October 15: Apalachicola - Oyster Capitol of the US!

One last push on Thursday to make the run to put us in position to cross the Gulf of Mexico.

The trip to Apalachicola was peaceful enough. A combination of relatively large bodies of water and rivers.

The most notable thing on shore was a huge freighter??? being built on shore. It would be interesting to see how exactly they get it in the water!

The dolphins are still with us - leading the way in the bow wave. I really missed seeing them once we were in fresh water in New York on the barge canal.

It was weird in that we saw more sunken boats along the river waterways than we've seen anywhere.

It was kind of strange as typically there may be one occasionally but that's about it.

I loved the one that a local osprey took over with it's huge nest in the mast!

After 65 miles it was late by the time we arrived at Apalachicola so we quickly made our way to our dock where we expected to stay for several days.

The non-stop travel gets tiring so both of us are ready to stay in one place for several days.

First thing Friday morning we of course were off for breakfast! Stopped at Caroline's - a restaurant attached to a motel. Very quaint - and VERY slow. We left.

And decided to seek out the place we went to 6 years ago. The ladies  running it (Dolores's Sweet Shop) at the time had to have been in their mid to late seventies - which at the time seemed way older than us but of course really weren't :-) Could they really still be there???

Not only were they still there but they were still serving breakfast and lunch M-F!! Perfect -except we couldn't come back on Saturday .... Not sure how old they are now ... but they are both going strong!

Much history in the area. The home of Dr. Chapman has been redone back to the period of the time but it wasn't open so we weren't able to tour it.

Steve found a really nice walk through an area that is typical of the riverside land areas.

Again quite interesting. For his history and that of Dr. John Gorrie who invented the first mechanical refrigeration, click here.

There are many historical homes here but sadly many are in a state of disrepair due to the tremendous cost of upkeep of these homes.











But the REAL attraction? The unique Apalachicola oysters which are found and harvested in the Apalachicola Bay. Fresh water from the combination of 3 rivers provide what are described as the ideal growing conditions. These three rivers provide 16 BILLION GALLONS PER DAY of fresh water ---- per DAY. Amazing.

And Steve wasted no time finding the place my brother said he could buy bulk oysters. 1/4 bushel (30 - 50 oysters) for $30.

Kept iced they will last for two weeks. I suspect they won't last anywhere near that long :-)

And if that wasn't enough we needed to try a place for lunch today that looked interesting.








Very good gumbo and fried oysters (I don't do raw oysters!).

Sunrises have been quite nice - except this is looking directly out of my little porthole where I sleep! Makes for sleeping in difficult :-)

The marina/hotel has been perfect here. More a hotel for sure than marina but it has everything we need.

The initial concern was that our satellite dish would not be able to "see over" the hotel but Steve solved that problem,

Put the dish on the flybridge canvas and move the boat back 3 feet in the slip. Perfect :-)

Every post is occupied by a brown pelican or a seagull. The empty one will be occupied shortly!


Something we haven't seen before: parking spots for Tesla cars! Two spots with electric plugs.

Sign of the future, I guess ......

Tomorrow: fuel up and head to Carrabelle - staging area for our trip to the other side of the Gulf. Shore. 35 miles so it will be a relaxing morning. Sadly Delores's Sweet Shop is not open :-(.

Wednesday October 12: Panama City, FL

Since leaving Fairhope on Sunday we continue to move east along the panhandle of Florida. Once off of Mobile Bay, we now are in the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway.

Travel is a combination of very protected waters and small and large sounds and bays.

Some areas of are very reminiscent of Georgia marshes.




We passed Lulu's - a restaurant turned tourist trap that was started and is still owned by Jimmy Buffets's sister. Passed it by this year - as we did last time.

We were probably more likely to stop at the next place: Tacky Jacks :-)




It was a 6 hour 45 mile day to a marina in Orange Beach - very good travel day but it is still quite warm by the time afternoon arrives. The marina here must have had 50 huge sportfish boats (an inlet to the Gulf is very close).

And it wasn't long on Monday before we finally arrived in Florida!! Getting closer to being back home :-)

Even though I'm really not quite sure where that is anymore :-)

The outer islands between the Gulf and the ICW are really wonderful. Beautiful white, white sand.

Definitely reminiscent of the Bahamas.









We also passed Fort Morgan - never knew anything about this fort. Kinda of like many of the other forts we've seen over the years :-) Seen one - seen them all!

But if you want to some info about the history of Fort Morgan, click here.


We found a nice anchorage in Santa Rosa Sound which again worked out great. Light wind from the east- no boats going by - perfect!



Plus a great sunrise (taken by Steve of course!).

Tuesday was another 6 hour 46 mile day to an anchorage in the Choctawhatchee Bay.

We're still passing along the barrier islands with their white sands and sand dunes.





Much of these barrier islands are a part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and as such are very natural with no tall condos or anything else. Other parts are government lands - not sure but think these must be Air Force areas.

Regardless this is a cool structure!!







And guess who's back? Our favorites - the dolphins!!!

The canal on the way to Panama City (where we are staying tonight) was very much like being on the rivers - easy travel, wind no issue - except the sides are all sand dunes!

Very enjoyable!











Tomorrow we head for Apalachicola and the land of oysters! Long day and we lose an hour as we reenter the eastern time zone. Steve has already set the clocks ahead :-)

Saturday October 8: Fairhope AL -South of Mobile

Our anchorage Thursday night on the river out of the channel worked out quite well. We did hear a tow in the middle of the night - amazing how noisy it was! Sounded like an airplane approaching. We both heard it but Steve was the one who got up and turned on more cabin lights. Just to make sure the tow captain saw us!

Shortly after we were up a northbound tow went by making us think we should check the AIS to see if maybe a southbound tow was headed our way.

Turns out there was one just 3 miles away and traveling at almost 8 mph! Which for us means it would be very difficult to pass on this curvy river - quick - get the anchors up ....

Ended up that the southbound tow was also headed to Mobile so it would have been a very frustrating day following it.

Every once in a while I would turn around to see if somehow it was catching up :-)

It was again a wonderful weather day. Kind of felt guilty knowing Matthew was kicking his way up the eastern seaboard and also knowing many of our Banana Bay friends were in harms way.

Most of the travel was along the tree lined Tombigbee River but occasionally a large plant of some sort would be along the bank.

We still continue to see many eagles along the way - so enjoyable to see!

It was another 7 hour travel day to the Tensas River anchorage we had picked out for the night. Wide river, easy to enter. No wind, little current. Again perfect - and a plus of no tows on this river.

However no one told us there was a bass fishing tournament that obviously started somewhere up the Tensas River. The first of the boats flew by us sometime around 6:45 or so. After the next 15 or 20 flew by we figured we might as well just get up .....

So we were off for the final 40 miles traveling the rivers. 1300 miles of river travel from Chicago - a long way to not have to really be concerned about the weather or dealing with waves that like to rearrange the inside of the boat!

It was actually cool enough that Steve put on his very comfy Big Bang Theory sweatshirt compliments of Becky :-)


It was about noon by the time we were just north of Mobile and ready to head through Mobile itself.



It's really surprising how much us going on at this port. Many ocean going ships being loaded and unloaded. Lots of cranes, what we think are Navy ships and a new Maritime Museum built in 2015.

Because we were not stopping in Mobile this time perhaps we'll see the museum sometime on a road trip. Very unique building though. Shaped like a ship which is certainly appropriate.

Once through the harbor we entered Mobile Bay - our first open water since Lake Michigan - two months ago!

And we had checked the NOAA website for the wave prediction :-) Tolerable but some beam seas but it was only 1 hour to our marina on the east shore of the bay.


We were in and plugged into power by 2 so it was a good day.

Sadly it was so rolly in the marina (and still is!) that our tv dish wouldn't keep a signal.

No football for me today :-(

Steve's solution (even after I said no way would it work!) was to put the dome on the cooler on the dock. Good job Steve!

Moving on tomorrow .....

Thursday, October 6: 97 Miles North of Mobile AL

We finally pulled out of Demopolis Wednesday morning - two weeks after we had arrived. It was a very productive time with the visit to San Diego and the work completed on the boat.

It was finally time to continue the journey south. The alarm rang at 6 am as we planned a 70 mile day - but we were foiled by the lock which was just 15 minutes down the river. Seems there was a southbound tow that was just entering the lock.

'Be here at 7:30' is what the lockmaster indicated. So off we went at 7:15.

The white egrets greeted us on the lock wall as we entered. We continue to see both the white egrets and blue herons along the waterway. So fun to see!

This dam is somewhat unique as the whole dam has water flowing over the top and then cascading over the rocks along the river. It was a very interesting waterfall area!

It was another perfect day on the water and we both commented that it was great to be back on the water and moving again. Guess we can stand to be stationary for only so long!

Bald eagles continue to show up on a regular basis - flying overhead and occasionally sitting on the bank.

White egrets along the bank

Finally about 4 pm we pulled into Bashi Creek - our anchorage for the night. Very nice - about seven feet deep and narrow enough that we had to put a rear anchor out so we didn't end up swinging into shore.

Looking out toward the river, we knew we were safe from any tows going by!

Thursday morning we were in no hurry as it was going to be a shorter day - 51 miles - through our last lock of the trip and an anchorage at the original 'Lock 1' on the Tombigbee River - just a short 100 miles north of Mobile.

We saw a tow headed north. Mmm .... maybe we better check the AIS to see if there are any southbound tows. It's just way easier to get ahead of a tow going our direction rather than try to pass them. It can take 15 minutes to pass a 9 barge tow that is moving at 6 mph - and that's with us at almost full throttle! None within 10 miles - time for breakfast.

We are again reminded that it is a good thing that we continue to move south - definitely time when the leaves are falling on the flybridge!

The Tombigbee is a crazy river this far south! 

The actual straight line distance, for example, from Demopolis to Bashi Creek is 38 miles. 

But it takes 70 miles by river! It was sometimes hard to determine where the tows on the river actually were. Really crazy!

Coffeeville Lock!!! Finally the VERY LAST lock of our trip! 

I should know how many - I'm thinking it's like 120 locks on the Great Loop - but a small number compared to all of the locks we've been through in the past years!

There was a huge dredging operation below the lock which I thought was poorly marked with conflicting buoys. Apparently I was headed toward a large rock but the guys on the dredging started waving us away. Still hard to determine exactly where I was supposed to go .....

Finally we arrived at our anchorage - same place we stayed last time around - the old original first lock on the Tombigbee.

Only this year we couldn't get in! Less than 20 feet into the entrance we were aground - in soft mud so no issue just backing off.

Backup plan? Mmm ... wasn't one. So Steve checked Active Captain and found what was technically an 'anchorage' but was really just a spot off of the channel - behind a bouy making the edge of a sandbar.

Ok by us - with our anchor lite and cabin light on, we expected to be safe from any tows going by! Besides they use a very strong spotlight when they move at night. Will let you know how it went :-)