On a boat, always have a plan, never have a schedule. Schedules are dangerous. Living on a boat you are at Nature's mercy, and you don't want to go against Mother Nature - she can get nasty. If the weather is bad, you need to stay put. Some places you can only enter or exit at certain times because of tides. When you have a schedule, you sometimes go or stay when you shouldn't.
We have a weather window for the crossing of the Gulf of Mexico coming up that we don't want to miss. We need to manage the weather conditions on the ICW to make it to our jump-off point near Carrabelle in time for the window.
Well, now was the time to plan. We were on the south coast of the United States, about to travel along the Florida panhandle. We can do this trip on the intracoastal waterway (ICW) as far as Carrabelle in a semi-protected environment. The ICW is a series of barrier islands about 1 to 3 miles offshore that offer a travel route that is separated from the main ocean swells. The Army Corps of Engineers has constructed a series of canals between these islands and the shore, and so it is possible to travel in somewhat protected conditions. You are still subject to winds, but don't get the big ocean waves.
After Carrabelle, in order to continue south, it is necessary to cross the Gulf of Mexico. There are two ways to do this, you can cross direct from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs, a straight-line distance of about 129 nautical miles (239 km). In our boat, this means an overnight crossing. The alternative is to "go around", which allows you to travel closer to the shore. There is one open-water crossing required for this route, but it is short enough to be able to do it during the day. Whichever route you choose, it is necessary to use a weather window to go across, since you have to travel in the open ocean. Our boats are not built for the really big water, and neither are we, and so we need calmer conditions to cross safely.
The hurricanes that went through Florida earlier this fall damaged some of the ports along the "go around" route, which means that if we decided to take that route, we would have a series of longer crossings, requiring a series of weather windows to do. This route would also require anchoring in some exposed areas, because many marinas are still not open yet. The AGLCA website provides a weather window "service" to help loopers find a weather window. Usually this service lists conditions for both crossings, but this year they are only posting weather information for the straight-run crossing.
So, we decided to plan for the "straight-run". On the 17th of November, the AGLCA website posted a possible crossing window opening up on the 25th or 26th, giving us 9 days to make it to the jump-off point to take advantage of it.
So, now we had a schedule. :(
The first task was to plan our run to the jump-off point, as we were not going to be the only loopers looking to take advantage of the window. Everyone would be concentrating in marinas near the jump-off point, so we had to start now to make reservations. To add to the fun, bad weather was forecast for the next 4 days, which would mean that we would be hunkered down for a few days, making for long travel days instead of short hops once we get moving. Just to be clear however, we are not going to try to push our luck to make this window. If we miss it there will be other windows, so we really don't have a schedule, but it would be nice to get into this window as there have not been many this season with all the hurricane activity.
During our transit to the jump-off point we will be planning our crossing. This has to be timed so that we reach an offshore navigation buoy off Tarpon Springs around 10:00 in the morning. This timing is important since this is a crabbing area, and we need the light to be able to spot the crab pot buoys so we don't foul our propeller. It is important not to arrive too early, as you don't want the sun in your eyes when you run this gauntlet. Given our boat speed, we will leave in the later afternoon the day before, travel through the night, arrive at the buoy in the morning, transit the crab pot minefield, and get set in a slip or anchorage for the night. We will likely be travelling in a convoy of other looper boats since others will be using the same weather window. We are happy about this, as there is safety in numbers. We will be filing a float-plan with some relatives so that they will know where to send search-and-rescue if we become seriously overdue.
OK, with the background info out of the way, our first task was to rough-out our trip to Carrabelle. We had to take into account weather and tides to come up with something workable. We also tried to keep the various hops as short as possible, so that we did not get into grind mode. With our plan roughed out, Melanie and Louise set about organizing reservations for the various marinas we were planning to stay at.
Back on iFloat, Louise had gotten some take-out key lime pie at Lulu's the night before, and had left it on the laundry rack overnight. When she opened it in the morning, she found ants. You may remember that we first found ants on the boat at Aqua Yacht marina on Pickwick lake. Well, we put out some ant traps around the galley, but after two weeks we still were finding ants every day. Those ant traps had been purchased at a dollar store, so this time we went to Home depot to get some more. These new traps we set out when we got to Dog River in Mobile. It has only been a couple of days with the new traps, so we will see but it is now obvious that we have an ant colony somewhere on the boat.
Louise removed the pie from the boat and set it on the dock near iFloat intending to drop it in the garbage on her way to the shower. When she lifted up the bag she found a cockroach underneath. This had come from the dock and not from the boat, but we need to stay vigilant.
With all this done, we untied the lines and trundled 5 km down the ICW to our next marina, where we had made a longer-term reservation. About a week ago we had some Amazon stuff sent to this marina, and needed to stop here to pick it up. There was some heavy-duty rain and wind coming in a day or two, and although expensive, this would be a good place to stay and hide out from the rain. This place was in a high-end resort, and the prices of everything reflected that. There was a small shopping mall nearby with high end stores, yacht brokerages, even a skating rink. We wandered around for a bit, then went out to dinner with some looper friends of Jewel's. Steve and Donna, the crew of L'Attitude Adjustment, had buddy boated with Jewel from New York to Blind River and they had a nice reunion together. Steve had lots of interesting stories about loop experiences.
And, they loaned us their car!
Christmas lights at the mall here.
Selfie on the ferris wheel.
Santa fish!
The next morning the first thing to do was check the weather, and surprise surprise, our weather window for the crossing had closed. Not so nice, but the forecast was still a week out and likely to change. We decided to stick with our plan in case the window re-opened. After breakfast with the crew of Jewel, we set off to pick up our new water maker. We wanted to have the ability to make our own water when we are in the Bahamas, so we are not tied to a location, nor limited in how much water we use. With that done, we drove along the island to look at the beaches at Orange beach. Conditions were pretty gnarley, and the beaches were closed, but Louise took a walk along the beach to check it out.
Nice beach and huge resorts, but the conditions were not nice this day.
Another view of the beach. After the heavy rain we had the day before, a cold front came through with high winds. Big waves and breezy.
We then went to Pensacola, with the intent to visit the Naval museum on the airbase there. Unfortunately, we could not do this as the base required ID in order to enter. We only had our driver's licenses with us, and since we were not U.S. citizens, they required our passports. Easy come easy go.
Plan B was to drive to Fairhope, as other loopers had told us that this was a nice town to visit. When we got there, all we found was a bunch of high-end clothing shops in the downtown area, not quite our thing. We walked around for a bit, then headed back to the boat.
Rich needed to stop at Hone Depot to pick up some things for his boat, and when we pulled into the parking lot, we saw a big restaurant called Lambert's Cafe. The portions were huge, and they have people coming around giving you extra food, including rolls. When they give you a roll, they throw it to you! I had ordered milk to drink, which came in a huge mug. When the roll-throwing guy came by, he made a point of my drinking the milk.
This is the entrance to Lambert's. Restaurants here like lots of old stuff as decor. Each one has its own special spin on the old times.
The roll-throwing guy made sure I drank my milk. He noticed I was not using the straw, so helped me to drink the milk the right way. This will help me to grow up to have healthy teeth and bones!
The drinks at Lambert's were quart-sized!
This heron hung around the boats on our dock. Each night when we came back to the boat, he would scare the crap out of us. He would sit very still, so he was hard to see, then all of a sudden fly away while emitting a squawk that was positively prehistoric. Was like being in Jurassic Park.
The next day we had heavy rain all day, so Rich and I took care of various chores and projects in the bilges, while Louise and Melanie went for a drive so Melanie could visit a chiropractor - the closest one that would take her at short notice was in Pensacola, an hour drive away. We went out for supper with Steve and Donna of l'Attitude Adjustment and Evan and Mike of Strummin' Along. After dinner, we went to Flora-Bama, which is a huge complex of bars on the Florida-Alabama state line. We watched a show done by a guy who sang songs and told raunchy jokes in-between. He picked on Melanie and Louise as part of the show. After the show we got to meet him.
Flora-Bama is a complex of inter-connected bars on the beach at the Florida-Alabama border.
The ladies got to go onstage to meet Big Earl. He does a musical/comedy show, and has been working here for 30 years. Steve and Donna knew him, so the ladies got to meet him after the show.
They had strung clotheslines in front of one of the stages here and it was full of bras. Each one signed, I assume by the donor and recipient.
There was a wall of license plates outside. Each had been cut up to extract some letters or numbers, which were placed on a few of the walls with secret messages.
Our last day at Orange beach was spent doing chores and generally getting ready for our trip up the panhandle. We used the car the last time to get some provisions, and Rich and Melanie got their Amazon stuff from the marina. We also met with Mike and Pam from Thyme Away to co-ordinate for our early morning departure the next day. We have three or four long travel days to reach Carrabelle in time for our Gulf crossing window. Stay tuned!
Boat name of the day: Sir Reel
