Mobile AL - Clearwater FL

Yes, it has been a while since my last update. I apologize. Why Richard Branson ( Virgin CEO and Founder) can make a plane that will fly tourists into space but his company cannot my make Virgin Hot spot work in White City Florida is beyond me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


AND YES, I DO KNOW THE DATE ON MY CAMERA IS A YEAR BEHIND!!!!!!!!!!! I AM WORKING ON FIXING THAT AS SOON AS I HAD SOME REST AFTER A 24 HOUR CROSSING


Mobille,AL

Our Brazilian friends on SV Teasa leaving Turner Marina . Their top motoring speed is 5mph.Angela always says they might be slow but they are not lazy!

We left Mobile and spent our first night in Ingram's Bayou.

An abandoned boat in Mobile Bay ...... not a good thing. Could be a fisherman who fell in the water or a boat that got loose from it's moorings.

Shrimper with its wings out

Pelican!!

Here is the thing, I know this is a crappy picture of a dolphin but we see 100s of them and every time I take the camera out they disappear 

MV Second Noelle

Ray

Great people , Ray and Linda

Having fun or what??

Here we met up with friends we haven't seen since last year so fun times ensued. That is all I am going to say about that night but trust me the next morning both Gary and I were a little fragile.

Have I said this before???: Weather controls everything!!? Well due to a cold front with accompanying high winds forecasted we bypassed many pretty anchoring spots for the free docks at Fort Walton.Here we met up with MV Second Noelle and SV Teasa again to wait out the bad weather.

Sv Teasa anchored off Navarre Beach

Gorgeous sundown - Navarre Beach

With another bad front forecasted we got stuck at White City FL. At least the docks provided a very safe haven with power and free water to boot. How could one go wrong.

Otters at play - White City FL

Ties off with SV Fair Ketch - White City FL

While waiting for a weather window one can go stir crazy  - Angela -SV Teasa

Ray's 50th birthday With clams, shrimp, peanuts and chocolate birthday cake  What a feast!!

Not a bad redneck house boat - for sale for $15000

Side note: White City is not a city, actually it isn't even a town. It has one little store which redeeming quality is that it sells beer and pizza.
White City was actually named so for the white tents that housed the sick and dying at the last yellow fever outbreak.

Last year our Gulf Crossing was a trip from hell and the thought of doing it again made my knees weak. We were planning on doing the Big Bend of the Gulf coast but with good weather few and far in between Gary  and I put on our big girl panties and went for it.

Anchored off Dog Island we waited for the waters in the Gulf to lie down - we were rewarded with a great crossing.

Travelling with our friends on MV Second Noelle and about 11 other boats we had the most amazing crossing. The waters were smooth and calm and the stars and moon were bright enough to light the waters around us. I am so glad we did it.

Back in Florida where no one knows boat etiquette!! Many strange things around Clearwater, I am sure there will be more picture to follow.

........to be continued.

Mobile

The pictures on this blog were sent to me by friends - I must have been too busy to take any :) Thank you Angela, Sherry and Barb. ( Some of the pictures are very blurry but I have no idea why, sorry)


Since we arrived in Mobile we have been pretty busy.

The very good people at Turner Marine lifted us out, gave Time& Tide a great wash and they sat her down on the hard.

It felt so weird being on land, I kept thinking we were going to tip over at any time.

Getting lifted out for the first time in years.

Checking the bottom for damage ( there wasn't any , thank goodness)

Getting a very thorough wash

 The next job was waxing, I did the upstairs (easy) and Gary did the rest. It took us a couple days to get it all done. In between that we kept busy with other “little” jobs.
Gary did an oil change on  the main engines, replaced a leaky pump and changed some seals on the generator.

I finished doing the reupholster of the salon furniture, I re-caulked the bath tub and replaced some of the screens with no-see-um screening.
The reason we are still on land and not in the water is because we also sent our props away to be tuned and some little nicks needed repaired

Sitting on  stands 

The yard at Turner Marine, where you can stay on your boat while working on it.

The view from the Dauphin causeway bridge 

Our first job was painting the bottom.What a job!  Both Gary and I were covered in red paint. We were exhausted!!




Just in case you think it was all work and no play, think again. The rest of the Loopers have all caught up with us and there are about 20 Looper boats at Turner Marina.

It has also been wonderful to get reacquainted with friends we met here last year.

Gary and Mike - MV Inch -a-long

Our friend Martin , who bought pizza for all the Loopers the night we arrived

Good times

Many Looper get-togethers.
Every Wednesday evening there is  a BBQ and pot luck at the marina.This is the place to stay in Dog River!! 

My friend Martin who is a GEM when it come to solving problems and helping out!

Daniel  ( SV Teasa) and Angela are also at Turners getting some canvass work done.

Jonathan( MV Salty) Sherry (MV Priorities) and Dan (SV Teasa)  

The conch blowing champ

Home made hamburgers

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One of the marina cats had kittens.

Just a couple of weeks old. Some of them are polydactal.

We finally got put back into the water and I was very happy. Now we were stuck waiting for a weather window to cross Mobile Bay,a shallow stretch of water that turns into a washing machine when there is wind.

The days turned very cold and we spent time with the crew off SV Teasa playing dominoes.

We also had a very sick cat. For a few days there poor Miss Josie had the poops and we believe it was stress related. she seems to be much better now although we are keeping a close eye on her.

Poor Josie looking worse for wear after a bad couple of days

Having work done on the boat and getting special bottom paint is not cheap but the folks at Turner Marine took very good care of us and even though we ended with a significant bill I am sure if we had gone anywhere else it would have been much more scary. So after we paid up we moved to Dog River Marine for a fuel fill , pump out and out free night thanks to Looper membership.

Ricky, the dock  master at Dog River Marina where we got to spend a free night thanks to filling up with fuel and being Loopers ...

The boat right at the end of the dock is MV aCapella and her owners are the people who started and run
ACTIVE CAPTAIN a web site and app I use everyday.It was our pleasure to meet them and shake their hands to thank them for all they do.

Capt Sid Shrimper. Last year I bought a a grocery bag full of shrimp from him for $5. This year he has hardly taken his boat out due to the lack of shrimp in the bay and Gulf.

It is sad saying goodbye to all the good people here in Mobile ,but adventure beckons and we have to move on to where the water is bluer and the weather is warmer.
See ya'all soon.




............to be continued