Second Wind on the Great Loop and Beyond

After an outstanding, frantic, fun Christmas with family, Bob and I are getting antsy to get back on the boat again. However, a January 11th dental appointment has us grounded in Huntsville, AL, with Second Wind waiting patiently for our return to Carrabelle, FL. We've heard from several folks that the boat is resting safely at the Moorings Marina.

This map shows how far we've traveled since we first motored out of Alred's Marina in Guntersville, AL, on October 13th, 2006. So far we've covered 766 miles of the approximately 6,000 miles involved in the Great Loop journey. After taking several breaks -- mainly the Fall Rendevous and the holidays -- we plan to pick up the pace from this point forward.

Out next challenge will be crossing the Gulf to get further south into Florida. We are still debating the merits of (1) taking the Big Bend route, which is shallower and takes longer or (2) cutting across the Gulf, which takes about 12 hours and entails cruising in the dark. Each way has merits and challenges. We are favoring the Big Bend route, but much will depend on the weather at the time we actually head out.

Sunday, December 10: After a leisurely Sunday morning, we left Port St. Joe at 11 a.m., dodging crab pots and fishing boats. Passing the colorful fleets of large shrimp boats in the Port St Joe cut, our mouths began to water for fresh seafood, especially the oysters we knew would be in store during the next few days. We made our way down the long ICW cut to the open waters of Apalachee Bay. The water was bumpy, but not too uncomfortable, despite my trepidation about forecasted “moderate chop on inland waters.” We soon would be meeting brother Jim and Martha Stagg in Carrabelle for a few days of exploring “Florida’s Forgotten Coast.”

Emerging from the protected waters behind St. George Island, we passed the inlet we will later take to cross open Gulf waters into Florida’s Big Bend and points south. Liz took photos as we entered the shallow river into Carrabelle around 4 p.m. The Moorings in Carrabelle is the largest marina in an area that has become a haven for boats waiting to cross the open Gulf in one long day/night or who, like us, choose to take the more leisurely Big Bend route into southern Florida. By the time we were tied up and settled at the dock, Jim and Martha arrived in their “Westie” camper/van. During the next few days, the four of us explored the area, shopping in unique gift shops and sating ourselves on fresh seafood.

Labels: Nature trail through the marsh

Saturday, December 09, 2006: The frigid weather arrived yesterday with record lows in the 20’s. We stayed on the boat all morning, venturing out in the afternoon to walk around the downtown Panama City area. Although it was really cold, we ambled on down to a marine supply store, an art gallery, and some shops. Everything was lovely, all decorated for Christmas. It wasn’t a bit crowded, and I actually finished my Christmas shopping. We ate dinner at the highly recommended Bayou Joe’s. The owner told us that this was the first marina in Panama City, built in 1940. I probably ate here with my parents as a child.

Saturday morning was a bit warmer so we cranked the engines and headed out again. The cruise across the East Bay zigzagged quite a bit, but it was a pretty comfortable ride. Several dolphins joined us as we cruised along, always a treat. While we were on the ICW cut, Bob actually spotted a bald eagle, which landed on a nearby tree. Cool! We are now at Port St. Joe Marina, a friendly place with clean, convenient facilities. The weather is supposed to be improving even more, so tomorrow we plan to make our final run before Christmas to Carrabelle, FL.

Labels: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Wednesday, December 6, 2006: WooHoo, we’re back on the boat! Our goal is to travel as far down the Florida coast as possible before the Christmas holidays. Strong winds and high seas delayed the start of this leg of the journey, but we were mighty happy to be heading out of Mobile Bay toward Florida this morning. Bob’s long hours of chart planning paid off. We were able to bypass our original destination, Pensacola, and travel a total of 110 miles in ~8 hours, arriving in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida by 4 p.m. We passed new waterfront construction everywhere, mostly huge condominium complexes. When we drove by the new LuLu’s Restaurant (Jimmy Buffet’s sister), it was too early for lunch so we didn’t stop. Dolphins joined us occasionally, but they thought it was a bit cold to do much frolicking. The sugar-white dunes were a delight to see, along with the chock-to-block waterfront houses. The Shalimar Marina, our home for the night, provided us with a cool courtesy car, a renovated Volkswagon Rabbit convertible, which got us to the highly recommended Giuseppe’s seafood restaurant for dinner. The food was delicious as advertised.