Our first day out, we got off the dock as soon as it was bright enough to see, which was about 20 minutes before sunrise. Some other boats had the same idea, so we formed a convoy with Jewel, Thyme Away, Flying Colours and Stulie. We all left the Wharf at Orange Beach together to stage in Apalachicola and then cross the Gulf of Mexico.
The first part of the trip was through a well protected part of the ICW and was really easy. We even had some dolphins swimming around and following our boats. They were easy to see in front of us, but we could not get any photos as each time I saw some, Louise did not have her camera ready. We continued on through narrow portions of the ICW on a ride very much like doing the Rideau canal back home. Then we got to Pensacola.
Along the way we passed a spectacular beach, bright white sand dunes. It was at the edge of an Air Force installation of some kind. They had a bunch of unmarked buildings with strange-looking antennas and a big observation tower of some kind. Later in the day, Stulie and Jewel reported some loud "booms" so we thought that the jets were flying super-sonic nearby.
This area opened out into a large bay about 10 km wide. Winds were from the north, and since we were at the south end of the bay, we got to enjoy the fruits of the fetch. We had 1 - 2 foot waves on the beam making for a very rough ride. We were rolling pretty good, and had to hold on if we needed to move around, and especially if we didn't want to move around. About half way across the bay, I saw a bunch of dolphins headed towards our boat. Louise saw them also, and tried to go out to the stern to get some photos. At the same time she moved, we got hit by a larger wave and the boat rolled more than usual. Louise tripped over a bucket that we store our shoes in at the same time the boat was doing this hard roll. Well, she landed pretty hard on the deck. I was worried she had broken something, but she was intact except for her toe. She was wearing sandals and smacked her toe pretty good in the fall.
Louise had to put ice on her toe while we were underway. This had the added benefit of preventing her from injuring anything else if she scrambled to get dolphin photos. Chris on Stulie radioed later that they saw dolphins swimming towards us, but told us they were far away so Louise didn't need to rush to see them. lol.
She sat down and got some ice on her foot, and after a while the pain subsided, but she smacked it pretty good. Initially we were afraid she had broken it, but upon closer inspection she just bruised it really good.
A bad case of Dolphin Toe.
Keep the ice on that toe.
Eventually we came to another group of dolphins, this time they even surfed in our wake. Louise managed to get her phone set up to record a video of them, and thought she got them doing several "hops" in our stern wake. She was pretty pissed when she went to look at the video and found that she had the phone on the wrong setting and had just taken a single photo of empty ocean. So, these dolphins are like Big Foot or Sasquatch or Mr. Snuffleupagus. Every time you try to take their photo they disappear.
The wind was blowing pretty hard when we got to the marina. They gave us all instructions to come to the gas dock to get directions to our slip (we were a group of 4 boats). We were first in and the wind was something else when we got there. We got directions to the slip, and then had to play tricks to get off the gas dock. The wind was blowing perpendicular to the gas dock, and pinning us to the dock, so I had to ease the boat forward over the end of the dock and use a piling as a lever. The pile held the midships of the boat in place while the wind blew the bow over enough so I could then reverse out of the gas dock. I got on the radio to warn the other boats not to go to the gas dock unless they needed gas.
When we got to our slip, we found a small, short slip at the end of a fairway, with the wind blowing directly behind us. Backing into the slip was impossible for us in these conditions, so I went in bow first, again using a piling to hold us in place. It took us about 40 minutes to get the boat tied up as the wind was directly on our beam, and we did not fit into the slip. After some vector analysis, we finally got set in. The dock hand apologized for the tie up, but we thought he had done a great job to get us set.
There was a strong wind blowing perpendicular to our boat, and we were in a short slip. Had to use lots of leverage to hold us in place. To add to the fun, it was cold! There were frost warnings in the morning, and the temperature was about 12 degrees C when we arrived. Brrrrrr.
It was so cold our dink experienced shrinkage.
It turned out that everyone else had also difficulty docking and we were all stressed out after getting set in, so we went for dinner at a Mexican place nearby. We have found that these restaurants are super-tasty and super-cheap.
The next morning Mike came over to help us out of the slip. The wind had subsided a lot, but was still there and we were at the end of a fairway so did not have a lot of maneuvering room. Once we untied, Mike walked our bow out, making sure our anchor did not hit the pilings, while the wind blew our stern over to the side. As soon as our bow was clear, we were able to turn into the wind and get out of the fairway between the docks. Worked really well, and we were on our way.
The ride started out smooth, but then got pretty sporty when we came out of the lee in the bay. We rode for about 1 1/2 hours in 2 foot waves on our beam. In this kind of sea, you cannot move around without holding onto something, so we do not move unless we REALLY need to. We keep Eevee's litter box under the helm, and from time-to-time she uses it when we are underway. Well, today she used it and missed. So, during the roughest part of the passage I was standing in cat pee. I could not wipe it up, as it was a bit too rough to move around and I also had to handle the boat manually (the autopilot does not work well in heavy waves). We were pretty happy when we made it to different section of the bay and got calmer conditions. I could set the autopilot and clean up the mess. Ah, glamorous boating life! Eventually we entered a canal section that was narrow and protected, so the rest of the trip was nice and smooth.
Eevee's litter box is under the helm. After she missed the box, I had to stand in cat pee until conditions smoothed out enough to clean it up.
The wind held our looper flag perpendicular to the boat. The wind was strong enough that the flag was more-or-less straight all the time.
Mike from Thyme Away seems to know people from everywhere. He had a friend who flew a Canadian flag as we passed. The guy had a really nice house.
When we got to the marina in Ocean City, they again told us to tie to the gas dock for instructions before going to our slip. They offered us a captain to help if we wanted it - like a valet services for boats. The winds had calmed a lot by that time, so we declined and had no issue getting into the slip. We had to go in bow first again, as the docks were very high and we would only be able to get off at the front of the boat.
After getting set up, Louise called ahead to our next marina and found out they did not have fuel available, so we decided to get filled up as this would be our last chance before the crossing. This required us to untie and trundle over to the gas dock, fuel up and go back to our slip. Extra docking practice.
We had dinner with Rich and Melanie, and after dinner the crew of Stulie came over for dessert. We had a great time visiting with them and swapping looper stories. They told us they had a game of the top-three questions that loopers ask. Number one was "what's that noise?"
The last day's travel was fairly long, but very pleasant. There was no wind, and we had no waves either. The only drama that happened was when Thyme Away had a problem with his steering. After working the wheel a bit, the problem seemed to resolve, so hopefully just an air bubble in the system.
Louise spent some time on the bow trying to get dolphin photos. When no dolphins showed up, she took a selfie instead. When we are outside and underway on the ocean, we wear life jackets and use our headsets to keep track of each other.
Any spray we got on the boat dries to form salt deposits. When you walk outside, if you brush up against anything, you get salt on your clothes. Very much like what happens in winter if you happen to brush your coat against your car. Here you can see the salt encrusted on the windshield.
Just as we were about to get to the end of our journey to Apalachicola, we managed to get a short video of a dolphin in front of the boat. We have seen them surfing our stern wake, but have never managed to get a photo or video of it. We cannot see the bow from the lower helm, so don't know if they have been in our bow wave or not.
During the trip we time-warped again when we crossed into the eastern time zone, so we "lost" and hour on the voyage. After getting tied up, I cleaned out the lazarette and bilge. When it rains, both areas take water. Very annoying, as I have not been able to figure out where the water is coming in from. With the bilges dry, it was time to program our route into the GPS and get set.
We were tied to a face-dock beside an old ice house. The "marina" here is just a dock with space for 3 or 4 boats with electrical outlets. No other services, and it was really expensive!
During the trip we were passed by Lizzie Lynn, who had a friend at Apalachicola willing to loan us their car. So the girls went out to do some last minute provisioning. Rich and I got some chores done, then we all went to dinner with the crews of Thyme Away and Stulie.
Tomorrow we will cross the Gulf of Mexico. Fingers Crossed.
Stay tuned!
Boat name of the day: Quitcha Bitchin'
