After our 20 hour trip across the Gulf we arrived in Tarpon Springs around noon. You probably remember what a great overnight we had, followed by a hard time getting tied up in the marina. After a long night with little rest and an arrival like that, we didn’t even get a break because we had 3 kids on board who slept GREAT all night and were FILLED with energy. The life of looping parents!!
We were anxious to get off the boat and explore, but first we were hungry. It always seems like we want to get off the boat right when everyone is hungry, so that delays us a little bit (this is true just about every day).
The kids had sandwiches for lunch and were happy to be in Tarpon Springs.We almost lost the captain , but he rallied after 10 minutes of quiet time or so. No rest for the weary on INNTW!!
We met some helpful loopers who welcomed us to Tarpon Springs and watched Miss Daisy get tied up just a few slips down (their landing wasn’t easy, either, but maybe better than ours.) Special thanks to Herb, Harbor Host of Tarpon Springs who came down to our slip to personally welcome us and congratulate us on our crossing. He even came with maps and cinnamon rolls. What a treat!!
Such a cute tourist!!
Tarpon Springs is best known for it’s sponge docks, so we learned a lot about sponges and saw some cool working boats that collect them.
The kids were excited to see this sign of Christmas!!
We ended up walking along the sponge docks and finding a place to eat ice cream!! Surprise surprise!!
After ice cream we found a playground and tried to make a good plan for our exhausted crew for the rest of the night. We weren’t thrilled with Tarpon Springs and part of it was probably because we were tired. There were people haggling us everywhere trying to sell us boat rides and dolphin cruises, and some of them were quite rude when we politely declined. Other than that, there were a million souvenir shops ad lots of restaurants. After pulling the kids out of the souvenir shops, I didn’t really feel like any of us had the patience for dinner out which is unfortunate because we hear they have some great Greek food. So we headed back to the boat for an easy dinner and a movie for the kids while mom and dad relaxed and decompressed.
Thanks for keeping track of our adventures!! This was not one of our favorite stops, but ya just never know!!
The marina offered free breakfast (FREE!! 2nd time on the loop we’ve had FREE breakfast at a marina!) so we headed there as soon as the whole crew was up (which doesn’t take long in a boat–once one of us is up, we’re pretty much all up!!). Just as we were finishing up, the crews of Miss Daisy and The Blessing showed up for breakfast, so we had a planning meeting for our crossing. We decided on the exact path we would take (directly from Dog Island to Anclote Key by Tarpon Springs), we decided on a departure time (5:30 from the Dog Island Inlet), we decided on an order (INNTW would lead the way with AIS, radar, and autopilot, followed by Miss Daisy and then The Blessing), we would not do hourly radio checks but instead check in as needed (we weren’t anticipating needing to check in regarding anything pressing), and we would travel between 8-10 miles per hour.
Planning meeting with our buddy boats and also Branch Office and Paradise.
Walking back to our boat, we toured around the marina to assess the storm damage from Hurricane Michael. The Moorings says they are just starting to get back on their feet and making a priority list of what clean up to tackle first. The pictures they shared on their FB page and I put on our FB page from right after the storm are stunning.
Broken up docks in need of repair.Lots of debris piles around the marina.
After having the plan set for the day and our tummies filled with breakfast, we headed back to the boat for some last minute chores. Mike washed the boat (good to get the salt off, but funny because we would just get covered again later that evening–it is a never-ending task!!). He secured everything in the cockpit–fishing poles, giant net, 34973947293 buckets, shovels, pool noodles, etc. He double checked that the dinghy was secure in the davits. Mike double checked that the bikes, paddle boards, and lily pad on the front were secure, but then decided to take his bike off for a bike ride to burn off some nervous energy. He intended to ride for about 15 miles, but somehow ended up on this 2 track that he thought was a loop, but it didn’t loop, so he ended up riding 23 miles and was exhausted when he got back to the boat. Not exactly what he planned, but he was glad he went, and definitely glad that his tire didn’t go flat until just AFTER he got back to INNTW. Whew!
I felt the need to do dishes (imagine that!), vacuum, wash the plexi windows (again silly because the salt spray would come right back and the trip would be mostly in the dark, so it’s not like we needed to see out the back doors anyway), and empty the garbages. I moved our life jackets to the flybridge so they would be handy in case of an emergency. I sent the float plan to our families and some other looper friends (near and far) so everyone would know our exact route, destination, and timing along with a map and recent picture of our boat. If we weren’t heard from by early afternoon, they were to contact the Coast Guard (just in case). I checked, double checked, and triple checked the weather to make sure nothing in the forecast had changed. Hayley and I walked over to the grocery store and stocked up on a few necessary items for the trip and potentially for Thanksgiving, 3 days later.
Dishes pile up fast in these little sinks!!Just one of our weather sources–Marv’s Weather Service. These are bouy reports for areas just south of Carrabelle and north of Clearwater. The top illustration is wind speed, gusts, and direction. The bottom illustration is average wave height, max wave height, period, and direction. This is 1 of about 5 sources we used to choose our weather window. Some essentials for crossing and arrival in Tarpon Springs. My Aunt Marti is an avid boater and always has Oreos around for stressful situations, so I figured I should carry on the tradition. Other items purchased were Red Bull, sunflower seeds, and a ham. Unfortunately the grocery store didn’t have a turkey, but we all love ham.
Shortly after Mike got back from his bike ride we were ready to head out of the marina to Dog Island to burn off some energy on the beach for a while. Coming into Carrabelle yesterday, we saw some awesome houses way up on stilts on the beach on Dog Island. I don’t think I would ever get tired of that view!! We dropped anchor right next to the island so the kids could kayak over. Mike dropped me off at the island in the dinghy, but he wanted to check the oil, check the nav lights, clean the strainers, and mess around with a bunch of other stuff before heading out, so he went back to the boat.
Tobin enjoyed our dolphin escort out of Carrabelle!Such a cool location right along the Gulf!!Kayak parking!!
Dog Island was similar to Shell Island in that it was pretty remote, but there were a few houses and power lines along Dog Island. Hayley was equal parts terrified and excited to find REAL LIVE starfish as she was landing her kayak. That got their exploring off to an exciting start. They found half a dozen starfish on the bay side of the island before they got tired of watching starfish sit and be stars, and they decided to keep exploring. We decided that Shell Island has more dogs (at least 2 that we saw) and Dog Island has more shells (millions–everywhere). This was an interesting observation. The kids built shell houses again. Tobin insisted on making sand angels. They waded out into the water a bit. We found lots of old rusty wire running down into the water, almost like a tieback for something. I did a lot of anxious walking up and down the beach, checking weather and communicating with some other loopers who headed out a bit before us headed to Clearwater.
Loopers headed out just a few hours before us, heading to Clearwater.
Before long The Blessing and Miss Daisy showed up near Dog Island and just floated around and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon. Mike came to pick us up around 4:30 or so. After we got back to the boat, Mike had to put the dinghy on the swim platform and make sure it was secured down for the overnight trip (again). Then he put the kids’ kayaks on top of the dinghy and secured everything (again). I also secured things inside the boat and wrangled 3 kids into dry clothes. Most of our set up is travel-ready, but just in case things got rougher than intended, I put the items from the kitchen counter into the sink, flushed the toilets and shut the lids (I’m always paranoid stuff is going to fall into the toilet!!). I tried to make sure everything was picked up for easy walking around the boat in the dark.
Around 5:30 we headed out of our anchorage to join our buddy boats who were already floating around in the Gulf getting some great pictures of the sunset. We couldn’t have asked for a better evening to cross. The water was almost like glass and the sun was setting into hazy clouds that turned into beautiful blue and pink shapes. There was an air of excitement and anticipation on our boat and on the radio as the boats all communicated a bit to get comfortable with the route, speed, and position. But outside the boat is was almost magical, and dolphins even came out to send us off.
Hayley watching the beautiful sunset.View from The Blessing looking ahead at Miss Daisy and INNTW as we head out.
The quiet, peace outside the boat was quite different from the celebration that was happening inside our boat. After the radio communication died down between the boats, we turned the music up and had a dance party to some of the kids’ favorites. We made frozen pizza for dinner, ate snacks, and watched a movie. The kids knew that they could stay up as long as they wanted to, as long as they followed directions.
Colin at the helm!! Mike was too busy setting up a playlist!
The sun set quickly and darkness fell around us. The moon was visible, but it was partially covered by clouds, so it didn’t do much to add light for us. Soon the excitement of the journey wore off and the kids started getting tired. Hayley and Tobin went to bed around 9:30. Colin and I hung out long enough to see a single dolphin swimming along with us in the pitch dark. We couldn’t see much, but we watched it pop up a few times before swimming away. I thought it was the coolest thing to have a dolphin next to our boat in the complete darkness as we headed out into the Gulf. Colin and I got sleepy around 10:30, so I made a plan with Mike that I would get up at 2 and come back up so he could take a turn to rest. Colin did not want to miss the trip, so he ended up moving his blanket and pillow up to the flybridge and he slept the whole night on the cushions up there. I was supposed to wake him up when I got up at 2:00, but I couldn’t rouse him and he was so upset later that he slept through the whole night. I had a little trouble falling asleep, as I was still excited and the engines are pretty loud in our bedroom. Eventually, though, it was 12:15 and I was awake again. I tried to go back to sleep, but by 1:00 I was heading up to the flybridge.
Mike said there was some radio chatter with the boats heading to Clearwater because there were 2 of them and they were separated by some distance, so they couldn’t even communicate with each other. We could barely see their lights on the horizon. Eventually they caught up to each other and headed a bit further south than our path. Other than that communication, Mike said there was pretty much nothing going on. It was so dark out that you couldn’t see much at all. Our forward navigation light is right under the windshield and the bright white light illuminated the front of our boat, but it made it hard to see beyond, to the water. All of our instrument lights on the panel were turned down as far as they would go, but they still had a slight glare on the inside of the isenglass up top. We relied on radar and AIS to “see” for the most part.
The moon shining on the water.Sometimes it was covered by clouds.The night was very dark, so you can’t see much in this picture out our side wing door. You can see how the front nav light lit up the front of our boat quite a bit.
Mike slept from about 2:00 until 5:00. During that time I read lots of reveiws for marinas and anchorages in Florida on Active Captain. It was pretty much all I could do since we didn’t have data coverage that far out. As he was heading to bed, the water seemed pretty choppy with waves coming on the beam so we rocked back and forth. It wasn’t uncomfortable but it was definitely choppier than before and I hoped it wouldn’t get worse. By the time he woke up, though, the water had calmed down again. Every few minutes I would look around and look at the radar screen. Every 15 minutes or so I would get up and walk around to get a better look out the windows and zoom out on the radar to see if there was anything 6-8 miles away showing up. I never saw a thing and never talked to anyone else. Thank goodness for Red Bull and XM radio!!
After Mike got up I went back to bed for an hour or so. When I woke up, the sky was brighter but overcast. It wasn’t the beautiful sunrise we had hoped for, but with a sunrise like we had the night before, we couldn’t complain.
The waves got a bit choppier as we got within 30 miles of Tarpon Springs, but they were behind us so we didn’t feel them too much. We started to see lots of crab pots that we had to dodge. The floats look like this little round ball and they are dropped in a long line, so you usually have to spot 2 of them and go in between. If you run one over, the line could get tangled in your prop and cause issues, so we always had 2 sets of eyes searching for them.
Crab pot!!View of Miss Daisy off to the left and The Blessing to the right, following behind us all night.Breakfast on the sundeck.
We arrived in Tarpon Springs around noon. There were lots of no wake areas coming into the channel, so it took a while to get back to our marina, but we were thankful to be THERE. At one point a man yelled at us for going too fast, but we were going as slow as our boat can go. It wasn’t a great welcome to the city. Then the dock master wouldn’t answer his radio and seemed very grouchy when we finally got him on the telephone. The docks were super short so we had to stern in, which we’ve been practicing, but there was quite a bit of wind and current at this location and that didn’t help. There was a point where I had to stand on the bow and loop a rope around a pile with our long boat hook while also being in the back of the boat, helping Mike know how close our swim platform was from the piles. It wasn’t easy to be in two places at once and it led to me not doing a good job at either task. After a few tries we finally got it, but looping that pole sure was a task for me. By the time we were tied up I was bruised and shaking, but we were set. Not our best showing at the end there, but we couldn’t have asked for a better crossing!!
Time to explore Tarpon Springs!! No rest with 3 energetic kids on board!!
Feel free to ask questions in the comments! While I covered A LOT, I feel like I probably left some stuff out. Thanks for reading and following along!!
Destination: The Moorings Marina, Carrabelle, Florida
Distance: 94.2 miles
Speed: 8.9 mph
Time on the Move: 10 hours and 35 minutes
We got up and moving at first light in order to make it to Carrabelle before sunset. Traveling long distances this time of year is kind of tricky with so few hours of daylight.
Within a short time, we started to see signs of Hurricane Michael that devastated the Panama City, Port St Joe, and Mexico Beach areas of Florida. We knew we would see after effects of the hurricane today, but seeing them in person was startling. We first noticed rows and rows of houses with blue tarps on their roofs, lots of trees down in yards, and washed out docks.
We saw lots of dolphins through this area and it almost seemed like they were welcoming us and thanking us for visiting the area. It made us wonder what the hurricane was like for the dolphins. As we continued on, we saw more and more devastation. We were amazed at how many trees were just snapped in half and how so many trees had no leaves left. This went on for miles and miles and miles.
We traveled the ICW from Panama City to Appalachicola. which was a pretty narrow stretch, like a long canal.It doesn’t look like all the boats fared too well in this hurricane hole.Home owners were just recently allowed back to their homes, so there were lots of people cleaning up.
Mike grilled hamburgers underway for lunch and the kids played legos FOREVER. Mike and I saw 2 gators along the way, but we weren’t fast enough to get pictures of either of them, and I don’t think the kids ever actually saw them. We spent some time thinking about things we needed to do and double check before we left for the crossing. Luckily, most things were already done, but we gathered emergency phone numbers, double checked how to use the EPIRB, and made a list of last minute things. The weather still looks good so the crossing is still on schedule.
In the afternoon we passed Appalachicola and entered into the large Appalachicola Bay and St George Sound. It is funny how the geography is so different along the way. In the morning we were in a big bay, we spent most of the day in a narrow canal, and then ended our day in another big bay. It helps to keep things interesting, and luckily we had perfectly calm water in the big bays today.
Fishing boats in Appalachicola.Fishing boat!
We were treated to our best dolphin show yet in the middle of St George Sound. Dolphins came from all around and swam right under our bow. We all took turns going out and watching them. We’ve read that dolphins are very social and will often “perform” more when there is more noise and excitement. I’m sure we encouraged their show quite a bit!!
We made it in to The Moorings Marina, filled up with diesel (didn’t quite fill our tanks the other day when we ran that other fuel dock dry), and got tied up on the dock just before dark. Perfect timing!! I would not want to travel that channel in the dark!! The Moorings was hit pretty hard by the hurricane, but they were recovering as quickly as possible. They had 1 fuel dock running and another one still getting repaired, no wifi infrastructure, and no cable. Lots of their docks were in disrepair, but they did their best to accommodate all the loopers coming through. I shared The Moorings’ post-hurricane info on our INNTWadventures Facebook page, too, so check it out there if you didn’t see it yet.
Fishing boats in Carrabelle.We went out to eat at “The Fisherman’s Wife” restaurant where literally the fisherman brings his catch in and his wife cooks it up in her restaurant. I had the quesadillas because I’m boring. Obviously, the town was thankful to have their power back on after the hurricane.INNTW tied up on the dock at the Moorings. We’re hoping for a great night of sleep because we won’t sleep much tomorrow night!
Our plan is to meet with The Blessing and Miss Daisy in the morning to solidify plans for an overnight crossing tomorrow night. We feel pretty much set and ready with just a few last minute things to do. The goal for this night was to get a good night sleep and rest up as much as possible, but that’s hard to do when you’re anticipating something!!
While looking up the stats above, I noticed that this was our 63rd day of travel since we left Harrison Township, MI on July 19th. Wow!! That means 63 amazing places we’ve explored and 63 blog posts!! I’m pretty sure it is also day #121 of our trip. Still lots of adventures to come!!
Waking up in Fort Walton Beach it was COLD!! Now I get that Michigan already has snow on the ground, so I really shouldn’t complain, but this is just not what we expected for weather in Florida so early in the season. Just a sign that we need to keep on moving south!!
Brrrr!! And yes, for some reason Mike was up at 5:14 am. Not sure why…
We enjoyed the bright sunshine all day. Lucky for us (on days like today) our black bimini top and full enclosure on the flybridge heat the sundeck and the bridge up quickly! Tobin looked out the window for a while and then wanted to ask Siri how many sparkles are on the ocean water. Great question, sweet Tobin. I’m not sure Siri knows, but it sure made me smile.
After traveling through the sparkling bay for a while, we moved through a long skinny channel. We looked for gators, but no luck…Then finally back to wide open St Andrews Bay heading towards Shell Island.
We had a pretty long travel day to get here, but our hearts were set on getting our toes in the sand before sunset. Shell Island did not disappoint–it was exactly what we were hoping for!!
A super short dinghy ride to the beach and here we are!We couldn’t believe how white and powdery the sand was. And it squeaked with every step.
It was so great to dip our toes in and let the kiddos run free.Colin collected giant shells and made “shell houses” for tiny creatures the whole time we were there. He even got the other kids on board and they used great teamwork building lots of houses!This sailboat was blown up on shore, so we had to check it out. It didn’t seem in too bad of shape and we were surprised the owners didn’t come back for it yet. The companionway was wide open, so Mike closed it up to help keep critters and rain out. It’s name was Serenity, a very popular boat name. I can only imagine that serenity does not describe the way she got up there (I’m guessing during Hurricane Michael).Exploring and loving the peace and tranquility. There were about 4 other people on 2 other boats we saw, but that’s it.
I think the kids were just as happy as us to get their toes in the sand and go exploring.One happy crew tonight!!
Piles from a washed out dock.We met up with The Blessing again right before sunset, as they had the same beach plan that we did for the day. INNTW is on the right
We were watching a forecasted weather window for a few days that would give us a calm period allowing us to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs. As each day to the window drew closer, the weather was more accurate and it appeared we would have a chance to cross on Sunday or Monday night (2 days later). We still needed to cover over 80 miles to get to our preferred jumping off point, but we also loved exploring Shell Island the night before and didn’t want to leave so soon. After all, we worked really hard to get to this beautiful beach, so we wanted to enjoy it. In a game time decision (which has become quite the norm) we decided to stay put another day to enjoy and have a long travel day the next day. I’m so glad we did! This full day on Shell Island was wonderful!
A little morning story time with Dad before breakfast. Moments like these are one of our favorite parts of this adventure. We have the time to sit and read a book and have a leisurely breakfast together on a Friday morning.You can’t beat breakfast on the sundeck!!The kids were thrilled to get out the kayaks again!! Mike and I joined in the dinghy after we finished packing up all the necessities for a day at the beach. Notice the piles for the dock on the right in the picture. I can only assume Hurricane Michael washed away the dock boards just over a month ago.I got to go on a solo run on the beach and I came across this boardwalk to the other side of the island. It was filled with sand and debris from the storm surge after the hurricane. You would be surprised how many flip flops were in that pile of garbage. Signs of a fire where a house once stood.This shell was a little more complete and was still surprisingly sturdy. All that was left was some wiring and a bathroom sink hanging down through the floor joists.I came across these giant footprints. I’m guessing a Blue Heron??I also found these tracks. Raccoons?? We found whole sand dollars everywhere!! That was probably Hayley’s favorite part of the island!!
These boys are always digging holes!!He could do this forever. “I’m at water level!!”Brave enough to go for a swim.So many great treasures to find here!We had the most amazing sunset after returning to the boat. The boat in the picture anchored overnight there.
We had an amazing day on Shell Island! We saw about 6 people, 2 dogs, 4 passing boats, and a few passing planes all day. We talked with one lady who was working on rebuilding a structure on the island. She said the hurricane wiped it right down to the foundation, and they suspect that the entire island was covered with water during/after the storm. She said in the summer it is quite the party island, so they have a pretty basic “pole barn” style building that they can lock up completely when they aren’t there.
This was such a great stop for us. When I came back from my run I told Mike I found my new favorite place. I’ve checked out the price of lots, but unfortunately you aren’t really supposed to build on the island. I wonder how many places along the way I will find that I want to move to or visit again? This is definitely on that list!! We need to keep moving on to be able to make our weather window, so we’re off. Thanks for reading and following our adventure!!
After our LONG, COLD adventure in Pensacola, we were thrilled to wake up to sunshine!! But it was freezing, freezing cold. Somehow the kids ended up cuddling in our bed watching PBS appisodes first thing, and I see exactly how freezing Hayley was.
Wonder if she actually slept in that winter coat??
We were just thankful we didn’t get a knock in the middle of the night asking us to move our boat, and we didn’t want to push it much into the morning. We were up and at em early and trying to figure out how we were going to maneuver out of this little clown car spot we got ourselves into. The wind loves to blow our boat around because of our totally enclosed flybridge, and today it wanted to blow us right back into the spot we were parked in. There was a pile and dock about 10 feet behind us and an angled concrete wall about 7 feet in front of us. It totally makes me think about that scene from Austin Powers where he gets the golf cart stuck in the hallway and goes back and forth a million times to try to turn around. Luckily it did not take us a million times, just 20 or so, and we only suffered 1 minor scrape on the swim platform before we got out of there.
10 feet in the back…From this view it looks like NO extra feet in front of us! Look at how slippery and wet that sidewalk is next to us–that didn’t help, either.
After getting out of the spot, getting out of that tight channel with the wind was another huge relief. And then we were back into Pensacola Bay. And it was windy. It was the kind of day where I tried not to think about the waves because they were 2 footers or so, but they were coming behind us, for the most part, so we couldn’t feel them much. There was only a 20 minute stretch or so where we took them on our beam and we rocked back and forth, before we were more protected in the channel.
Getting used to this sight on the ICW. Getting passed (and waked) by big boats is a daily occurrence. Luckily this guy was a fellow looper, and he gave us a slow pass. We worked on school work along the way. Here, Hayley is learning about different shapes, and she had to cut out and tape cubes and rectangular prisms together. It’s (usually) so fun helping the kids with their math because they are naturals at it. And I love the way she rocks her math–winter coat/life jacket combo on top and pj pants on the bottom!
Before too long we were nearing our destination, but we headed to fill up with diesel fuel first. There was a fishing boat already on the fuel dock and they gave us some bait so we could try fishing. I think the boys had plenty of fun digging through the bucket and picking up the minnows, shrimp, and tiny crabs!!
We literally ran their diesel tanks dry. The worker at the fuel dock said some marinas in the area are still having trouble getting fuel and many residents nearby are just now returning to their homes after Hurricane Michael hit just over a month ago.
We bought every bit of diesel the dock had and then headed to our destination for the night, the Fort Walton Free Dock. There was already a looper there, so we met some new friends after they helped catch our lines. Barb and Jay are from Canada and traveling on The Blessing. Of course we can’t say their boat name without sounding like Uncle Louis in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, so I’m sure they love us. We love the fact that they searched all over for their boat and planned on taking a year to figure out how to drive it before they actually started the loop, seeing as they have never owned a boat before. However, after they spent a few days with a captain, Barb said she didn’t think they needed to wait a year and they should just do it now…INNTW?!
Here’s The Blessing just waiting for INNTW‘s company.
We bundled up (again) and headed out to check out the town. We found a playground (surprise) and a brewery (surprise). Perfect kind of evening!!
The kids were entertained by mindless TV and toothpicks. And maybe by my silly faces…
On the way home we spent all of our cash at a library book sale, checked out these Indian Mounds nearby, and then caught the very end of a beautiful sunset.
We ended the evening with a birthday celebration!! Even though it was very cold, Mike said we could count it as his birthday since it was so sunny!!
We woke up to another overcast, chilly, rainy day, so we decided we had overstayed our welcome in Orange Beach. We braved some wind to pull out of the slip and past all those huge boats, but we made it out just fine.
We have a “new normal” to get used to, traveling on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. There is a marked channel to stay in, but it is fairly tight at times. Lots of boats in the channel are running on plane, so they throw huge wakes at us that we bounce over at 8-9 mph. Some boats are pontoon boats and you feel like you are going to swamp them when you go past them at 8mph, but I can’t imagine passing them at 20+. Quite often there is a ton of water to be seen, but just outside of the channel markers, it gets extremely shallow–like 1-2 feet in many places. INNTW would not like that, so we stay between the markers. Sometimes the chartplotter plays a trick and wants to send you outside the channel or tells you the channel is actually over about 50 feet to one side or the other, but we’ve heard (and learned) that you should trust what you see and just stay between the markers.
Due to the weather and the fact that it was a Wednesday, we didn’t see many (any??) boats out on this particular travel day. What we did hear over and over again was a warning from the Coast Guard about “pyrotechnics” at a nearby Fort Somethingorother. Of course we had to look it up right away to make sure we weren’t close to that location, and thank goodness we weren’t. But just another adventure to keep our day interesting.
“Dolphin Alert! Dolphin Alert!”
Immediately with the books again!! If only we could bring porpoising dolphins into every elementary school!!!Crossing into FLORIDA!!NO WAKE, IDLE SPEED, and RESUME NORMAL OPERATION signs everywhere. You really have to watch for them!!Beautiful deserted beach area. Beautiful if it was warm out, at least.Tobin (or Chase?!) kept us entertained with his best Coco impression. I love being serenaded by my children! Notice the “windshield wiper” is all set up–another rainy day!
We made it in to Pensacola and tied up at a free wall at the end of a long, narrow channel. It was a little nerve wracking because we weren’t exactly sure we knew where the free dock was (despite reading Active Captain reviews and scouring satellite images) and it was such a tight space, there was very little room for error. After arriving at the dock, we barely fit in the space, so we are lucky no one was there before us. After a quick lunch and layering of every single warm thing we had, we were off to explore Pensacola (a high of about 50* expected–brrr).
We walked on a little trail and learned about some of the early explorers in the area and then headed to an archeological museum.
Hayley got to meet this guy who was supposedly shipwrecked and needed a ride back to Spain.The kids took turns sorting through items found on archeological digs in the area and learning about them based on size, weight, texture, etc. It was pretty cool.
After we were bored of learning about pirates, explorers, treasure, and artifacts, we called for an Uber to take us to the FREE Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum.
Planes, planes everywhere!!This one felt like it was made out of corrugated cardboard!!This big plane with the yellow wings was the first style to cross the Atlantic. It is amazing to see the evolution of flight. Read more about the NC-4 here.Blue Angels!! They are so much quieter inside the museum, but still just as close together!!There were a bunch of areas set up like a ship, a street from the 1940’s, a camp from WWII, and probably more. It was so cool to walk through and I think it really helped the kids to understand what those experiences were like. Here Mike is sitting in the barber chair.We sat in every single plane that you could.And took pictures in every single one, also.
The Naval Aviation Museum was awesome. We saw so many planes, learned about many “firsts” in aviation, and developed a new respect for those who protect our freedom. What an awesome stop!! Plus, we couldn’t believe it was FREE!! That is, aside from the Uber ride to get there. But then when we tried to leave, we learned that Uber drivers aren’t allowed on base to pick up riders, so we had to wait for a cab from a specific company. We waited well over an hour for our ride and about half an hour after closing time. In the end, the FREE museum cost us about $80 in transportation, but at least the museum was amazing!! Just another adventure, right?!
When we finally got back to the boat we were hungry, tired, and freezing. The temperature on the boat was about 55* so we cranked that heat up and ate a quick dinner and headed to bed.
Time on their Kindles waiting for dinner. Obviously Hayley is chilly!!
Oh yeah….by the way. The Pensacola Wall is supposed to just be a day stop with no overnight docking. Our plan was to move to a nearby anchorage before dark, but with the Uber confusion we didn’t get back until well after dark. We figured we’d take our chances at staying overnight and no one ever said a thing. Thank goodness! I did not want a knock on the boat in the middle of the night telling us we had to leave, but I suppose we would have just explained our story and worked the fact that we have 3 kids on board to our advantage. Nothing is easy on this adventure and every single day is different, that’s for sure!! Part of what makes it so amazing, I guess. Thanks for reading and following along!!
Destination: The Wharf Marina, Orange Beach, Alabama
Distance: 44.2 miles
Speed: 9.5 mph
Time on the Move: 4 hours and 37 minutes
We were anxious to get moving again after a few days in Mobile. It was fun, but we were done and ready to move on to the next adventure. Which we heard would most likely include DOLPHINS!! Traveling through Mobile Bay is a magical experience for many loopers after the long, busy, muddy river section. The experience has been described to us by several people and they all seem to remember sparkling water, warm sunshine, and dolphins jumping all around their boat, as if to welcome them to salt water. We were sure hoping for that kind of an experience and the day didn’t disappoint from the first peek out the window.
A cruise ship had returned to port overnight and was docked a ways behind our boat. It was fun to look out and see the ship with the big red and blue fin that is a trademark of Carnival.
Seeing this cruise ship made me feel better about the lack of cleaning on INNTW!!Look at all the colorful containers stacked up and ready to ship around the world.
We were excited to see what the day would bring, so we finished our morning “prepare to leave” chores and then pushed off from the Mobile wall. I was a little nervous to see what the waves would be like out in the bay because we were supposed to have a slight chop about a foot and a half or so. We didn’t have to worry about these kinds of open water things for SO LONG that I wasn’t really looking forward to analyzing the weather constantly again. My friend Laura gave me a little texting pep talk, reminding me that is isn’t that far through the bay and we would be seeing DOLPHINS!!
After we got out into the bay there really wasn’t anything to worry about wave-wise. It was a little bumpy and busy at first, but it smoothed out nicely and turned out to be a beautiful day.
Lots of fishing boats out there!!Look at those nets!!
Of course the kids heard the rumors about dolphins, so they were hanging out on the flybridge just waiting for the big show to start. Sure enough, Hayley was sitting next to me when she jumped up and said she saw almost a whole dolphin’s body right next to the boat. She seemed to think the show was over, but it was actually just beginning. We were all so excited to see the dolphins swimming and jumping right there next to us. You can tell by the screeches and screams in the videos that we were THRILLED to see dolphins. They swam with us for a few minutes and then just as quickly as they showed up, they were gone, with no warning.
I felt slightly offended they didn’t want to hang out longer, but the kids were so thrilled that they ran to get some dolphin books we have on board and started reading all about them. The motivational power of real experiences is amazing! My teacher-mama heart was so happy to see them huddled over the books, so excited to read and learn more about dolphins. And sure enough, before too long, more dolphins decided to swim along with us and the squealing came back with a vengeance!!
Mike and I were thrilled to be heading through Mobile Bay, giving INNTW her first salt water bath. We felt like we really made it to a part of the trip we had been waiting for and dreaming about for months. We saw several looper boats along the way and there was a lot of chatter on the radio about where people were headed and how we were so thankful to be done with the rivers. I love the feeling of comraderie along the loop!!
Turning out of Mobile Bay and onto the ICW we had another dolphin escort and now we have a tight channel to stay in. There are bridges and other boats, some going fast and some going slow, all trying to stay in the same channel. It is the most like driving a car on a road that we have felt yet on the boat. We passed by LuLu’s Restaurant, sister of Jimmy Buffet who built one heck of a colorful, tropical restaurant right off Mobile Bay. Many loopers stop here on their boats, but we wanted to go with Have Another Day who was a few hours behind us, so we decided to head back later by car. We passed by some HUGE boats in marinas and a boat with the biggest props I’ve ever seen. It was a Sportfish pulled out of the water so we could see props that had to be about 36″ in diameter (ours are probably about 18-20″ for comparison). Mike let me drive for about 2 minutes so he could work on some project. Of course in that 2 minutes, we got passed by another boat, had to move around a construction crane, and also saw a manatee in the river. I was too busy driving to really pay attention to the manatee, but Mike saw the tail so we knew that’s what it really was.
Pulling in to The Wharf was a bit overwhelming because the fairways are very narrow, the boats are HUGE, and they all stern in (back in to their slips). We have not typically sterned in, but it seems to be the thing to do here in the south, so it looks like we will get plenty of practice. Mike did great maneuvering and backing in, of course, and I am the one who caused a slight problem when I told him we were going to hit on the back corner when **maybe** we weren’t.
Can you even see INNTW in the middle of all those sport fish and giant boats??Gotta admit, it feels like we’ve finally “made it.”Look at all those shops and restaurants!!
We checked in and called for a ride back to LuLu’s. We were ready to celebrate FINALLY making it to a tropical location that actually felt tropical. We had an amazing time at LuLu’s–live music, sand for the kids to play in, and sunshine. We probably stayed too long and drank too much, but it was a celebration with friends of finishing the rivers and starting a new leg of our journey. It was just what we needed.
Happy to be at LuLu’s!!Ahhhhh….Our viewSlightly different view…Celebrating with The Steins!!
The next morning we woke up and it was rainy. It seems like we just can’t win, but we had great memories of sunny yesterday. It actually rained off and on all day long. I did laundry at the marina, Mike worked on some troubleshooting (always something–heat’s fixed because we knew we’d need it the next day), and the kids played. Hayley went to Have Another Day to play with the Stein girls for quite a while and the boys were so busy playing bro-bro spies (or something) that they didn’t even seem to notice.
At least the rain washed the salt off INNTW (pictured here with her big sisters!!).Silly fun with the Stein girls!!
There were so many loopers in the marina that we decided to get together for docktails at a restaurant right there at the Wharf. The Wharf is a full community of shops and restaurants (and even an ice rink!!) built around an upscale marina. It was very convenient to have all kinds of shops and restaurants close by!! The kids stayed on the boat and ate bagels and watched a movie while Mike and I met other loopers for docktails about 5 boat slips down from our boat. It was the best of both worlds! And again with the looper camaraderie and helpfulness…the night was full of troubleshooting, planning, and remembering boats and faces from cities we’ve already passed through.
The next day was Mike’s 36th birthday!! Yay!! It was freezing cold and raining–again!! Boo!! But Mike handled it like a champ–he refused to celebrate his birthday unless it was warm and sunny out, so we showered him with homemade cards, but then spent the rest of the day doing very un-birthday like things.
One of Colin’s famous 3-D cards.Thank goodness these kids are into showering the birthday person with goodies and cards!! It makes a birthday in the freezing cold and rain way more fun!
You might remember that when we were headed into Mobile, we had some water in the bilge that we weren’t quite sure why it was there. Well turns out the carpet in front of the fridge was also soaking wet. So we ran through all the possibilities–fridge, freezer, water heater. We kept striking out until we opened the access panel in the floor right there and found that it was filled with water. Hmmm… So apparently that water was splashing/spilling out the top of the access when we ran up on plane. That leads to the next round of troubleshooting. Where is the water actually coming from?? Fresh water tank, thru hulls, leak?? Not knowing the answer to that second round of questions, we just decided to pump it out and keep an eye on it. For some reason the bilge pump light would go on, but there didn’t appear to be any water actually pumping out of the boat. So Mike took 10 giant buckets of water out that he pumped by hand. Yay! Just what everyone wants to do on their birthday!
Hello?! Is the problem in here??Ah ha!! Mysterious water is coming from down there!!Wondering if the fresh water tank is the culprit? Not sure so we’ll just wait and see, lol.
Next up, we said goodbye to our friends, The Steins, as they were getting ready to head home to Chicago for a month or so. We were sad to see them go, but we’re hopeful maybe we can talk them into the Bahamas later this winter.
There was a movie theater right at the Wharf, so lucky Mike got to see “The Grinch” and have dinner at a restaurant just a short walk from our boat. I’m sure it wasn’t his ideal birthday on the loop, but we’ve learned to roll with the punches. If every day was sunny and warm, that would seem so boring. With all the rain and cold temps we’ve experienced, we’ll be sure to appreciate the nice days!!
Watching “The Grinch” was kind of funny because we feel soooo removed from Christmas. It was cute, though!! Keeping my stash of smuggled in candy close!!Window shopping on our walk back to the boat.Thanks for following along!! Looking forward to more sunny days ahead!!
Destination: Mobile, Alabama Convention Center Free Wall
Distance: 125.8 miles
Speed: 11.4 mph
Time on the Move: 11 hours and 8 minutes
We were planning on waking up at Okatuppa Creek about 15 minutes before first light so we could be ready to zip out of there as soon as we could see. There was a big group of 10 boats 5 miles down river at Bobby’s Fish Camp that were all organized to arrive to the next lock early so they could lock through before scheduled maintenance. We got a message from a friend who was tied up with the group about their timing about 10 minutes too late for us to even make the lock, and we still couldn’t see a thing because we were tucked in under some trees. Not to mention the fact that we were leary about logs and trees that we saw coming into the river with all the heavy rains yesterday. I messaged our friend back and said there was no way we could make it and we would have to get in after the maintenance was taken care of.
Mike had a different plan, though. He did not want to sit around and wait for maintenance to get started. Before I knew it, he was fired up and pulling up the anchor. I got out the portable spotlight so we had a chance of seeing something as we snuck out of our anchorage. I also quick messaged our friend back that we were going to run on plane and try to make it, so hold the lock for us. That gets to be a sticky situation because people IN the lock don’t really like waiting for people who are RUNNING for the lock. That being said, when you’re RUNNING to make the lock, you totally feel like the people IN the lock could easily wait just a few minutes for you to get there. This particular lock had a malfunction with the drains and it was dropping very slowly, and that’s why they were doing maintenance later that morning. It also meant that if we missed it, we would be waiting quite a while for it to turn back around. Mike never looked back, though. He felt confidant that we could make it. Luckily we did not see 1 log or branch the whole 6 miles or so before we got to the lock. (Sure could have been because it was still quite dark and the spotlight only lights up so much). We ran on plane the entire way and entered the lock just as the boat before us was secure. Whew!! Another case of “glad we didn’t stay and wait.”
There was a celebratory feel (lots of picture taking, cheering, and waving) in the lock that morning because it is the LAST LOCK on the river system. Any boats that finish in Florida or up the whole east coast (until New York, maybe??) are DONE LOCKING COMPLETELY for the entire loop. Locks are known to be a nemesis to a time schedule. They are known for long delays due to commercial traffic and maintenance issues. Sometimes there is no place to tie up or anchor while you wait hours for your turn to go through, so you just have to idle in one position and avoid all the other boats that are also waiting their turn. Now we did not have many big issues locking, and we are so thankful. Other than the 2nd lock where we watched 2 boats get thrown around before they got out of it, and Mel Price where we aborted the mission once due to debris blocking the path and ended up doing a full 360* spin into it the next day, we did not have any trouble. But we will have plenty of locks still to come in the spring. I believe we’ve done about 30 locks so far, so that leaves about 70 for the spring and summer. But for the near future, we’re done.
Another bird looking for his breakfast!
We were the last boat to leave the lock, so we had an amazing view of the looper boat parade ahead of us. When this many boats are close together, there is always some jockying for position as we exit the lock. The faster boats call to pass the slower boats. The sailboats know right away they are going to get passed. Sometimes it’s easier and smoother than others. This time it took a while because there were so many boats, but it all worked out. We passed by our sailboat friends on Twin and talked to them for a few minutes on the radio. It’s funny how your “friend” boats kind of come and go as everyone travels different speeds, different distances each day, and stays different amounts of time at each location. Seeing a familiar boat from a few weeks back feels like you just ran into your best friend thousands of miles from home.
I bet you know our weather for the day, so I won’t cover that. We played games and worked on school work and wore Halloween costumes. We may or may not have brushed our teeth.
This section of the river is anything but straight, so we had lots of switch backs. It kept things interesting, doing all that curving around. You can see where we were around noon. This is probably where Mike started to think that he didn’t really want to stop at the planned anchorage near where it says Saraland, but instead, he wanted to go all the way to Mobile Bay. It was a discussion point for the rest of the day.
Passing this guy in all those curves was fun.
At some point the Captain and his Gunner had a photo shoot.
Eventually Mike trumped my vote to stop and anchor before sunset. He made it clear he was ready to be DONE with the rivers, so we were going all the way to Mobile Bay. We heard about a free wall at the convention center you could tie up to, so we put all our eggs in one basket and hoped they wouldn’t all break just minutes before dark (again). We had to run on plane for a bit to make it there before dark (again), but we were all excited to head into Mobile Bay. (Which actually, I learned later, we were still in the Mobile River. Close enough!!)
Hoping we can make it before dark.
We passed through a cool swampy area before we started to see signs of a busy port.
Several trains passed us on the tracks that go right along the river. Hard to see, but super cool.
Here’s another train crossing a bridge.
Hayley (or Princess of Love and Beauty) taking it all in.
Don’t they just look like fun?!
We passed by several big ships and realized we weren’t in Kansas anymore.
Tying up at the wall was pretty easy for us and we were set before dark. I worked on making dinner right away while Mike decided to check out the bilge pump in the engine room. Our pumps turned on several times throughout the day which wasn’t exactly normal, so we didn’t really know what to think of it, though everything looked okay underway.
The kids kept themselves occupied while we got all tied up. Magic Tracks are a favorite on the boat!! Unfortunately they had to pick up their cool obstacle course so Mike could get in the engine room.
It’s always something on the boat!!
It didn’t take long before everyone wanted to help. Mike’s so lucky to have all these helpers!!
After going in the engine room, it seemed that there was a lot of water in the bilge. We ran hard yesterday and again today, so we thought maybe that was the culprit. For whatever reason, there was still quite a bit of water in the bilge, so Mike had his helpers hand pump out a bunch of water. He didn’t seem too worried about it, but it was just another thing for us to keep an eye on. Funny how 1 thing gets fixed and 2 more pop up. It’s always something on the boat!!
I was amazed by our view from the wall. We were right across from the Austal shipbuilders where they are building LCS vessels for the US Navy. This LCS-22 was parked right along the river and her baby sister was still being put together. We heard it takes 6 months from start to finish to make a ship here.
You could see and hear welders working on this one all night long. So fascinating!!
Of course we did some research on these ships and they’re amazing. Some loopers said they have seen them out in Mobile Bay doing some sea trials. I really don’t like being close to BIG boats, so I’m glad we didn’t see any underway, but they sure are cool to see from afar! You can check out this LINK to read more about the LCS vessels.
Aside from staring at those babies, there were tug boats passing by and so many interesting things to see. I loved our spot for it’s proximity to the action. I took advantage of mild temps and all the entertainment to catch up on blogging.
I know I don’t LOOK super entertained blogging here, but I was. 🙂
The next day we did some adjusting of the lines because we were really dealing with TIDES for the first time!! When we woke up our big fenders were actually below the concrete wall, so we were bumping up against the wall and making some weird squeaking sounds. Just a few adjustments and we were good.
Classin up the place with all our wet towels on the rails.
We went walking and exploring around downtown Mobile. There were lots of little shops and restaurants/bars close by, as well as several museums and parks. The weather was supposed to be in the mid-70’s through early afternoon, and then drop drastically (obviously, because we were in town!!) and get very windy. So we took advantage of the warm morning to run around and chase lizards and ogle at palm trees.
We saw the same HUGE ship that we saw yesterday when we were getting into Mobile as it was heading back out to sea. He even honked for us!!
Tried to figure out if we could strap this guy to our bowsprit, but I just don’t think it would work.
Hayley found a place where everybody knows her name!! 😉
When you find a teepee in a bookstore, you might as well get cozy with a book!!
Look at this teeny-tiny crab we found walking in a parking garage (of all places?!). He was barely bigger than a fingertip and blended right in with the concrete, but Mike spotted him. We all got a kick out of watching him walk sideways.
Toby serenaded us with a sweet song. His favorite lately is “Remember Me” from the movie “Coco.”
After it got chilly we took a vote to see which museum we should go to. Of course the kid museum won because we are outnumbered. Not the adults’ first choice, but we figured the kids deserved something kid-oriented after all those long days on the rivers. We went to the Exploreum and it was your basic science center. Fun, but not amazing. That is….until we found the upstairs animation exhibit!! The Exploreum was suddenly way more fun for everyone once we found that exhibit!! Hayley loved tracing cartoon characters with a light box and the rest of us were into making our own animated movies.
That night the wind really picked up and created quite a chop on the water. It was a bit nerve wracking with the waves and wind, but we were very secure and Harry Potter kept us distracted until bed. (Who am I kidding?? The kids always sleep great, no matter where we are or what the weather is.) I woke up in the middle of the night hearing an engine nearby. It was loud enough to get me out of bed and peaking out the window. There was a HUGE freighter right next to our boat, with three tug boats working to keep it under control against the wind and waves. I watched it for a bit and then realized it was heading to the wall right in front of our boat to park and unload. I watched as the tug boats worked hard to push it over to the wall, but I knew that 1 wrong move and that freighter would blow right back towards our boat. I tried to make an escape plan in case something went wrong, but I’m not sure we would have been able to move fast enough to get out of the way. After worrying about this and watching through the only 2″x2″ square in the window that wasn’t fogged over for about half an hour I finally figured we were safe enough and went back to bed. Here was our morning view…
Looking on the bright side, I hoped he would block our waves, but he didn’t. The water in this picture is quite a bit calmer than it was overnight.
And later another one came right by…
It was sunny but chilly and still very windy–there was no way we could push off that wall if we wanted to, so we bundled up and headed back out on the town. We came across a big festival in the park, hit up the last 5 minutes of the farmer’s market (only cherry tomatoes and sweet potatoes left), and visited the Mobile Police Museum.
The boys chased squirrels while we listened to a live band play. Don’t those trees just look like they’re in the south?!
There were a lot of pictures, uniforms, and stories about policing Mobile for the last 150 years. I promise Colin wasn’t handcuffed.
We took a lunch break at a local brewery. The kids loved eating from the taco truck and playing games outdoors. We loved the relaxed atmosphere. Serda was a fun place!!
After rock, paper, scissors got boring, they moved on to table top pool.
After lunch we checked out the Mobile Carnival Museum. Turns out that Mobile holds the record for the most consecutive annual celebrations of Mardi Gras and NOT New Orleans. Mardi Gras actually started in Mobile in 1868 and has been celebrated every single year since. Our tour guide taught us how Carnival is focused around the most elite and established families in the area and is actually like a hierarchy of royalty in the Mobile area.
Waving to the masses from a REAL Carnival float!!
Royal Courts from long ago.
Some recent royal outfits. Many of these outfits cost tens of thousands of dollars and are covered in real furs and crystals.
The Herbon Royal Court
After we left the Carnival museum we were ready to burn off some energy in the chilly temps before heading back to the boat for the night.
Palm trees!!
Racing back to the boat…
INNTW with big ships everywhere!!
Tomorrow we are looking forward to moving through Mobile Bay and continuing south! Thanks for reading and following along!!
