Change of Pace

Sometimes you don't need a map to tell you when you've crossed a border.  Florida looked exactly like Florida the second we went over the line on our charts:

After rushing day after day to get off the rivers and back to big water we've been settling in to a much slower pace here in Florida.  We are aiming to be in Panama City Beach for American Thanksgiving to visit with Reg's brother (who lives nearby) and his parents (who are flying in for Turkey Day).  When we left Mobile we had 10 days to cover only 145 nautical miles which gives us time to stop more than one night in places we like such as this:

We anchored in Big Lagoon north of Perdido Key for two nights.  Perdido Key is part of the Gulf Island National Seashore so it is unspoiled.

This guy greeted us when we were anchoring and stayed with 15' of the boat for about an hour.  I guess they are used to people feeding them but I was a little scared of him so I didn't encourage him to stick around.

Perdido Key Dunes

From Perdido Key we finally got what we have been after for months - a long, fast sail!  We didn't stay on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway from Pensacola to Destin, FL because there are three bridges that we would need to reach at low tide for a comfortable clearance above our mast. Instead we sailed on the open ocean on a beam reach for 40 miles in a perfect 15-20 knot breeze.  To travel without the engine again is wonderful. Unfortunately after months on the rivers Riley had forgotten that he needs to keep his porthole closed and he was woken up at 7am with a salt water wave in his face!

After a night anchored in the harbour in touristy Destin we are now in a small marina in Niceville, Florida.  They have a courtesy car so we did a big reprovision today which will keep us going for a few weeks. We bought some canned meats so we can start experimenting with them for when grocery stores are few and far between in the Bahamas.

New Orleans

We didn't sail all the way down the Mississippi to New Orleans but found time for a side trip when we were told by the boat yard in Mobile that we would have to wait a week to get our mast back.  We rented a car and shared an Air B&B with Ed and Shannon which worked out wells as Shannon is very familiar with the city so she was able to show us all the sights with very little effort on our part.

The Air B&B was close to Louis Armstrong Park:

We did all the usual touristy stuff like The French Quarter:

I expected to see corseted ladies of the evening draped over the balcony...

...but I guess the buildings are pretty enough without them.

Lots of music to stop and listen to

Lots of fun bands to watch

Lots of cool looking people to watch watching the bands.
This guy's oversize coat had elaborate embroidery on the cuffs.

But after dark is when the French Quarter shines

The large shadow of Jesus was a
lttle intimidating.

Being in the French Quarter also means seafood and bourbon.

This was when they were near the end of their bourbon flights!

While in the French quarter the boys and I had our palms read.  Just between Sam and Riley I am going to have between 5 and 8 grandchildren!

Sam, Reg, and I did a hop-on hop-off bus tour and visited the Lafayette cemetery.  We were there late in the day and I was terrified that we might miss closing and be stuck there all night!

We also went out for dinner with live jazz.  Shannon found a place for us on Frenchman St. (I think - hopefully she will read this and correct me if I'm wrong) where the boys were allowed in.

Unfortunately we only had 2 nights to spare for this trip.  Ed and Shannon were eager to be on their way east and we received a call that due to a cancellation we could get our mast back!!

I'll even miss the NOLA graffiti.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics Part 2

Here is a summary of some of our expenses for the trip down the inland rivers from Chicago, IL to Mobile, AL.  Some key points:

• The cost to dock on the rivers is much less than on the Great Lakes
• We anchored a lot more on the rivers than on the Great Lakes.  This is partly due to the much better anchoring opportunities and partly due to the lack of marinas or public docks in many sections.
• Our pump out cost is now zero because we installed a composting head in Chicago
• I forgot to track propane costs
• All figures are in Canadian dollars (we've watched the US dollar get more expensive every day)

The Gulf!

Well, we made it.  No more dirty rivers - on to the sea and sand. At the end of the inland waterway is the Mobile River.  The river widens and becomes a trail through a swamp as you head south to Mobile Bay on the Gulf.  

We were thrilled when in the haze we were able to make out buildings and bridges.  It doesn't look like much but it was a big deal to us!.

Mobile is a very busy commercial port.  I loved watching the cranes unload a giant ship full of shipping containers.

The shipping containers were expected but these battleships were not.  I immediately checked Twitter to see if Trump had started a world war overnight but it turns out the ships are just made in Mobile.

 Once out of the river we started to see the things we have traveled all this way for:

White sand...

seabirds...

...shrimp boats.

We also saw some dolphins following a shrimp boat but they were too far away and too quick to get any photos.  It is my mission now to catch a decent snap of them.

Lonely Rivers Flow to the Sea

We have finally finished our trek down the river.  Over the last 200 miles we got more and more eager to get to the Gulf and get our mast back. Those last 200 miles had no marinas and no places to get off the boat so we were on board for 5 days.  We couldn't even swim to clean or cool off since there are alligators in the anchorages here.

Reg enjoying lunch while locking through. The bollard makes a great table.

We spent some time with the delivery crew of the Pickwick Belle. 
We rafted to them one night at anchorage and had a movie night.

Just because we can't get off the boat doesn't mean we can't get a workout in!

Many mornings were misty, some were downright foggy. 

They'll be bluebirds over...

... the white cliffs of Alabama?

In some sections there weren't even any anchorages
so we had to use two anchors and
top just to the side of the shipping lane.

Watching the barges approach at night was nerve wracking. 
We called each tow on the VHF and asked them to let other
tows know where we were anchored.

Reflections on a perfectly still river

An anchorage down a creek at the location of one of the original locks on the Tenn-Tom

Last lock!!!