Author: Mike & Jonell Murphree

Good evening blog followers,

As you see in the title, we are still at Fort Myers Beach Florida, and will be here until Dec 30th.

This week we had a special visit, and long-awaited reunion with our children Ashley & Daniel.
Ashley arrived from California with 1st mate/boyfriend Dave Lyman, late (10pm)Thursday night Dec 21st.
Dan arrived from Michigan with 1st mate/fiancée Megan Durrant, very late (2am) on Friday night.

The kids spent the nights at a hotel on the south side of Estero Island named the Outrigger Beach Hotel, and spent the days with us at the Pink Shell Resort and aboard Gettin’ Looped.
The two location sleeping plan was based on the fact that 6 people aboard Gettin’ Looped for 1 full week would be gettin’ a little to snug & the room rates at the Pink Shell were $350-400 /night.

I will now warn the blog readers that this post may be a little bit boring, unless you are into Murphree family photos.

Thursday – Dec 21
Dave & Ashley arrived about 10pm after a long day of  cheap connecting flights from Oakland California (but hey, it was on Southwest, not Spirit).
We met them at the Outrigger & bed time occurred shortly after their arrival.

Friday – Dec 22
On Friday, Dave & Ashley took the Uber from the Outrigger Hotel to the Pink Shell.
We started their day with the Pink Shell Resort Tour.
We had Brunch at the Pink Shell pool-side restaurant Bongos, and then spent most of the day at the beach.
I was again reminded of the exuberance/energy of youth, and our daughters gymnastics background was actively on display.

We finished the night with dinner & music at the Times Square / Beachside restaurant Pete’s Time Out.
Ashley & Dave went back to the Outrigger Hotel about 10pm, and welcomed Dan & Megan about 2am.
Nellie & I had a full nights sleep aboard Gettin’ Looped.

Saturday – Dec 16
The kids joined us Saturday morning at the Pink Shell Resort for a late breakfast at the wonderful (and expensive) Jack’s Breakfast Buffet.
We spent the day at the beach, and were joined by Dan’s friend, and soon to be groomsman Paul Colandra, who was visiting his dad in nearby Naples.

The Murphree Kids were also on display at the Pink Shell Resort Pool Side Hula Hoop Contest, which was won by Ashley =
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be0gU1hn8MQ

Later that night we had dinner at one of our favorite places Nervous Nellies, on the Fort Myers beach Inter Coastal Waterway. Dan & Megan had to try out the famous Nervous Nellies Chair (do they look nervous ?).

After dinner, we came back to the Pink Shell Fire Pit

Sunday – Dec 17
On Sunday we spent most of the day at a highly competitive Putt-Putt Golf Tournament. The order of finish was = Dan, Mike, Megan, Ashley, Dave, and Nervous Nellie.

Later that night we ate dinner at the Yucatan, a jungle/island themed restaurant.

Monday – Dec 18
On Monday we had several events;
1. We received the repaired 4-Blade props reworked by Coastal Props Technologies.
2. We repaired the cabin door on the SS Gettin’ Looped.
3. We went for a fun ride in the dinghy to have lunch at a place called Doc Fords, another waterfront restaurant/bar on the ICW.
4. We had Pizza & music at a place called Mantanzas On the Bay.

The props turned out to not be so bad, they were reported as a Class-2 initial scan, and reconditioned to a Class-1 level. This matches what I felt while driving, the vibration was not bad but had changed when we hit some submerged object about 3 weeks ago. Coastal Prop Co is a highly technical place with laser scans & high speed balance. They provide a very nice summary report of the condition of the props before/after repair. This is the first time I have ever received such a report. Hopefully the reconditioned props will fix our minor vibration issue.

 

The cabin entry door mechanism had been deteriorating in operation since we left Michigan. A few days ago the mechanism failed completely (ie rotating the handle did not open the door). The failure was internal to the mechanism, not just a stripped shaft. Luckily I was able to find an exact replacement on-line.
During the swap, I discovered that the latch side of the door had been worked on at an earlier date, and had an oversized fastener with a plastic anchor in the upper attachment. During dis-assembly the plastic anchor broke into pieces. The latch plate had always had a non-flush fit to the door due to the plastic anchor, so we decided to repair the door with a fiberglass repair kit. The fiberglass repair kit was given to me by Ashley’s man Dave Lyman last Christmas, and this Christmas HE got to use it. I am somewhat handy at repairs. Dave is very handy, so I took advantage of the free help.

After all the work was done, it was time for some fun.
We spent the rest of the day on a dinghy ride & had lunch at Doc Fords Restaurant/Bar (Nita & Rich, you may recall this place).

For dinner, we had Pizza at Mantanzas On the Bay, another ICW located place.

Tuesday – Dec 19
On Tuesday, Jonell took Megan to the local hair salon where we treated her to a hair job for her recent birthday on Dec 12th. Her goal was to have a blonde streaked style.

Later in the day we spent most of the day at the beach (85f & sunny every day of their trip).

At late afternoon, we all walked to dinner along the beach, about a 1 mile walk.
During the walk, Dan and I took a few minutes to make some sand/beach art.

We went to dinner at the Lani-Kai so the kids could get some sunset views from Swing Chairs recommended by blog follower Chuck Wolfe. The swing chairs have only 4 seats, so the kids sat together, and mom/dad had some private time at their own table (just inside the indoor area seperated by a glass window, right next to the kids. We could see them thru the glass window but not hear them, what an option !

Ashley & Dave spent the nite on Gettin’ Looped on Tuesday night.
Dan & Megan had the room at the Outrigger to themselves.

Ash/Dave & Mike/Jonell played a game called “Cards Against Humanity”, a card game given to us by Ashley as a Christmas present.
It was a very fun game, but some topics/words made me think – should we really be playing this game with our daughter (the word – queefing) ?

After Cards Against Humanity, we did the annual mandatory viewing of “Christmas Vacation”.

Wednesday – Dec 20
Wednesday morning we had breakfast at a place that Google said was the Best Breakfast Restaurant in Fort Myers Beach.
The advertisements were well deserved – the food & service were great, the setting was an outside patio with a pond full of big turtles, and we were entertained by a local bird seeking his own breakfast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqhCkEtNXU

During the afternoon we went for a long walk from the beach to the boat, around the north pointe of Estero Island. The path got very tight at points and we had to go knee high in the water to make it around large bushes. We also encountered more wildlife during the walk.

Later Wednesday night we had dinner at a Jazz Club called The Roadhouse.
The jazz band was great and featured a Sinatra like male singer and a Billie Holiday like white female singer.

Thursday – Dec 21
Thursday was a sad day, in that we had to say farewell to Ashley & Dave.
Dave/Ashley had a 9am flight, me & Jonell used Dan’s Fiat 500 to take them to the airport.

The remainder of the day was spent having fun on Daniel & Megan’s last day at FMB.

Megan & Dan went on a Parasailing ride.
There was a shuttle boat which picked them up at the Pink Shell Resort, but the actual parasailing was done very far south down the beach, we could not see them or get photos of them in the air. It was the first time parasailing for both Dan & Megan. They both said is was a great experience & very quiet floating up in the air.

Next on the agenda was bowling (requested ALL WEEK by Dan).
We all 4 bowled only 1 game due to the very high $30 cost for our foursome.
The night was filled with controversy as Mike eaked out a 2 point victory (165 vs 163), under protest from Dan.
Dan may have some comments to follow after this blog post.

After bowling, we ate dinner & listened to a musician at a Times Square restaurant called La Ola Surfside.

We ended the night back on Gettin’ Looped, with a Murphree Christmas tradition of watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” (usually done at the end of Christmas day, but watched earlier this year due to departure dates).

It was a great week, it was great to see the kids again, and sad to see them depart.

Ashley & Dave will spend the Christmas Holiday in California with Dave’s family.

Dan & Megan will split time in Michigan between the Murphree, Silorey, and Durrant families.

Mike & Nellie will spend the Christmas Holiday on the beach with 2 Corona Bottles & our toes in the sand !

Blog Followers,

We are still in Fort Myers Beach, and will be until the end of the month. So the posts between now & then will be related to all the company we have had & will have in Fort Myers Beach.

You may recall from the last post that we spent a week with Jonell’s cousin Anita & husband Rich.

Yesterday we had a very special visit from Dave & Michele Sylver, the couple we purchased the boat from, and the couple who basically helped us initiate all the sequence of events that led to us challenging ourselves with this adventure called America’s Great Loop.

Many of you know this story, but many of you do not.
Here is the sequence of events that happened between us & Dave & Michele Sylver.
I will apologize up front that it is a long story, but a good one.

1. Dave & Michele’s son David Jr. works at Chrysler.

2. Sometime in the fall of 2013, David Jr joined the Aerothermal group that I was working in at FCA. On his first day with us, at his first staff meeting, David over-heard one of my co-workers talking about Murph’s big boat trip (at that time still only a dream for me).

3. David Jr said –  ” you are going on The Great Loop ?”

4. I said – “How do you know about The Great Loop”

5. Dave said – ” my parents are going on The Great Loop next year”

6. I said – “I gotta meet your parents”

7. Ten days later , Jonell & I met Dave Sr & Michele for dinner at the Tin Fish in St Clair Shores. We arrived about 7pm and left about midnight. We totally hit it off with them on the first meeting.

8. One of the significant events of our first meeting was that Dave/Michele said, “If you are serious about The Loop, you should join AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association).

9. We joined AGLCA that fall/winter of 2013.

10. In July 2014, Dave & Michele left Lake St Clair on their adventure.

11. Jonell & I followed their blog, much like you all are following ours.

12. In October of 2014, Jonell & I met Dave/Michele at one of the annual events put on by AGLCA called the Fall Rendezvous. You may recall from one of my previous posts this October that the Rendezvous is a week-long series of classes, intended to help future loopers and active loopers learn from folks who have already completed the loop.
Jonell & I attended as “Looper Dreamers/Planners”, Dave/Michele were there as “Active Loopers”.

13. During the Rendezvous, there are a few nights called Looper Crawls, where future loopers are invited onto the boats of the folks actively doing the loop. That was the first time we had seen our current 43 Viking, then known as the motor vessel “Just Us”. Even on our first introduction to the boat, we lusted after it but never had a discussion of purchase because the Sylver’s had owned it for 20 years and had no intentions of ever selling it.

14. At the end of the week-long Rendezvous in 2014, as we were preparing to say goodbye, Michele said ” our next stop is in Florence Alabama only 30 miles down the river, why don’t you come with us to see what it’s like and take a taxi back to your car”.

15. We did go the 30 miles with them to Florence Alabama, and went thru 2 locks (note-the same locks that Kenny/Carla went thru with us this year).

16. On the drive back to Michigan after the Rendezvous, Jonell & I said to each other “I think that we can do this”. I had previously thought that the loop was only for rich people. There were rich people there and they had the nicer boats, but there was also every walk of life, all ages, and all types of vessels.

17. In Feb of 2015, I was on the AGLCA website looking at boats, and I saw an ad which said “are you thinking about looping, come on our boat for a week and see what it’s like”. So me & Jonell called Richard & Katherine Cope who were actively doing the loop in a boat called “Cat in the Hat” , a 43 foot Hatteras.

18. After a few conference calls with them, we ended up meeting Richard & Kat in July of 2015, and spent one week one their boat on the beautiful Trent Severn Waterway in Canada just northwest of Toronto. We went thru over 30 locks during that one week. We shared Marina & Fuel expenses for the week. Richard & Kat’s motive for the ride/training was in their attempt to find a potential buyer for Cat in the Hat, after their loop was complete.

19. During the week while traveling on the Trent Severn Waterway with Richard & Kat, one of the stops we made was in Peterborough Ontario. While we were docked for the night, we met several loopers in progress during a dinner with about 16 people. Two of the 16 people we met were DAVE & MICHELE SYLVER.

20. It was a great reunion with Dave/Michele, we were able to catch up on their adventure. During that night, Dave pulled me off to the side and said “hey I know you are looking to potentially purchase the Hatteras, but when me/Michele get done with the loop we have decided to sell our house, sell the 43 Viking, and buy a 50 foot Viking that we are going to live on”
Dave then said the magic words – ARE YOU INTERESTED IN PURCHASING THE VIKING ?

21. I answered ” He_ _ yes ! ”
As I said above, Jonell & I had lusted after that boat the very first time we saw it.

22. Dave/Michele completed their trip in August of 2015, and by October of 2015 Mike & Jonell had signed the purchase agreement & were the new owners of a 43 Viking previously known as “Just Us” and now currently known as “Gettin’ Looped”

Dave & Michele have been our Great Loop God-Parents from the beginning, and special thanks to their son, and my worker pal David Jr for gettin’ the sequence of events started.

Good Evening Gettin’ Looped blog followers,

You may recall from the last post that Jonell’s cousin Anita & husband Rich Cook spent the week with us. They live in Clarkston Michigan, and in addition to being Nellie’s cousin, are good Lake St Clair boater pals of ours.
It was nice to have visitors again, and we had quite the active week

Tuesday – Dec 5th (Sunny & 83f)
As we said in the last post, we treated Rich & Anita to 3 stops along the ICW (Clearwater, Sarasota, & Pelican Bay @ Cayo Costa) in route to our home for December, Fort Myers Beach.

We arrived at The Pink Shell Resort & Marina on Estero Island in Fort Myers Beach, about 3-4pm on Tuesday. After getting tied up and hooking up electric & water, we went to the harbor masters office to get signed in.
Assistant harbor master Craig gave us the low-down on the resort & 4 wrist bands for access to all the facilities at the resort.
The Pink Shell Resort is right on the Gulf of Mexico, and the marina behind the resort is right on the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway).
The resort features ; 6 buildings, 3 restaurants, 3 pools, a fitness center, a spa, and has their own section of beach on the Gulf of Mexico with complimentary chairs/lounges, and umbrellas.

Shortly after checking in with Craig, we toured the grounds, had some drinks and a swim at the main pool, and spent a few hours on our new beach. The complex is expansive and was all decorated up for Christmas. There is a major large tree trunk in the middle of the main lobby. The sand on the beach is very soft and is grated every morning in front of the Pink Shell Resort.

After gettin to know the complex a little, we came back to the boat and took some showers to clean up for the night ahead.
Later that night we went into the Times Square area of Fort Myers Beach, an area with a lot of restaurants, bars, gift shops.
We had dinner and were entertained with live music at a low-key outdoor place called Pete’s Time Out.
We then walked around the Times Square area and looked at Christmas decorations.
It was quite the full day, for our first day in Fort Myers Beach.

Wed – Dec 6th (Sunny & 84f)
After crossing the Gulf & 3 days of ICW travel, Gettin’ Looped was filthy with a salt water film, dulling her normally shiny surface.
We started the day with Mike & Rich washing the boat and Nellie & Anita doing some window shopping at Times Square.

After washing Gettin’ Looped, we all got on our swim suits and went on the longest dinghy adventure that I have ever been on (18 miles). When we checked in at the marina office, we asked what should we not miss while in Fort Myers. One of the answers was ” Lovers Key Beach” , supposedly one of the top 10 beaches in the world. Jonell & I thought we had been there a couple years ago, but were not sure. The beach was about 9 miles away, at the very south tip of Estero Island & north tip of Bonita Springs. We could have taken the Trolley, but chose to take the dinghy.
Due to the boat traffic and no wake zones on the ICW, it was about a 90 minute ride one way.
We went past many restaurants, marinas, hotels, nice homes, and a mooring field of boats. We did not get many photos because the phones were safely tucked away in the dry bag (thanks Kenny). We did however get this photo.

We also got a photo which makes all boaters sad, time to contact Boat US insurance, potential remnant hurricane damage ??

Well, after 9 miles & 90 minutes, we finally made it to Lover’s Key. Jonell & I now remembered that we were not so impressed the first time, and our impression did not change this time. Not sure what the big draw is to this beach. Our beach in front of the Pink Shell was cleaner, softer, and whiter sand.
Lover’s Key is more remote, but there were still a lot of people there.

We returned from Lover’s Key, got some fuel in the dinghy along the way, took some pre dinner showers, and later met Looper pals Derek & Laurie from vessel Donna Mae.
We went to dinner at one of our favorites places from a few years ago, introduced to us by Royal Oak neighbors Al & Roberta –  Nervous Nellies.
Nervous Nellies is right on the ICW, has a nice marina, and has live music.

 

 

Thu – Dec 7th (Sunny & 83f)
We started the day with breakfast at the Pink Shell restaurant “Jacks”.
Jacks has a VERY LARGE buffet that Rich & Anita took advantage of, while the little bird eaters Mike & Nellie had coffee.

After breakfast, Thursday became BEACH DAY.
We spent the day on the Pink Shell Beach.
Like I mentioned before – the beach is very clean, has soft white sand, and is maintained every day with a tractor and sand grating fence. If you are early enough – you can create the virgin footprints for that day.
Jonell & Anita went ahead of Mike/Rich and got a set of 4 loungers & umbrella set up with the assistance of the Pink Shell beach attendants. You are allowed to take your own coolers out on the beach if you wish to, but you can also order drinks/food via the Pink Shell attendants on the 4-wheeler carts. We did take our own beverages, but did order lunch from the cart girl. To order food/drinks, you simply raise a flag located on a post near the lounge chairs.

Later during the day Rich made a Christmas postcard to send to his buddies in Detroit.

We also went for a long walk on the beach. Rich found a dead horse-shoe crab washed up on the beach.

Later that afternoon, we went to the south side of Estero Island, to watch the sunset at a place called The Lani-Kai Swing Chairs (Thx Chuck Wolfe). The Lani-Kai is a pretty rough college kid beach hotel, but the swing chairs on the rooftop are cool. We had some drinks & appetizers, and waited for the sunset that was ultimately uneventful due to clouds.

After the Lani-Kai, we went to a place on the ICW called Mantanzas on the Bay, and had great pizza and listened to a good female acoustic guitar musician.

Fri – Dec 8th (Sunny & 83f)
On Friday during the day, Jonell & Anita went shopping at Times Square.
Mike & Rich killed time at the Blowfish Bar within the Pier Side Grill.

After gift shopping, we returned to the Pink Shell and had POOL DAY.
We spent the day at the more quiet, adult pool.
Rich made a little friend, anybody need auto insurance, I think Rich’s friend has an accent too.

During the evening, we visited the Edison/Ford Winter Estate Complex, a well know tourist area in Fort Myers City, along the Caloosahatchee River . We went on a 90 minute guided tour of the grounds, and listened to all the history and looked at all the Christmas decorations.
The story has it that Henry Ford was enamored by Thomas Edison, who was about 20 years older. After they became friends, Henry Ford purchased a winter estate right next door to Thomas Edison. The tour walked us thru both of the side by side winter vacation homes built in 1886 (Edison) & 1915 (Ford) . Edison and Ford were also pals with big wigs Harvey Firestone & John Burroughs. Evidently they were hunting/fishing buddies and went on trips together for about a 10 year period. The 4 of them were know as the “Vagabonds” . There was a very cool photo of the 4 of them together, in the museum.

The tour of the 2 Estates was also very cool.

The Edison Winter Home

The Ford Winter Home

After touring the Edison/Ford Winter Estates, we went into downtown Fort Myers and had dinner at a Tex-Mex place called Los Cabos Cantina.
After dinner, we walked around downtown Fort Myers, watched a street band, and then had nite-cap drinks at a rooftop bar called “The Firestone Sky Bar”

The crowd at the Sky Bar was quite the diverse group of ages, and was a very lively group. We captured some video to share with you. The stars of the video are; excellent dancer “joey bag of doughnuts” , cigar lighting sam. and the Murphree’s & Cooks.
Sky Bar Video = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkKKdVJ3ETo

 

Sat – Dec 9th (Boooo = Rainy & 65f)
Saturday was get away day for Rich & Anita, but their flight was not until night time.
The weather sucked Saturday, but we were thankful for an awesome weather week during their visit.
We occupied most the day with ; Breakfast @ Jacks & a Liquid Lunch at a place called Dock Fords on the east side of the ICW (Linda Spragg & Lauri Scheller, you may remember gettin’ looped at this place).

After Dock Fords, we returned to Bongos for the tearful bye-bye drinks.
The fun week was over, I think I need a new liver.

The next post will not be for over a week.
Our children Ashley & Dan will be coming in later this week on Dec 14/15, and staying for about a week.
Ashley & boyfriend Dave will fly in on the 14th (Dan’s birthday).
Dan & fiancée Megan will arrive by car on the 15th.
The kids will spend the days with us at the Pink Shell, and will spend the nights at a hotel on the south side of Estero Island – The Outrigger Beach Resort !
We love our kids, but 43 feet of fiberglass is not enough room for a weeks visit, and the rooms at the Pink Shell are very expensive.

Sat – Dec 2nd
After our long 20 hour Gulf Crossing & only 2 hours sleep in over 30 hours, we crashed early Friday night.
Friday night was also the annual Euchre Girls & 1st Mates Christmas Party, sponsored every year by my sister Brenda in Madison Heights Michigan. It was a bitter-sweet night because we love that party but were too exhausted to even call in to the very lively crowd back home.
We also were resting up for the early Saturday morning arrival of Jonell’s cousin Anita Cook & 1st Mate Rich Cook.
Anita & Rich arrived about 10am Saturday morning (the morning after we arrived in Clearwater from the Gulf Crossing), so we welcomed them with the normal Gettin’ Looped welcome toast.

Shortly after their arrival, we used their rental car to do some quick grocery shopping, then returned the car to Hertz. They drove from Fort Myers to Clearwater to meet us. The original plan was to meet in Fort Myers, but we had to revise the plan due to our 5 day delayed Gulf Crossing, waiting for a good weather window.
All worked out well because now Rich & Anita could experience 3 travel legs of the Loop with us; Clearwater to Sarasota, Sarasota to Pelican Bay, and Pelican Bay to Fort Myers Beach.

After returning the car, we did what we do with all northern visitors on their 1st day of vacation – we spent some time on the Clearwater Beach & ate lunch at Frenchy’s Beach Cafe.

After spending the day at Clearwater Beach, we got cleaned up & spent the night in downtown Clearwater where they were having a Christmas street festival (seems like a familiar story in several cities). We walked the streets for a while and ate dinner at a place  called the Clear Sky restaurant, recommended to us by locals in the boat next door.

Sun – Dec 3rd
On Sunday, we had an early 7am start due to the 65 mile day from Clearwater to Sarasota Florida. The day would be long because on the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) there are many no-wake sections within cities where you can only do idle speed. We traveled from Clearwater to Tampa, St Pete, Bradenton, & finally Sarasota.

This was Rich & Anita’s first experience on the ICW.

During the ride we saw many nice homes and lots of DOLPHINS right next to the boat (more on this later).

We arrived at Sarasota about 4pm, at Marina Jacks Harbor. As shown in the photos below, Marina Jacks is a VERY NICE marina with lots of nice big boats, party boats, bars, restaurants, and complete with Christmas decorations. I’m not sure how , but we were assigned a slip in the front row next to the restaurant & all the big boys. (100 ft+)

Shortly after arriving, we were greeted by Looper pals Steel Away (Shaun & Cindy). We had not seen them since Clifton Tennessee. We found out shortly after, that Shaun & Cindy live in Clarkston Michigan, the same city as Rich & Anita. So our guests Rich/Anita hit it off very well with Shaun/Cindy.

After getting settled and having some drinks on the boat with Shaun & Cindy, we all went to dinner at a very cool outdoor Tiki-Bar restaurant named O’Leary’s – Cocktails in Paradise. The restaurant was located on the Marina Jacks harbor water, with all tables being picnic tables in the sand surrounded by Tiki Torches, accompanied with live music. It was a spectacular setting. We all ate dinner with our “toes in the sand”.

Mon – Dec 4th
On Monday, we traveled from the beautiful 5-star Marina Jacks in Sarasota (we would have liked to stay longer) to a 5-star anchorage called Pelican Bay @ Cayo Costa Island State Park.

The trip would take us from Sarasota thru Venice, Englewood, & Boca Grande to the island of Cayo Costa.
The island is a remote state park that you can only get to by ferry-boat. There is only camping – no hotels, bars, etc.
The island provides coverage of the ICW from the Gulf and is just south of Boca Grande.

We decided to have 1 night at anchor, to give Anita/Rich another different taste of the Great Loop life.

The day was a very normal low-key travel day, with more pretty homes and a lot more DOLPHINS right next to the boat (more on this later).

The entrance to Pelican Bay had a short 500ft section which had only 4.5 feet of water as we entered at medium tide. After entering the bay we had 8.0 feet of water where we anchored. There were about 10 other boats anchored in the bay with us.

The setting at Pelican Bay was quiet/serene and we had another very nice sunset & sunrise. We cooked NY Strip steaks on the grill for dinner, it was a very good night.

Tue – Dec 5th
Tuesday was  a big day for us, it was the day that we would travel from Pelican Bay to Fort Myers Beach, our upcoming home for the month of December.

We were very excited to depart, but we had to wait until about 11am for the tide to come back up. When we awoke, we had only 6 feet under the boat, in the same place we had 8 feet the night before. Recall that the entrance/exit to Pelican bay had only 4.5 feet when we came in, we draft 3’/9″ .
It would be 11 am before the tide came back up enough to depart.

Our ride from Pelican Bay to the Pink Shell Marina in Fort Myers Beach was a short 30 mile ride. The ride was again filled with lot of DOLPHINS right next to the boat.

We had lots of suggestions that our arrival at the Pink Shell Marina should be at Slack Tide (the neutral unstressed water period between high tide & low tide, where the current flow is minimal). Pink Shell is located at a very narrow section of the ICW at the north tip of Estero Island. The narrow section combined with tide changes can produce high currents and make docking difficult. Due to our delayed departure, we ended up arriving about 3pm, almost at high tide. In spite of the rumors, docking stern-in was relatively easy and went off without excitement. The next morning as the low tide ebbed out, the current was ripping.
More on the Pink Shell Resort & Marina in the next post.

Ok, did I mention that we had seen a lot of DOLPHINS right next to the boat.
We saw ;
Baby dolphins jumping, doing little jumps.
Dolphins looking up at us in the boat.
Dolphins doing barrel rolls next to the boat.
Dolphins swimming upside down next to the boat.

It was as if the dolphins thought that Gettin’ Looped was one of their playmates.
Check out these awesome video clips, it is somewhat difficult to capture all the cool stuff at the right time (thanks Rich Cook) !
Rich, Anita, & Jonell tell me that the videos don’t really do justice to how cool it was.
Note – Captain Mike kept his eye on the narrow ICW markers.

#1. https://youtu.be/EVBGKHuQXyw
#2. https://youtu.be/gaOtH3vE94E

After the dolphin fun during the day, Anita did some dolphin research.
Did you know ;
1. There are 40 species of dolphins in the waters of the world. Most live in shallow areas of tropical and temperate oceans, and five species live in rivers.
2. Dolphins are carnivores. Fish, squid and crustaceans are included in their list of prey. A 260-pound dolphin eats about 33 pounds of fish a day.
3. Known for their playful behavior, dolphins are highly intelligent. They are as smart as apes, and the evolution of their larger brains is surprisingly similar to humans.
4. Dolphins are part of the family of whales that includes orcas and pilot whales. Killer whales are actually dolphins.
5. Dolphins are very social, living in groups that hunt and even play together. Large pods of dolphins can have 1,000 members or more.
6. Depending on the species, gestation takes nine to 17 months. After birth, dolphins are surprisingly maternal. They have been observed nestling and cuddling their young.
7. A dolphin calf nurses for up to two years. Calves stay with the mothers anywhere from three to eight years.
8. Dolphins have acute eyesight both in and out of the water. They hear frequencies 10 times the upper limit of adult humans. Their sense of touch is well-developed, but they have no sense of smell.
9. Dolphins have few natural enemies. Humans are their main threat. Pollution, fishing and hunting mean some dolphin species have an uncertain future. In 2006, the Yangtze River dolphin was named functionally extinct.
10. Because dolphins are mammals, they need to come to the surface of the water to breathe. Unlike land mammals that breathe and eat through their mouths, dolphins have separate holes for each task. Dolphins eat through their mouths and breathe through their blowholes. This prevents the dolphin from sucking up water into the lungs when hunting, reducing the risk of drowning.

Next Post = Our Home for December, Pink Shell Resort & Marina in Fort Myers Beach.

 

Hey blog followers,

Sorry for the delayed follow-up to the Gulf Crossing note from Thursday night.

It has been a world-wind weekend.
After crossing the Gulf Thursday night/Friday morning, we were exhausted, crashed Friday night, and Saturday morning welcomed Jonell’s cousin Anita Cook & husband Rich from Clarkston Michigan onto the SS Gettin’ Looped. In addition to being Jonell’s cousin, Rich & Anita are among the group of our local boater pals from metro Detroit. They arrived Saturday morning and will spend the week with us as we travel to Fort Myers Beach.

I want to start by thanking all of you who either made a comment on the blog, or sent an email, sent a text, or called before we crossed the Gulf of Mexico & tracked our progress while crossing !
The best part of the Great Loop Trip has been knowing that all of our friends & family are watching over us.

Here is our Summary of the Gulf of Mexico Crossing

Emotions
Serenity – the quietness of hearing only the sound of the motors & boat wake
Dolphins – following us out of Carrabelle & welcoming us into Clearwater
Sunset – Spectacular (see attached pics)
Moon Light / Stars – We had clear skies until about 3am, the moon lit up the water nicely
Moon Set – Very nice, not as cool as the Sunset
Darkness – Eerie feeling after the clouds covered the moon, very dark
Isolation – Only saw 2 vessels during the entire Gulf crossing, 1 Tow/Barge (10pm) & 1 Fishing boat (2am).
Sunrise – As sweet as the Sunset, wild cloud formations (see attached pics)
Almost There – the euphoria of the tall buildings entering Clearwater after 20 hours.
Achievement – Accomplishing something that we had spent many nights thinking about.

At about 3am in the morning, in very dark conditions, with only the noise of the motors & wake , while Jonell was sleeping – I had almost a euphoric feeling and felt as alive as I have ever felt in my life.

Stats
Left Carrabelle 4pm
Arrived @ Clearwater  & tied up by 12 noon
20 hours
180 miles
8-9 mph
141 gallons fuel (very low for Gettin’ Looped, pretty efficient at 8-9mph, 1.25mpg )
Only two,  1-hour sleep sessions each for Jonell & I

Videos (go for the ride, click on Links in red)
1. Video #1 “Leaving Carrabelle” – Cancelled, not much info, cutting room floor !
2. Red Can #2 Entry into the Gulf of Mexico = https://youtu.be/KrKXjX8UMxA
2. Sunset = https://youtu.be/u5b2fevVqfE
3. 10pm Bow Ride  = https://youtu.be/oY-BTGKMEGE
4. Midnight – Aft Deck = https://youtu.be/I7TPm1GhrOU
5. 7am Sunrise = https://youtu.be/RRT4WhhT7Kk

Photos

Chartplotters

Sunset

Moon

Sunrise

Crab Pot Nets – we were told they were a big deal, but they were not really a big deal for us, we had to steer around about 25 nets. They can be a little difficult to see with sun glare. You don’t want the line in your props.

Entering Clearwater

Our GPS Tracker Path – I love looking at this !

We landed in Clearwater Florida on Friday afternoon about 12 noon, we have since traveled to Sarasota with Jonell’s cousin Anita Cook & 1st mate Rich from Clarkston Michigan. Rich & Anita will be with us for the week, traveling from Clearwater to Sarasota to TBD to Fort Myers Beach. We will then bed down for December at the Pink Shell Marina Resort in Fort Myers Beach – more to come on the next post.

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