. Alabama’s school children raised approximately $100,000 in nickels and dimes from lunch money and allowances to help the cause. The ship was awarded to the state on June 16, 1964. Alabama was then towed to her permanent berth at Mobile, Alabama, arriving in Mobile Bay on September 14, 1964 and opening as a museum ship on January 9, 1965. The USS Alabama was joined in 1969 by The USS Drum, a World War II Gato-class submarine.

The Alabama was commissioned in August 1942. She earned 9 Battle Stars & shot down 22 enemy planes. The crew was 127 Officers & 2200 enlisted men. She carried the following armament ;
* Nine 16″/45cal Guns which could propel a 2000lb missle 20 miles
* Three main Gun Turrets accurate to 21 miles
* Twenty 5″/38cal Guns
* Forty Eight 40mm Guns
* Fifty Two 20mm Guns

The USS Alabama also has history as being the warship that Cleveland Indian pitcher Bob Feller served his military obligation.

The USS Drum Submarine
The USS Drum was commissioned in November 1941.
Her crew was 7 officers & 65 enlisted men.
She earned 12 Battle Stars in WWII

Misc Planes, Tanks, River Boats, & Missle Launchers

The tour of the ships, planes, tanks, etc was really cool, but the best part of the day may have been the indoor ceremony celebrating Veterans Day. The ceremony had WWII veteran speakers, 4th grade student speeches, color guard flag marches, Cadet marches, music of patriotic songs, and the Pledge of Allegiance (click on the link below)

Pledge of Allegiance = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIJHwxYqkZo

The second best part of the day was for sure the 4 person Parachute Jump demonstration ,
Parachute Jumping = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29PjrKaY6Ac&t=14s

We followed the very fun day with dinner in downtown Mobile, on Dauphin street, a location lined with bars/restaurants/music clubs, and a New Orleans kind of look & feel.

It was a very fun filled day, and a perfect way to celebrate the holiday.

There will be 3 posts from Mobile Alabama.
This is the first of the 3 posts from Mobile ;
1. The ride down the Mobile River into downtown Mobile
2. Our visit to the USS Alabama Memorial Park
3. Our visit to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab Estuarium

The ride down the Mobile River, thru downtown Mobile Alabama, and into Mobile Bay was spectacular.
I will just let the pictures tell the story.
The 43ft Viking has never felt so small, vs the mega ships in the Mobile River.

As we exited the Mobile River, we turned into the Dog River, towards Dog River Marina.
We had about 45ft of water in the Mobile River.
As soon as we made the right turn into the Dog River inlet, the water depth was only 6 ft between the Red/Green day markers.

Later that night, we ate at the Mobile Yacht Club.
The special that day was Blackened Grouper.
It may have been the best Blackened Grouper (covered in secret sauce) that I have ever had.
I give a full 5 stars.
Jonell’s jumbo shrimp were also excellent.
We met the chef, he told us the Grouper is new fish / never frozen / every day.
I expect this will be a common update in future blog posts.

 

 

After leaving the historic Bobby’s Fish Camp, we continued down the Tenn-Tom/Black Warrior Rivers towards Mobile.
We were now traveling with Odyssey, Bucket List, and Rula Bula.
Our plan was to anchor 2 times between Bobby’s & Mobile (about 130 miles).
The two anchorages were called ;
1. Three Rivers Lake
2. Big Bayou Canot

Tuesday – Nov 7
The route down the Tenn-Tom/Black Warrior was highly twisted/contoured, and had a large area of marsh land that the rivers went through (see the green area in the 3rd photo below).

Our trip down river was led by Larry Kreissler (pronounced Chrysler, how about that). Larry is a Gold Looper and was one of the presenters at the Joe Wheeler AGLCA rendezvous we attended in October. He knows the lower Tenn-Tom very well.
Thanks to Larry’s knowledge of the river, we had an anchorage that we never would have found or attempted to enter on our own.
Larry led us to a place called Three Rivers Lake.
The entrance to the lake was so narrow & so littered with fallen trees, that if we were on our own, we would have never entered the canal leading to the Lake. In spite of what appeared to be a canal that would eventually run out of water, the depth remained 10-15ft during the 10 minute/ 0.1 mile ride into the lake. At the end of the canal, the exit opened up into a beautiful secluded lake only used by small fisherman boats. The depth in the lake was 15-20ft.
It was a spectacular afternoon & night
Thank you Larry !

Wednesday – Nov 8th
On Wednesday, we left the Three Rivers Lake anchorage and headed to a second anchorage called Big Bayou Canot. It was not as spectacular as Three Rivers, but it was a nice quiet place. We again had a 4 boat raft off and shared a Looper pot luck dinner on Bucket List.
* Nellie made meatballs
* Sue made home-made bread
* JoAnne brought a cheese/cracker tray & ham roll-ups
* The host Cindy made salad, soup, mild sausage, and cheese cake for dessert.
Doesn’t sound like much, but we were all full after dinner.
After dinner we moved from Bucket List to Gettin’ Looped and watched Mike’s Go-Pro video of Three Rivers Lake canal on the 47″ Samsung (we have the biggest TV and know how to hook it up to a computer).
It was a very fun night with our Looper pals telling stories and jokes, and picking Larry/Cindy’s brains about the upcoming trip into Mobile.

That’s it for now.
Next Blog Update = The trip into Mobile Bay !!

Oh, BTW – Just heard from Brenda & Kenny that it was 18f in Detroit this am.
It again reminded Jonell & I how lucky we are, and to stop complaining about 45-50f mornings. It was 69f and sunny today in Mobile.

We departed King Fisher Bay Marina in Demopolis Alabama on Monday morning.
We were hoping for a quick lockage at the Demopolis lock (2 miles from the marina), because we had about 100 miles to travel to get to Bobby’s Fish Camp.
I called the lock master at 6:30am and asked what the traffic looked like, he said ” nothin on the schedule, come on down”.
We made it to the lock at 7:15am (with 5 other boats) only to find out that there was now a southbound tow that had just called in. We had to wait for the tow to lock thru and by the time we got out of the lock it was now 9:30am.

The beauty of the 43 Viking, unlike most trawlers, is that we have speed when we need to use it. Of the 6 boats exiting the lock at 9:30am, we were the only boat to make it to Bobby’s before sunset.
We normally drive 10mph (ie , 100 miles = 10 hours).
On this day the Viking did 20mph for 4 hours (80 miles), and 10mph for 20 miles (2 hours).
We were at Bobby’s at 3:30pm !
It was important for us to get to Bobby’s early because there are only 4 dockage spots, then you have to raft off of other boats, and pay the same price whether docked with power or rafting while using your generator.
To our delight, when we arrived at Bobby’s, we were greeted by our very good friends Odyssey (Bud/Sue), Rula Bula (Mike/JoAnn), and Bucket List (Larry/Cindy). It could not have been more perfect, we did not know if we would be with “other Loopers” that we did knot know, but met up with some of our best pals.

Bobby’s Fish Camp is an iconic stop on the Loop. It is one of the “Must Stop” locations, much like Hoppies on the Mississippi.
It is really just a barge with fuel and power (no water, no showers, no toilets, no internet, no cell service). But it is the last fuel stop before Mobile.
Bobby’s Fish Camp is located on the Tombigbee River in the southwest part of Alabama. Bobby’s Fish Camp has been in operation for over half a century and is one of the oldest restaurants in southwest Alabama. Bobby E. Dahlberg built and opened the restaurant in 1956 to serve river traffic. He also built rental cabins on the river in the early 1960’s. The customers of Bobby’s Fish Camp were primarily local folks. In 1985, the Tenn-Tom Waterway opened which resulted in a significant increase with yacht traffic on the Tombigbee River. The yacht marinas at Demopolis, AL and Mobile, AL were nearly 240 miles apart and many yachts could not travel this far without refueling. At the request of the Demopolis Yacht Basin, Bobby Dahlberg installed a fueling station on the river at his Fish Camp which was about midway between the Demopolis and Mobile marinas. Bobby’s Fish Camp became the smallest marina of the Tenn-Tom Marina Association. In the years since the opening of the Tenn-Tom, yachts from all over the world have visited Bobby’s with some making it a routine stop.
Bobby’s Fish Camp has the reputation for serving some of the best fried catfish in southwest Alabama.  Additionally, visiting Bobby’s is like traveling back in time. The place is filled with all types of collectibles and artifacts. On the walls are pictures of old steamboats and places that no longer exist. Bobby Dahlberg operated Bobby’s Fish Camp from 1956 until his death in February 2010. It is now operated by his daughter, Lora Jane Dahlberg Mcllwain. The Fish Camp is open seven days a week for river traffic (boat fueling and docking, boat launches, ice, soft drinks, etc.) and to rent cabins and RV sites. The restaurant is open three nights each week (Thursday, Friday and Saturday).

It was a Monday night, but they opened the restaurant for us 4 Looper couples.
We had some fine catfish dinners at the restaurant.
The place is truly iconic for Loopers.

Oh BTW – we also saw more Monarch Butterflies.
Jonell says that we have seen a Monarch Butterfly EVERY DAY since we left Lake St Clair.
She says that they are Mo-Jan & Mo-Faye (our mothers) following us to keep us safe.
I’m not sure which one is in this photo, they take turns watching over us !