Good Karma Adventures: Gulf Shores AL to Fort McRae FL 12-2 thru 12-3

I know it has been a week since I’ve written. I have a good excuse. I am trying to upload pictures to the slide show on the blog but my current tool, Flickr, requires that I upload one picture at a time. If it allows folders I haven’t figured it out. So I was talking to Paula (more about her later) and she suggested switching to Picassa or Shutterfly both of which allow uploading folders. Since I have hundreds of photos that you have never seen, I want it to be easier to upload entire folders. So I started investigating.

I decided Picassa would be best since it is a Google product and my blog is in Google. Should make it easier, right? So I found instructions on how to make the switch and I have been working on it all week in my spare time. First I put the Flickr photos in one Flickr folder then used this program to copy it to a file which I uploaded to Dropbox. Then I imported it into Picassa. I am editing and sorting to make it easier to see. The next step is to associate the correct Picassa file with the blog. I should be able to finish it in the next few days. Then you can see all my Great Loop photos, edited with tags associated with them!

Back to the adventure!

We left Mobile on a sunny, warm and absolutely spectacular day Sunday December 2, 2012. It feels odd to be in December, doesn’t it? Especially when it is 70 degrees and sunny out. I know. Low blow. Too bad!!

We left Sareanna and The Zone at Dog River to continue their quests for boat repairs. The Zone got back in the water on Friday 12/7/12, exactly the date Dog River promised!! But they were out of the water for about a month. A very long time. Dick and Deanna on Sareanna are not sure when the y will be able to leave. We miss them.

We did a few time trials to see how well the boat held together. It did just fine. All the repair work seems to hold together, which is nice after what we spent on those repairs. We traveled with Satisfaction for most of the day.

Since I am writing this on Saturday December 8, 2012, let me chunk up our adventure into a few pieces so we can all stay together.

Leaving Dog River and traveling across Mobile Bay

Sunday 12/2/12 traveled 38 miles from Dog River Marina in Mobile AL to Holiday Harbor Marina in Perdido Key FL. Finally in Florida!! Not that the rivers weren’t nice but come on… we are in Florida now!! We left at about 9am, stopped at Lulu’s in Gulf Shores, AL for lunch at about 12:30, didn’t leave until 2:30 and arrived at Holiday Harbor at about 4pm. A long day but very pleasant. We will be staying in the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway until we get to Carravelle to cross the Gulf. The water is mostly flat. In some places it is narrow like a river and in most places it is wide like a lake. You can always see land on either side, sometimes you can see in people’s living rooms.

MV Satisifaction, our companion through Lulu's

Lulus in Gulf Shore AL is a real trip. Lulu is Jimmy Buffett’s sister. She calls herself Crazy Sista. The place would be nothing without the connection to Jimmy Buffett but everyone comes hoping to see Jimmy. Lunch was good – highlight was the fried green tomatoes and cold beer. Home Port Marina was beautiful with new docks and lots of big boats but almost no people. This will be a trend for this entire week. Almost no people anywhere. We are told it is low season. If that is the case, I highly recommend the Gulf coast in the low season. My favorite parts of Lulu’s were the bathrooms

and this crazy jungle gym for adults – closed unfortunately otherwise I would have been all over it.

Lulu's Restaurant in Gulf Shores at the beginning of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway

I would love to have tackled this but it was closed... too bad...

Sculpture in the yard. In a way this sort of looks like Jimmy Bucketts on the Sandusky River.

Cool sculpture at LuLu's

The MV Vicki Lynn

After lunch, more water:

Critter alert: We saw our first dolphins on our way to Holiday Harbor. They are so cute!! We got a few good pictures but mostly we got pictures of water where dolphins used to be.

The dolphins come right up to the side of the boat

Can you see the dolphin under the water?

Bunches of birds on the water mean lots of fish are at the surface, probably being chased by bigger fish

Another dolphin running with us

My best dolphin shot that day!!

We met up with One September at Holiday Harbor Marina at the end of our ride on Sunday. They left Eastern Shore in Mobile days earlier and have been traveling VERY slowly waiting for us to join them. They picked up cousins Rich and Paula Mandel for a week. They brought the good weather. When they left yesterday (Friday) it went back to chilly and cloudy. They need to come back again soon!

Good Karma at Holiday Harbor - One September is right in front of us

Let’s stop for a minute and think for a moment about what makes a good guest. Paula and Rich were great guests. They smiled a lot, didn’t complain about anything, and were open to any crazy idea anyone had. They were fun! They picked up their shoes, entertained us and themselves, and were generally great to be around. And we didn’t have to live with them. The perfect guests. To top it off, they brought fun with them! They brought a guest, their neighbor’s son Ben Katz who is training to be a pilot at Pensacola Naval Air Station. And we got a private tour!! Thank you Paula and Rich!!! Everyone else, take note about what it takes to be a great guest. We want you to visit so come prepared.

We are skipping a lot of great anchorages and marinas to get here. Charlie Crawford suggested Pirate’s Cover as a great anchorage and lots of people like The Wharf and Orange Beach but we didn’t stop. We needed to get to Perdido Key. Mike and Judy said the Wharf was deserted anyway so we are glad we did not stop. We learned last night that some of the locals blame the media coverage of the oil spill for scaring people away. I have to say the ocean and ICW are beautiful with no signs of problems so don’t be afraid to come here for a vacation. It is great.

Rusty liked it at Holiday Harbor - we went for a long walk

Rusty liked Holiday Harbor because there was great walking around. I am getting the impression that this is what Florida looks like. It looks different from Alabama somehow.

Holiday Harbor straddles the Florida Alabama state line

Monday Dec 3, 2012 we left Holiday Harbor and traveled only 13 miles to Ft. McRae to anchor for the night. So we slept in, something we don’t do very often. Here are some pictures taken along the way:

Kermit driving away from Holiday Harbor

L to R: Kermit, Katherine, Judy, Rich and Paula with
One September and Good Karma in background

We anchored in the afternoon at Fort McRae anchorage. Charlie told us about it. It is shallow with a deeper channel into the cove and a place where you can put the nose of your boat on the sand and the stern end in 10 feet of water. Unfortunately a sail boat was in this special hole when we arrived. It looked beached to us but when we went to shore we could see the spot Charlie told us about. We anchored together a little out of shore and took our dinghies into shore. Rusty was very happy to get to shore and to join us on a walk around the fort.

Rusty is happy

One September and Good Karma at anchor at Ft. McRae

Rusty is really happy!!

The boatload from One September:
Mike and Judy, and Rich and Paula watching Rusty

Kermit and Mike with Rusty

Paula Mandel and Rusty checking out Ft. McRae

Rusty at Ft.McRae

Rusty and Mike at the Ft. McRae

Judy, Rich, and Paula

Katherine and Kermit enjoying docktails after walking around at Ft. McRae

Sunset at Ft. McRae

Fort McRae was located on the Eastern tip of Perdido Key near Pensacola, built in a boomerang shape in 1829. It was damaged by the commanding Union officer when they consolidated Union troops in Fort Pickens. Then Confederate forces moved in and there was a battle that pretty much destroyed Ft. McRae and then it was abandoned.

We walked all over it and could see ammunition lockers, look out towers with steps into underground rooms, and cannon embattlements. It was pretty cool.

Rusty ran and jumped and swam like a puppy. He is getting used to this salt water thing although he still drinks more than he should. The next morning on his dinghy ride to shore Rusty jumped out of the dinghy too soon while Kermit was still playing with the engine. He went completely under water where he swam like a dolphin to shallow water.

Rusty is WET - M. Hechtkopf

He also did a number on his shoulder and has been limping a bit all week. Too bad because if he was healthy he could have walked all over the place with us. But no. He had to be patient and sleep on the boat all week.

An interesting side effect of playing on the beach is Rusty seems to poop out a lot of sand. I hope you were not eating when you read that. I just thought you would like to know!! No pictures, please.

While anchored we saw the Blue Angels come out to play. A couple of time they buzzed us like they were saying hello. Michael got some great pictures which he is sharing. One September has an open top so he can react faster. With our closed bimini and isinglass we look sort of like a fire drill trying to get our photos.