Orange Beach to Port St. Joe

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Happy 26^th Anniversary to us! Today is our Anniversary and it seems like just yesterday we were pledging our vows and getting ready for our Honeymoon in the Cayman Islands. Although a few years have gone by, our marriage is stronger now than ever. We both figured out that no one else would have us as partners, as we were both hard headed and set in our ways. Had we met a few years earlier, we probably would not have been together.

We have our old friend Charlie to thank for our chance meeting on a Friday night at the Beer Mug in Atlanta. Charlie and Nan Ellen worked together at the IRS and when I moved to Atlanta, Charlie had come to work for my company – Nationwise Auto Parts. I was in Human Resources and Charlie was in Loss Prevention. Our offices were next to one another and we joked that they came in my door as I hired ‘em and out his door as he fired ‘em. As someone new to Atlanta, I just wanted to meet a few folks and have a beer after work. Charlie invited me to the Beer Mug for Happy Hour to wait out the Friday night Atlanta traffic. It was there at a “reserved” table, a group of friends met every Friday night and I was invited. The rest is history - it has been a little over 27 years since I first met Nan Ellen and 26 years since we were married.

Today was spent updating this Blog, re-checking the weather for a suitable crossing weather window, and planning a quick trip back to Atlanta to check on Nan Ellen’s mother while we wait for the weather. We planned to go to dinner tonight at a favorite with the locals restaurant, but the impending bad weather caused us to go to the Marina Restaurant instead. We got back to the boat before the really bad weather came upon us.

The Happy Couple at Dinner at Port St. Joe Marina

We have reserved a rental car from Enterprise Car Rental in Panama City for the trip back home. We should be back on the boat around Tuesday, April 16. We will post again once we return to the boat.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The primary objective today was to rest, recuperate, and relax after a busy day on Tuesday. I rode my bike to CVS Pharmacy and bought additional first aid supplies for my skinned up hands. We spent the rest of the day catching up on e-mails and later went to the Piggly-Wiggly for a few groceries including some rib-eye steaks for grilling at dinner time. I took time out to pose with the Pirate in front of the Piggly-Wiggly.


Which one is the Pirate?

Nan Ellen took shrimp out of the freezer and defrosted them. She took a martini glass and put a little cocktail sauce in it and lined the rim with the thawed shrimp. Rib Eye steaks, shrimp cocktail, and a relaxing evening. This is how the Loop should be! After dinner, we set down to the computer to edit our photos from the past few days and delete the ones we are not keeping. With the narratives already done and stored on my desktop waiting to be posted, it should make the Blog update less stressful and easier. It is my intention to make this my priority for Thursday. It looks like we will be here a few more days waiting for a weather window.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Another day dawned with ambitious plans for the day. We decided to go visit the Indian Pass Raw Bar as recommended by our friend John Sprague-Williams.

Indian Pass Raw Bar

This is an old time favorite of the locals and has been around over 100 years. The only problem is that it is located about 12 miles away and certainly not within walking distance! We decided to set up the bikes and go for a little ride to get some oysters. I had to pump up the tires on both bikes and got out the BoeShield T-9 to lube up everything and then we set off into the wind for a leisurely 12 mile ride to the raw bar. When we finally arrived about an hour and a half later, we were not disappointed.

Nan Ellen with "Ed" of Hot Sauce Fame

We each had a dozen raw oysters and split a bowl of gumbo. Unfortunately, the oysters were not Indian Pass oysters as they had closed the fishery last week due to an influx of fresh water, so the source of these were from the Texas coast. Slightly salty, very clean, and tasty – probably the best raw oysters we have had anywhere. The gumbo was great too.

We decided to take a short break on the way back as we came to the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve Center and spoke with the docent. They are funded by the state and work to preserve the ecology of the bay and work with other environmental groups for protection of the bay.

We discovered a few fun facts here such as that the Bay is the only body of water on the Gulf of Mexico that is not influenced by the influx of fresh water. They are known for their bay scallops, but we are too early in the season for them. Very interesting stop and it happened to be strategically located about halfway back to the boat from the Raw Bar!

On the ride back, I had our bag containing our drinks and the camera and it was strapped with bungee cord to my rear rack. It came loose and when I reached back to adjust and grab it to keep it from falling, I lost my balance and crashed right there on the pavement. Even more tragic, Nan Ellen was following too close and then proceeded to run over me. She was not hurt, but I have several skinned areas including my left palm. I also broke my watch band and it will take a jeweler to fix it. We had a couple of cars stop and ask if they could help, but other than my bruised pride and a couple of skinned up areas, I was OK. The only damage to the bike was a skinned up handlebar grip and the chain came off. After putting the chain back on and straightening up the handlebars, we continued riding the rest of the approximately 6 miles back to the Marina. When we arrived at the Marina, I washed up to get rid of the dried blood. Once back at the boat, we broke out the hydrogen peroxide and the band aids to finish the job of cleaning and fixing me up.

We went to another local favorite – Joe Mama’s Pizza for dinner. We had previously visited their location in Tallahassee and loved it. We had a cup of Clam Chowder on the recommendation of one of the Captain’s we have coffee with every morning. He said it was the best Chowder he had ever had, and we agree that it is great. Definitely not expected in a pizza joint, but this was no ordinary pizza joint. For the main course, we had a “Due” (pronounced du a) pizza and it was GREAT. For desert, we had a chocolate whipped desert with chunks of chocolate and whipped cream on top. No calories here, but since we did the 25 mile bike ride today, we really did not feel guilty. On the way back to the boat, I stopped by the CVS pharmacy to pick up some Bacitracin and then across the street to the Piggly – Wiggly for some bananas. Nan Ellen had already made it back to the boat and was reading the day’s e-mails when I arrived. 

Since I take a baby aspirin daily, I tend to bleed and bruise easily and as usual, the band aids applied earlier were soaked, so I decided to wear rubber protective gloves to bed. Good thing I did, because the leakage continued. We were both tired from the day’s activities, so it was early to bed at 9:00.

Monday, April 8, 2013

The day started with a trip up the dock to the Marina showers and laundry. While we were waiting for the laundry, we went to the “Captains Corner” at the Marina office for coffee, cookies, and conversation with other marina guests. We met a few of them over coffee and swapped stories until our laundry was finished. Then it was back to the boat for breakfast and some time on the computer to study the weather in preparation for our Gulf Crossing. The marina mechanic, Robert, came down to take a look at the broken step and suggested that a couple of 4x4 blocks of wood might hold temporarily.

Broken step support

Wood blocks under the bottom step

He proceeded to screw them together and we had a temporary support until we can get the stairs fixed properly. Most of the remainder of the day was spent answering e-mails and making phone calls.

The weather does not look good for a crossing until at least Friday night or later, so we plan to see a bit more of the town while we are here. We heard about a highly rated restaurant about 12 miles from here, and we plan to ride our bikes there tomorrow for lunch for a 24 mile round trip. We have to get exercise somehow! We tried the marina bikes this afternoon, and they are less than ideal for anything more than just a few blocks journey. Nan Ellen tried the three wheeler bicycle and had a really hard time not crashing due to steering problems. I kidded her that she needed more Tanqueray and Tonics to ride it properly! She tried the two wheeler beach cruiser I was riding and had even more trouble with it due to loose handlebars, so we shall see how it goes tomorrow on a much longer ride. At least, it will be on our bikes. 

They don’t have cable TV in the marina, and the over-the-air TV reception is not good , so we missed the Men’s Basketball Finals. We just listened to Satellite Radio for entertainment. Tuesday’s planned activities also include posting the updates to the blog to bring us current with our postings. We also plan to check the dingy since we have not had the cover off or looked at it since Chattanooga.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Massalina Bayou Bridge opening for us

When we woke up on Sunday morning, the wind had shifted 180 degrees from when we went to bed, but the boat was still securely anchored. We fired up the engines and motored the 50 yards back to Bayou Joe's for breakfast. Nan Ellen had shrimp, grits, and scrambled eggs, while I had a special that had creamed spinach with fried oysters, covered by eggs and hollandaise sauce. This place has character and some pretty good food too.

Wetappo Creek marshlands

 Sunday’s journey took us through the remainder of St. Andrews Bay and East Bay before connecting to Wetappo Creek, a winding river with numerous oxbows. It also has a variety of  marshland and forested areas.

"Free Boat" - Any takers?

Turn down the Gulf County Canal to the Marina

This is another man made canal that reminded us of the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. 

After about 15 miles of this canal, we came to the Gulf County Canal that leads south about 5 miles to the St Joseph’s Bay just off the Gulf of Mexico for the 2 mile run over to the entrance to Port St. Joe Marina.

This is a first class marina that we had visited in December by car on our way to Miami to visit our friends Don and Anita Gulseth as well as Tom and Patsy Conrad while they were on their boats.

Port St. Joe Marina from the entrance off St.Joseph's Bay

The wind was blowing about 20 to 25 when we entered the Bay and we had 3 to 4 foot waves as we navigated to the marina entrance. It took two dockhands to grab our lines and ties us to the dock as the wind was blowing us off the dock. We finally got everything secured and adjusted and checked in at the office.

After coming back to the boat, I washed the topsides to knock off the salt spray and then we walked to dinner. First, I stopped at the Advance Auto Parts store and bought some new wipers as the old ones did not do the job and needed to be replaced. Once that was done, we continued to the Mexican restaurant and had fajitas. On the way back to the boat, we stopped at the Piggly Wiggly and picked up some bananas for breakfast. Once back at the boat, I fired up the computer to try and answer a week’s worth of e-mails and that job will take at least another day. 

We plan to meet with the welder on Monday to determine if this step can be welded in place or if the stairs will need to be removed and welded elsewhere. We are crossing our fingers. If it cannot be easily fixed here, we hope to put some bracing below it – maybe some wood blocks? In any case, it looks like the weather may keep us here a few days anyway and we hope to take a more critical look at that part of this puzzle on Monday and come up with a plan for crossing the Gulf. Our friend Skip Harper is coming down from Atlanta to help get us across and we need to tell him when to meet us in Carrabelle.

Sunset at the entrance to Port St. Joe Marina

 I am trying something new on this leg of the journey. I have decided to set aside a few minutes each day to recap the day’s events and put it in writing to make it easier to later edit and post to this blog. I am hoping it will make it more fun and less work!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Saturday’s journey took us from Destin to Panama City. It was interesting that we saw an announcement on TV while in Orange Beach for the Coast Guard Auxiliary holding free Vessel Safety Checks at the Joe’s Bayou Boat ramp –the same anchorage where we spent the night on Friday. Sure enough, after breakfast, they were at the ramp doing VSCs, so we motored over, tied up at the courtesy dock, and introduced ourselves to the two Examiners. We thanked them for what they were doing and gave them our cards. They wished us well and we were on our way.

Boat that followed us across Choctawhatchee Bay and the canal

We crossed the remainder of Choctawhatchee Bay which is 30 nautical miles long and 3 to 5 nautical miles wide. With the wind from the east today, parts of the trip were bumpy, but not uncomfortable.

Entering the Canal

At the eastern end of the bay is the man made canal known as “The Ditch” and the "Grand Canyon". It is about 20 miles long. This area very much resembled the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway where the Corps of Engineers did the same work by connecting two bodies of water by a man made canal. The difference in “The Ditch” is that most of the terrain was heavily covered in sugar white sand instead of red clay and dirt.

Sand and trees on the banks of the Canal

  

The eastern end of the canal had several oxbows and was part of a natural creek. There is a great deal of skinny water all around and you absolutely MUST stay in the marked channel. It is common to see 1 and 2 foot depths outside the marked channel. 

"Red" ICW marker on a "Green" Inlet marker

  

For those readers who do not understand Aids to Navigation (ATONs) the red and green markers tell you which side to pass the marker for safe and navigable water. Normally, it is "red right returning" meaning when coming in from the ocean, keep the reds on the right. When going out, it would be reversed and keep the reds on the left. In the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), you keep the reds on the right as you make a clockwise journey around the US. This means that for the direction of our trip, the reds are on the left while in the ICW.

"Green" ICW marker on a "Red" Inlet marker

 

This is pretty easy to remember, but near any inlet from the ocean, sometimes the ATONs may serve a dual purpose - that is, they may mark both the inlet and the ICW. To differentiate which marker shows what course, the ICW markers have yellow squares (which is equivalent to a green) and yellow triangles (which is equivalent to a red).
You MUST pay attention to the yellow squares and yellow triangles closely anytime you are near an inlet. Here are a couple of pictures showing a "green" ICW marker on a "red" inlet marker, and a "red" ICW marker on a "green" inlet marker. You need to study the charts and closely plot your course as well as closely pay attention and visually confirm what the marker is actually showing you for your intended path. Failure to do so will almost certainly result in running aground - never a good thing!

Air Boat in the Canal just before West Bay

  

Traveling east, the next body of water is West Bay which connects to St. Andrews Bay and the Panama City Inlet to the Gulf of Mexico. Just past the inlet, we turned into Panama City Marina to take on fuel and water and rinse off the salt spray. After the fuel stop, we motored around the corner to Massalina Bayou for dinner at Bayou Joe’s Grill.

Bayou Joe's Grill - just tie up alongside and come on in!

Don’t confuse this restaurant with our stop the night before at Joe’s Bayou. This is a unique restaurant with a LOT of character. We tied up on one side of the restaurant and went in to eat. 

The "Manly Trash Burger" about to be consumed

Great food – we had crab claws and a Cajun shrimp burger followed by drunk & ugly (peaches soaked in rum with cheesecake topping over graham crumbs all topped by ice cream). The meal was great and the other patrons were fun.

View of Bayou Joe's from our anchorage

Sunset at the anchorage in Massalina Bayou

At the table next to us, a young man ordered a “manly trash burger”. This consists of whatever the cook wants to throw in it. This particular one was filled with pancake, BBQ, animal crackers, goldfish, onions, something green that looked like Jell-O that made a smiley face on top, and the usual ketchup, mustard, pickles, mayo, relish, lettuce, tomatoes, and several other things we could not identify. He actually ate the whole thing!

 

After dinner, we cast off our lines and moved about 50 yards to the anchorage to settle in for the night.

We watched the Final Four men’s basketball semi-finals on TV before calling it a night.

Friday, April 5, 2013

We finally cast off our lines for the resumption of our Great Loop adventure. The day started out cold and windy and did not improve much until late afternoon when we finally saw the sun and it warmed up a bit – still very cold for this time of year. We were in long pants and jackets all day and I wore my gloves early in the day.

Welcome to Florida!

Colorful homes near Pensacola

Aid to Navigation team moving temporary markers

Air Force Radar Tower near Destin

Pensacola Bay sailboat

Water Tower in Destin/Ft Walton area

Beautiful Home on the water

The goal today was to go from Orange Beach to Destin and the anchorage at Joe’s Bayou. During the day, Nan Ellen mentioned that the bottom step of the stairs seemed loose, so I checked it out. I thought it was just loose, so I got out the screwdriver to tighten the screws and found all of them tight. I then looked at the support brackets and BOTH of them were broken. Obviously, the welds were defective and will need to be re-welded. 

We called Marine Max at Lake Lanier and they were less than helpful – nearly worthless! I remembered that a friend of ours knew some folks in this part of the Panhandle, so we called our friend Harold Sundal. Harald immediately put us in touch with the owner of Shalimar Marina in Destin. Steve (Shalimar owner) tried several of his contacts to try to find someone with a portable welding equipment to fix us up. Unfortunately, on a Friday night, he was unsuccessful.

Sunset at Joe's Bayou anchorage

Our plan B was to contact the Port St Joe Marina and they have put us in touch with a welder who will meet us there on Monday morning. Hopefully, he will be able to fix it, otherwise, we may have to wait until we make the jump across the Gulf and find someone qualified on Florida’s west coast. 

We finally made it to Joe’s Bayou, but were unable to make it to the recommended anchorage due to shallow water. We had a soft grounding in mud and simply backed off. When we finally anchored just before sunset, we grilled pork chops and had a nice quiet evening.