Total Miles Traveled 2845
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On May 7th we departed Bluewater Bay Marina at Niceville, Florida and cruised 70 miles to Pirates Cove, an anchorage near Orange Beach, Alabama. The Emerald Coast is an unofficial name for the coastal area that stretches about 100 miles across the panhandle of Florida and Alabama.
We were in a narrow channel near the inlet at Pensacola and Fort McRee, a Coast Guard boat came flying close by us rocking our world and anything not tied down. I thanked them for the slow pass on VHF channel 16. I assumed they were enroute to some sort of emergency but found they were just doing a routine safety inspection and had a boat stopped about 2 miles from where they passed us. Moni was taking inventory below of any damage when I heard a siren and saw the Coast Guard on us with flashing lights announcing they wanted to board us. I slowed down for the boarding but first told them how upset I was for the inconsiderate pass in the channel. The senior officer apologized as the captain of the Coast Guard boat was new and inexperienced.
Three of them boarded our boat and completed a detailed
safety inspection, I believe it was a training exercise as two of them were
reading the instructions on each item as they completed the inspection form. I took the senior officer throughout the boat
for most of the checks and everything was in order. After they returned to their boat, they drifted
back behind us as we continued, but then they speeded up and started to pass us
close again??? We started waving our
arms for them to slow down and they finally got the message. Evidentially the senior officer didn’t
explain a slow pass to the captain yet.
We will usually anchor at Pirates Cove for a few days, it’s a great place to hang out with the locals and enjoy a great cheeseburger followed up with a bushwacker…..or two. The weather God’s have been kind to us, and the river system is in great shape to keep moving. In the past, we have been held up in this area for three weeks waiting for flood waters to recede in the rivers.
On May 8th we departed Pirates Cove at daybreak and entered Mobile Bay around 8 a.m., with calm winds and sunny skies. We crossed into the shipping channel around 1130 an found very little congestion and boating activity. This can be a very busy place with ships, barges, tows, and tour boats moving in all directions at the same time. There were not any ships at the loading docks, but shipping containers were stacked everywhere.
Our original plan was to anchor at Briar Creek, about 12 miles up the Mobile River but a pesty log just loved to keep circling around our boat. The log had several limbs underwater and I was afraid it would hook onto our anchor chain. The river was up a little and we are still in tidal waters, so the log and our boat kept drifting around in a circle. I could have dropped the dinghy and secured the log to shore but we decided to keep moving up river and anchored in the Tensas River….a 94 mile day….just before dark.
We departed our anchorage on May 9th at daybreak and exited the Coffeeville Lock a little past 6 p.m., we are now out of tidal waters and SALT. We continued upriver to an anchorage at Okatuppa Creek after traveling 87 miles. We decided to sleep in on May 10th and make a short cruise to our next anchorage at Bashi Creek. Our friends Mike and Jan on m/v Trust Me caught up with us later that evening. We spent the winter together at Key West and they are heading to Green Turtle Bay, Grand Rivers, Kentucky.
Channel markers for the most part are non-existent from previous flooding.
This is a serious catfish fisherman.
On May 11th, we departed our anchorage at daybreak and arrived at the Demopolis Lock around 3 p.m., then continued to Kingfisher Bay Marina at Demopolis. We stayed at the marina a couple of days to visit with Mike and Jan and the use of the courtesy car to groceries.
As long as we have had great weather and river conditions
we are continuing to travel north. We
departed Demopolis on May 13th and anchored at Cooks Bend with m/v
Trust Me, then on May 14th arrived at the Columbus Marina at
Columbus, Mississippi. Mike and Jan
stayed a couple of days then continued north but we are going to stay here a
month or so to complete a few preventative maintenance items on the boat and to
attend one of our grandsons graduation from high school.
We decided to bring our vehicle back after attending the graduation in Indiana but could not find a one-way car rental. The weekly rate for a car was the same price as a flight to Indiana so we scheduled a flight for Saturday the 21st. I had Lyft scheduled to pick us up at 4 p.m. for the commute to the airport but the flight was cancelled on the 20th and rescheduled for Sunday the 22nd at 6:30 a.m.. I rescheduled a Lyft for 4 a.m. Sunday morning. At 4:10 a.m. I received a text that a Lyft driver was not available, I tried Uber and again, no drivers were available. With non-refundable tickets we were in a pickle to get transportation to the airport. A boat had arrived at the transient dock the previous day so as much as I hated to, I walked over and pounded on their boat to wake them up. It took four attempts but finally someone came to the door……without a weapon! I explained our situation and they graciously agreed to take us to the airport with the courtesy car. It turns out, they had just purchased the boat in Florida and were taking it to our home port at Green Turtle Bay. They are starting the loop in the Fall, so we’ll probably travel with them as we head south in October.
We had a great visit with family and friends and were able to see Eyan graduate during our week in Indiana.
