Thursday, December 27, 2012

Making Memories


 
Christmas party at Bay Point Marina.
 

Another Cold Front moves into Panama City.
 

Christmas Eve aboard "The Zone".
 

Bob and Bill acting like they are shopping with the girls at Pier Park.


Christmas morning omelets and Bloody Marys aboard  'Roy El" at Pirates Cove Marina.

Serenity at the beautiful Bay Point Marina in Panama City Beach.
 


Big Mama's on the Bayou for some "down-home" cookin.
 
 
The best fried chicken, mac & cheese, and collards!
 
 
Oh Boy! Kurt's in the dog house now!
 

Holiday dinner with our friends at the Kingfish Restaurant in the Wynham Resort.

Happy Holidays!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Pensacola


 
Palafox Pier & Yacht Harbour Marina is in the heart of downtown Pensacola.
Located at the end of Pensacola Bay's east channel, the fifteen foot deep basin is a favorite for traveling yachtsmen.

 

Within walking distance of historic Downtown, there are quaint shops and many restaurants to explore.

 
The town was decked out for Christmas and that's when we found out about the Christmas Parade.


That night we walked into downtown with our friends, Bill and Joy to watch the parade and what a surprise, it was huge!



All of Pensacola showed up with over 80 floats, police, fire department, and high school bands. It was quite impressive.




 
 

A good time was had by all!
 
 
A must do in Pensacola, is to visit The National Naval Aviation Museum. The Naval Aviation Museum, is a military and aerospace museum located at The Naval Air Station Pensacola.
 
 
As its name suggests, the museum is devoted to the history of naval aviation, including that of the U.S Navy, the U.S Marine Corp., and the U.S. Coast Guard.
More than 150 aircraft and spacecraft are on display, including four former Blue Angels (the Blue Angels are based at NAS Pensacola).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now that's scary!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, December 10, 2012

Fairhope


Just off the eastern shore of beautiful Mobile Bay sits Fairhope, Alabama.


Fairhope is a charming village, known for it's beautiful sunsets and friendly folks.


We pulled into Eastern Shore Marina, happy to see our friends on the boats Krazy Kru and Beulah Bell.


Eastern Shore Marina has a full service boatyard and a laid back, friendly attitude. We would like to thank Debra, Gillian, and Chuck the Cat.


We relax at the water's edge to watch the terrific sunset and catch up on travel news and the town.


And of course, we are happy to see loveable Lucy.
 
 
Fairhope's downtown radiates with the warm and friendly charm of a walkable Southern town.
 
 
The streets are full of boutiques, bookstores, and restaurants featured on the Food Network.
 

Well known for it's gumbo, we stop in at Gumbo's for a delicious lunch.
 
 
The town is decked out for Christmas by day.
 
 
And by night, a beautiful sight!
 
 
Yep, Bob and Kurt think this town is a down right comfortable place to be.
 
 
The Grand Hotel Marriott was our next stop for drinks and old world ambiance.
 
 
F.H. Chamberlain built the hotel in 1847. It was a two-story building with 40 rooms. A separate building housed the dining room and kitchen. A third building housed a bar called "The Texas."


 
In 1864, a portion of the hotel became a Confederate hospital during the Civil War.
 
 
In 1869, a fire destroyed the dining room, kitchen and guest rooms. There were no deaths.
Captain H.C. Baldwin bought the hotel in the 1870s for $75,000. It was 300 feet long
and had 60 suites.
 
 
In 1893, a hurricane destroyed the dining room and "The Texas" bar. Both were rebuilt.
 
 
We came to watch the 'firing of the cannon', a tribute to all of the armed services.
 

 

 

We went back to the Marriot bar with friends, Kurt and Pat, and enjoyed a perfect evening with the best dirty martinis. What a place!

These celebrities and just plain good folks were born in, or grew up in, or called Fairhope home at some time:


  • Singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett.
  • Actress and author Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes)
  • Winston Groom, who wrote Forrest Gump 





 























 






















 








 














 








 



















Thursday, November 29, 2012

Tennessee River to Mobile



Back about 1792 in north Mississippi, French explorer Marquis De Montcalm and several other guys climbed into their boat and headed back to the fort. They had just had a bad time with some Indians. But the water in the Tombigbee River was so shallow that Marquis had to dump some of his valuable cannons overboard to keep their boat from getting stuck.


Thoroughly ticked off and madly scratching a jillion mosquito bites, he fired off a letter. He told the King that if France was really serious about taking over the New World, he had better be thinking about how to connect the Tombigbee with the Tennessee River.
 
 
Eventually, a survey was made to check out Marquis' idea. The only result was a lot of talk. Many years later, the Feds really got serious, particularly after the project was authorized by Congress in the River & Harbor Act of 1946. That set off a big harangue about whether the project would be worth the cost.
 
 
But in May, 1971, The Army Corps of Engineers got the green light on the still controversial project, began digging and building it's way toward some awesome statistics. More dirt was moved to build the Tenn-Tom than was moved to build the Panama Canal. Finally, in June of 1985, the ribbon was cut and the 450 mile Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was open for business.
 
 
We left on November 16th, for a 10 day trip down the Tenn-Tom. Water from a whopping 20,000 square miles, drains into the Tennessee-Tombigbee. Spring rains can push the river far higher than it's normal summer level. 
 
 
The Waterway, tidal all the way up to Coffeeville Lock & Dam, is intriguingly remote. In places, if you scrambled up the bank, you'd have to walk for miles to find a paved road. After long days, we anchored in remote creeks, with barely room for us to squeeze into.
 
 
There are stories about local folks taking pot shots at passing yachts. We didn't really believe it, but made sure we didn't wake the local fishermen. If they got mad, they could easily reach their truck and meet us at the next lock, if they wanted to.
 
 
Some of the small marinas were very remote, like Pirate's Cove in Pickensville, Alabama. Some of the boats here are locked in with floating vegetation and look abandoned. We left the next morning.
 
 
The highlight of this area was Bobby's Fish Camp. It's not really a camp, but there are some trailers and a cluster of houses on stilts.
 
 
And did I mention there is a floating dock, enough room for three.
 
 
This was a nice quiet place. Hunters dressed in camouflage, came in to get fuel for their small boats throughout the afternoon. They were friendly. Y'all come back now!
 
 
As it was nearly dusk, gunshots off in the distance, we decided to walk up the hill for dinner with our friends on the boat "Krazy Kru." Bobby, now deceased, has left his daughter  to fry mounds of catfish to a full house of locals. We were the only foreigners.
 

 
 We woke up to fog and 34 degrees. There was frost on the dock and the boat.
 
 
A cold mist was rising above the river and we decided to hang out a few more hours.
 
 
Good thing we waited. The top of towboats with barges could be seen going down river through the fog.
 

 
Two days later we entered our last lock on the Great Loop, the Coffeeville Lock & Dam. To our amazement, we were locked in with a towboat and barges. This had never happened to us before.
 
 
We felt it was fitting, to finally share this last lock with a towboat.
 
 
We pulled into the port city of Mobile, Alabama on November 26th under a threatening sky.
 
 
It's nice to be back in the big city again.
 
 
We entered Dog River Marina off of Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico.
 
 
Now we can start talking about coming home to Florida!