03/18: Yippee! Under way again.
Left under gray skies with threat of rain, made good speed (@ 8 mph) for
the 25 miles across Mobile Bay to pick up the Gulf Inter-Coastal Waterway
(GCIW) along with another 25 miles to a pleasant anchorage in Roberts Bayou about
6 miles as crow flies inland from Orange Beach and some 25 miles from our next
stop at the NAS Pensacola Marina.
Had a pleasant 6 night stay in Turner Marine Yard; daytimes,
Bonnie & Donna conferred with RAMSCA colleagues and I worked on boat
chores. Nights were RAMSCA social,
ranging from a welcome reception, a visit to and meal at the Mobile Mardi Gras
Museum (fine chow, over the top examples of Mobile society partying at Mardi Gras)
and a closing banquet-another fine meal.
Folks in Mobile eat well.
Sunday we drove over to Fairhope AL where Bonnie had a chance to finally
meet her 2nd cousin, Jennifer, a talented individual and, with her
husband, a very enjoyable couple. As usual, it was fun being with friends from as far back as
1966 when I was first in the Army. When walking the dogs this AM, met a couple
that admired the girls. Kay, then asked how we managed getting on/off boat at
hi or low tides—all the docks “down south” seem to be fixed vs. floating. We
haven’t been challenged yet but they offered their pet gangplank (works for
humans too-up to 250 lbs) as they no longer use it. Wow—how nice to have met
them-typical of the boaters we meet along the way. They are retired Navy and
new best friends for the moment shared on the dock. I just wasn’t going to
worry about this until we ran into the problem of getting the girls up or down
3+feet. Mobile Bay is rather shallow, except for the dredged ship channel, so
any wind made it a bit choppy….but nothing like Great Lakes choppy. Once in the
ICW, we obviously were in a new phase of the journey… spring is here with
flowers and green trees, significant increase in variety of wildlife, a couple
dolphins popping up and frequent, an understatement, signs of civilization!
Stopped at Lulu’s for lunch….eclectic restaurant owned by Lucy Buffet, Jimmy’s
sister. He sometimes comes by but today we just listened to his music. Bill had
to have a “Cheeseburger in Paradise”, I had a shrimp salad wrap..with fried
okra-yum. We had 2 options for tonight’s anchorage. First was Ingram’s Bayou,
where we had anchored in 1992 on a sailing charter. Very quiet, no homes BUT
poor “take doggies ashore” site (have avoided reptiles so far) so went further
on to Robert’s Bayou—lovely, quiet, many older homes with older boats. And
there was the perfect little park, Josephine, with a perfect dock to dinghy to.
Lots of pelican activity but no dolphin show tonight. We were still so full
from Lulu’s lunch that we only had a light salad for dinner.
Hinnerk on the Paulinchen--first met on the Illinois River and reconnected here in Mobile at Turner's Marina
Lulu"s on the ICW
Roberts Bayou
A Great Blue Heron
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