At Least There's a Spa

Day 2 at Panama City

Bombay Lady, along with her outstanding yet sodden crew, finally arrived in Panama City on Dec. 10. In case you forgot, which I did, we departed Mobile Bay went on to Pensacola (I always forget we went to Pensacola) then to Destin and finally to Panama City. We had intended to continue to Port St. Joe so that we would be well positioned for a Gulf Crossing when we came back after the holidays. Not to be. Ms. fate and her fog fairies had other plans. The good news bit is, however, that the Bay Point Marina is a fantastic facility complete with spa, well protected harbor, restaurants, great shopping nearby and did I mention a fabulous spa?

Day 4 at Panama City
After 4 days of on again, off again rain and fog, Captain John and I agreed that we would be better off leaving the Lady at Bay Point Marina and driving back to Ky. a few days earlier than planned.

We were excited to see our friends from Chattanooga also staying at the Marina and had dinner at a wonderful oyster bar. This will probably be the last blog until after the beginning of Jan. I thought it might be a good time to show a map of just where we plan to go on this 6,000 to 7,000 mile adventure. I know we will get around the loop eventually. We have planned on taking a few years to do it and at this rate that's a good thing. So here's the official loop map!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!

Gulf Intercoastal Waterway--Phase II

Sunset at Destin


When we entered Mobile Bay we embarked upon what Captain John and I consider a new phase of our trip. First we experienced the rivers and lakes, which we were use to navigating. Now we are navigating the large bays and" ditches "of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway.

We had a relatively uneventful trip from Mobile to Pensacola, although the Bay had a medium chop and we had a brief moment of (not actually being lost) disorientation. We improved our capability of reading coastal charts and look forward to learning even more when we actually get into the Gulf during the crossing in January. We were not sure how long we would be in Pensacola, but the morning of Dec. 7 was clear and promised, at least, a small window of weather opportunity for our short trip to Destin. Fortunately, Destin was a short trip, since the weather deterioated in the afternoon. Tuesday, Dec. 8 rained all day providing a good time to rent a car and drive back to Dog River to get my car. We took my car ahead to Panama City and secured a great slip there at Bay Point Marina. Now we will wait to see what the weather holds for us and when we can actually depart Destin. As I write this a dense fog keeps ebbing and flowing over the marina.


Our tree-a Wal-mart Special -ya gotta love Wal-mart

Great Blue Heron on Destin Sand Bar

Bye, Bye Mobile Bay

Thick Fog Coming into Bay

View From My Bedroom Window--He's Waiting Too!!

Bye, Bye Mobile Bay--not that we didn't like you or that we didn't have great fun--it's just 21 days--well!! To be fair though, we didn't get back to Mobile from our Thanksgiving break until Nov. 28. The guys at Dog River Marina still had more work to do on our boat. They didn't work over Thanksgiving break either. Imagine that!! The mechanics at Dog River are fantastic and we highly recommend their friendship and their work. We were there so long that I seriously considered buying into a business opportunity. Especially since I saw a corresponding opportunity just a block away for a certain Julie that we know and love! Well, neither Julie or I got a chance to make a final decision on the Mobile businesses, since the weather cleared and Captain John said "We're outta here!!

Fun & Friends

School of Sea Rays at Perdido Key & Marvin with other customer at fish market

Sunset at Perdido Key

Fort Morgan

Marvin and Barbara picked us up at Dog River Marina on Wed. Nov. 18. On the way to their condo in Perdido Key, we stopped for lunch and shopping at Fairhope, Alabama. Fairhope is a lovely, artsy community that suits me well and I would recommend that if anyone has an opportunity to stop, take it.

Their condo is fantastic, displaying lovely sunsets night after night. They squired us around to some of their favorite spots ,and introduced us to a WONDERFUL type of shrimp Royal Reds, which we ate and ate and ate!! We visited Fort Morgan, a pre- civil war fort built originally to protect the coast and later was used to fend off the North, during the war of Northern Aggression. It didn't have a successful run, however, but was interesting nonetheless. John and Marvin visited the National Museum of Naval Aviation one day, while Barbara and I walked the beach and lazed in the sun. Even though I have a close relationship and love of aviation, when beach and sun are available my priorities are clear. SUN WINS EVERYTIME! All and all we had a great time and really appreciate their friendship. They even drove us back to Kentucky!

Travel Stirs the Blood

BOBBY'S FISH CAMP--NEXT MORNING!!!

Getting a free ride on the floating tree . Lots of wood all the way down river.

We stayed at a beautiful anchorage Three Rivers Lake with three other looper boats. It was a great anchorage and highly recommended. "Travel not only stirs the blood...it also gives strength to the spirit" Kahn. This indeed is true. We are now in Mobile at Dog River Marina. Our friends from Smugglers Cove are picking us up tomorrow Wed. Nov. 18 to spend a few days with them at their condo on Orange Beach. We will then be going back to Ky for 3 days with Tansy and the kids. Captain John and I are planning on getting haircuts etc. We are getting a little fuzzy after 2 months on the water. I think a nice pedicure would also be in order! We'll then drive my car to Atlanta to see Cait and her boys then back to Mobile and tally ho! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Free At Last

Mobile Skyline

It's hard to describe the feeling of reaching Mobile Bay from the lower black warrior-tombigbee water way. Those of you who've done it may know the feeling, but I felt so free. No locks to hold us back. No shores to confine us. Everything is open and wide and the world is now available to us. Then again, it is wide and open and awesome with large ships and small markers that you often can't see pointing the way.

Large tanker on the Bay

Navy stealth ship due to take maiden voyage the following day!

But I shouild tell you about the trip down river first. We finally left Demopolis Friday, Nov. 13!! The day wasn't as bad as we were concerned it would be given the date. The dock owner and others were still recommending that folks wait a little longer given the flooding conditions,debris and current. But Captain John and I felt we could handle the situation since our boat has two cummins 370HP engines and we have eagle eyes due to swarovski binoculars. Even though we were held up due to fog, we made the lock through the Demopolis lock at a reasonable hour and were on our way. The current was very swift adding approximately 5MPH to our cruising speed. The amount of large trees going our way made it interesting and the lack of red and green buoys intriging. Were they misplaced or lurking under water ready to attack the first prop ? We met up with three other loopers and really had an almost pleasant trip. We made it to Bobby's Fish Camp by 2:00PM our preferred stop time. All our other partners anchored north of us. I had been hearing about Bobby's for the last two years and wanted to partake of the "best fried catfish ever" I did and it was!! More river trip to follow

BOBBY'S FISH CAMP

Sittin' at the Dock of the Bay

White Bluffs near Demopolis

Midway Marina--Fulton, Mississippi

Columbus, Mississippi

Interesting!!

Sittin' at the Dock of the Bay Waitin' for the wind to go away!! James Taylor might not like this new version of his song, but it's exactly what we have been doing for the last several days. The reason is Ida, the hurricane that hit the Gulf last night and is spreading rain and heavy wind up the lower Tombigbee where we are located.

We had a nice cruise down river from Grand Harbor Marina to Midway to Columbus in Mississippi along to Demopolis, Alabama. The town of Demopolis is very interesting and I have become VERY knowledgeable about it's history. The town was founded primarily by French supporters of Napoleon Bonaparte who fled France when he was defeated at Waterloo in 1817. They had planned to grow grapes and olives here but it didn't work and the history moves on from there. Lots of neat houses from the 1850's. The town is situated in the heart of the Black Belt, a wide band of fertile black soil stretching across central Alabama that is home to great cotton plantations and, therefore, a concentration of black slaves. With an economy based on slaves and cotton, Demopolis was a hub of support for secession from the Union. It is also located on two navigable rivers leading to Mobile and the Gulf of Mexico. It's very cool, but with the economy today it has been hard hit like many other small towns across America.

Captain John decided ( and I hardily agree) that we will stay here until the winds and rain calm down. We are not familiar with cruising in this kind of weather. I'm not even familiar with sitting in this kind of weather. The wind has been blowing since 9:00 pm last night and is still strong. Hurricanes unlike tornadoes last a long time with relentless wind and rain. Tornadoes seem to strike more quickly. Anyway I can finally catch up with the blog. As I stated previously ,if the sun's shining I WON'T BE BLOGGING!! Actually, I am getting quite tan and my bones are finally warm. We have a few more pics to send along so I'll do a couple of pages of those. Until next time!