09/23 So here are we are on the beaches of LA. That’s where Emily said she was moving, so we
thought we might find her here.
Apparently she wasn’t talking about Lower Alabama.
Coming out of Mobile Bay and turning back onto the ICW and
canals is a mixture of cruising grounds - starting with "The Canyon", wide bays, rivers and open Gulf water.
Gone are the bayous, small modest (being a little kind here) houses and miles and miles
of wilderness.
We also have clear blue
waters and white powdery sand – along with the condos and the big fancy
restaurants that have replaced our funky fish shacks. Although we’re still in Alabama, it feels
like Florida, whereas before Alabama felt like….Alabama. Goodbye spiders (the bane of river
travel). Hello barnacles. Back to tides and saltwater. We haven't thought about wave heights since we left Lake Michigan in Chicago.
Last night we had drinks at Lulu’s – a bar/restaurant owned
and run by Lulu Buffett, Jimmy’s sister.
Apparently, he has been known to play a few sets there.
Unfortunately, as we were warned, it lost its funk when it was moved from a previous location – and now is GIGANTIC and has
it’s own boutique, etc.
We enjoyed a
couple of good sets from a duo.
09/24 After a little morning relaxation, we moved to a resort – more like a marina parked
in front of Atlantic Station – dozens of stores and restaurants, and ferris wheel. And a “light and sound show” every evening on
Main Street. It’s certainly a far cry
from Bobby’s Fish Camp. But it’s not
often that we can walk from the boat to a movie theater (I can think of only
one other instance), so we took advantage of that for a change of pace.
09/26 Then on to Pensacola – a surprisingly nice city – great
historic districts.
Many times we visit
places and we (mostly Debi) say…if only we had been here X days/weeks
earlier/later, we could have seen the parade/festival/museum exhibit/concert/circus/marathon/Super Bowl of yo-yo championship
throw-off.
Well, this time we
accidentally lucked into the Pensacola Seafood Festival. In addition to the obvious, they also had a
really impressive line-up of free music, including JJ Grey and Mofro, Bonerama,
and Amanda Shires (below) – if those names mean anything to you. Not Phillips Arena $200/ticket names, but
certainly Variety Playhouse $25/ticket names.
And all of this is in a park a few blocks from the boat.
We have also found Pensacola to be more interesting and historic than we expected so we spent a fair amount of time just exploring by bike. Even found an outdoor piano for Jim.
When traveling by boat, life doesn’t get suspended.
Things happen – like doctor visits.
In 2012, Debi and I both ended up riding our
bikes to the same clinic within a few days of each other.
I think we escaped 2013 with no such visits
and so far this year we have had the same good fortune.
However, Charlie fell victim to a foot
injury.
What would be routine/easy in
ATL becomes more complex when you don’t know a vet, or the area, and have no
car – on a Saturday.
But we found a
place within a couple of miles that was open on Sat. a.m. and they could see him
immediately.
My idea of biking him was
aborted within a half mile – he kept sliding down my body and there wasn’t much
I could do about it while steering with one hand.
So I locked the bike and we walked the rest
of the way.
Easy fix - just broken toenail. He was fine – except for
that humiliating pink bandage around his foot.
He got a lot of attention this way – as if he didn’t already.
09/27 A couple of rainy days (usually good for catching up on work and other mundane life tasks like paying bills). Fortunately, we’re also in Pensacola – with plenty to do - some indoors. The number one attraction is the Naval Air Museum – the largest such museum in the world. It is very well done and worth several hours, if not the full day or more some reviewers suggested.
09/28 Our first guests since Labor Day, Noel and Beth Burt, arrived tonight. Noel was a grad student of mine – a few years after the bumper crop of Debi and Steve. We’ve stayed in touch intermittently since they moved to NC 11 years ago.
The visit started a bit oddly. We rented a car in Pensacola to do some touring, grocery shopping – and then the 80 minute drive to the airport in Ft. Walton - timed it perfectly to pick them up as they were walking out the door. Unfortunately, when you google Ft. Walton airport, you get directed to the Ft Walton/Destin airport – a small corporate jet sort of place - NOT the door they were walking out of. So, they had to wait about 30 minutes for us to find our way to the Northwest Florida Regional Airport…a slight communication gap.
After correcting that little mix-up, we enjoyed meals, games, bike riding – the usual routine. Noel is the kind of guy Debi wished lived in her house – always looking for things to fix or fix up. Very clever and handy. And Beth, among other things, was the best looking woman at Noel’s recent high school reunion - (inside joke, though quite true).
09/30 The next morning, we moved on to SanDestin – now getting close to our frequent visiting areas of Grayton Beach and Seagrove – site of the 30A Songwriter Festival we attend each January.
We were also happy to find the serendipity of George Gary and Susan Schlittler visiting their cottage in Grayton Beach, a short drive away. They were traveling with George’s brother Bret, who Jim has had the honor of skiing with during a couple of the annual Taos visits (had not met his wife Lisa).
We all had a great dinner in the “village” (a relatively pleasant but Disney-esque bunch of stores and restaurants, pedestrians only).
The next night, we enjoyed another beautiful sunset and a concert on the lawn in the "town square".
10/1 October, yeah. It has still mostly been sunny warm and humid Florida. Looking forward to Saturday morning, when the low is supposed to be 20 degrees cooler. Noel and Beth left today after three really great days of
visiting. They were very thoughtful
guests, as all of you have been. Equally
importantly, they (or at least Beth) was an enthusiastic game player and crossword puzzle partner (and at
least Noel was willing).
A trip through the south like ours means coming to live with
a sequence of football fans. We started
with the Vols back in Tennessee, then worked our way through Auburn and Bama
fans as we moved west and then south through Alabama. Even when we were briefly in Mississippi, we were more
likely to see Roll Tide than Ole Miss or Mississippi State. But now we have definitely entered Seminole
territory. I expect we will see more
Gators when we cross the Gulf. Makes me
long for the days 14 months ago when we saw Green and White down the Lake
Michigan shore.
10/2 On to Panama City.
A perfect travel day for a 60 mile trip – glassy smooth waters on the
large bays we crossed (30 x 4 miles).
And….more dolphins. We have had eight dolphins at one time, flanking both sides of the boat with their acrobatics - better than Sea World!
10/3 We weren’t terribly impressed with downtown Panama
City.
Wasn’t bad – just “tired” as Debi
said.
And we found a weather window we
didn’t expect so left early yesterday morning just ahead of a storm.
We "raced" it (18 mph) to Port St Joe - with a weather alert sounding on our radio for boaters to take cover immediately due to heavy storm band heading east at 30 mph (but we still had sunny skies).
Got fueled and tied up just in time for the downpour and heavy winds. If we had lost the race, getting out of the ocean (was outside for short time) …. we could have ended up like this poor vessel. BTW, for those of you in the market for a "fixer upper" - this one had "Free Boat" spray-painted on its side.
10/4 Our good friend Marcia who lives in Jupiter FL was in Cape San Blas tending to her rental property – a 25 minute drive away.
So last night she picked us and to-go dinner up and took us to visit her property.
Had a nice dinner with her, Bart and Maggie - her two helpers. The three of them are on their way right now to hang out today and
spend the night, so we have some tidying up to do, according to Captain D.
Pretty low key day, as it turned out. Well, except for Jim's crashes in the messed up marina tricycle (as in no brakes!) they loaned him to go to Piggly Wiggly. Debi was very sorry to have missed witnessing the action.
Lunch at the marina café, wandering through the town, relaxing on the bow…. Maggie had fun with Charlie.
Debi fixed a great dinner, and then off to a nearby bar. Marcia and Debi left me there listening to some mediocre karaoke, which wasn’t much of a distraction from the Spartan football game. The latter went from a Spartan blow-out to a cliff-hanger finisher, barely preserving the W.
10/5 After a bike ride on a local bike path through parks and
woods, we took off for a fairly easy 32 mile cruise to Apalachicola. Downtown is booked at least for tonight – so
we are up a creek, which is not as bad as it usually sounds. Actually quiet, private, and beautiful
marshy surroundings – but only a half mile bike ride from downtown.
I had taken a lot of photos when we here last
year in the RV – and some turned out well enough to blow up on canvas (and one
hangs in our galley on Sea Fever). I’ve
looked at those long enough that when I saw the real objects of these photos,
they looked strangely three dimensional – and with different light, etc.
Had very nice three days in Apalach - our first marina came in handy for a unique boat maintenance task. We needed a low working platform to reach an external exhaust on SF. Debi spotted a home-made floating house, with a low deck that she decided would be perfect - so, of course she talked her way onto it.
We moved SF to the side of the house, did the work, made three friends in the process and we all ended up going to happy hour and dinner at Papa Joes in town - oysters for them but definitely not for us!
We then moved closer to town a bit and the new marina gave us a golf cart - put it to good use, riding throughout the historic residential neighborhood, and all around town to check out shops and galleries.
We mapped out a full evening on the town, to take in several favorite local spots. Our first stop was the Gibson Inn tavern - beautiful old hotel with all-wood bar, built in 1914. A lonely piano sat in the corner and Debi always does her best to remedy that situation. Jim's playing was an immediate draw to some enthusiastic singers. Joining in on Georgia on My Mind was Bubba McDonald - an elected official from Georgia. He was in Apalachicola for a conference.
We then meandered on to Bowery Station (had their own guitar player), to Owl Cafe for a delicious dinner and to the Tap Room for our final survey of local establishments. Evening ride home in the golf cart was just plain fun!
10/8 Early morning rise, quick breakfast in town, went back to the floating house for a 5 minute touch-up to our repair job, then said good-bye to Apalach - great town!
A slow cruise to Carabelle - a simple little town which is mostly known as the waiting point, for boaters to cross over the Gulf. We will be taking the shorter cross-over (85 miles) tomorrow - looks like perfect weather. Debi cooked a nice dinner, settled in behind a giant Florida Law Enforcement boat - gotta be on our best behavior.
As you can see, we are getting close - planning on crossing our wake the week-end of November 14….
See you on the west coast of FL….
