Sunday, October 10, 2021
Temp: 84/65, Humidity: 54/94%, Top Wind: SE10 mph, Precip: bright & sunny, Miles Traveled: 42
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is so strange and I cannot even begin to explain it. Today feels like we’re home. Or at least almost. Both of us feel a huge psychological difference being on the salt water. We saw dolphins, seagulls, and Island Girl sits higher in the water and lifts better when we go fast. She likes it. We like it. And we are seriously only like ONE WEEK of travel days away from really being HOME! That is crazy!! And we’re ready.
Neither of us slept very well last night. It was really warm and humid, and we were right on the port shipping channel, so we were rocked a lot!. But it was worth it to be here in Mobile and be done with the rivers, and have those miles behind us. You can barely tell in this picture, but just below the red pointer indicating where we were docked, Interstate 10 goes right under the river! So we were docked almost on top of the freeway. That’s weird.
We didn’t set an alarm, but I was wide awake before daylight. Every time a ship or tow went by, we rocked. And sometime in the middle of the darkness, we were bonking on the hard rubber squares on the wall. Kenny went out to fix things and realized that the tide had come in about a foot, so our fenders were now above the blocks. WOOPS! We are back in tidal waters, and need to remember to take that into account when we’re tied up to anything fixed and not floating. 😳🤭. He adjusted everything so we didn’t bonk anymore, but we both were awakened several more times. By sunrise, I was so warm and sweaty that I couldn’t sleep. By 7:00, She’s the One was getting ready to peel out. They were headed to Orange Beach Wharf Marina today. It was fun traveling with them, and maybe we’ll catch up with them again sometime in St Pete. We left just before 8:00 to go to Gulf Shores on this most beautiful clear day.
We were tied up at the very far end to the right on this wall.
Pretty downtown Mobile picture. We did not venture into town but we could have if we’d had the energy, since it was right there.
Yep – ships passing in the night…. and day.
This is looking back at the port and the city.
And looking forward to the south and Mobile Bay. It is a huge body of water, and today was going to be pretty calm which was nice. We haven’t had to watch wind and waves since we left Lake Michigan back in August. Time to shift gears on my weather watch!
Once we got out of the port and into open water, Kenny put the pedal to the metal to see how the Girl likes going in salt water. She loved it! Look at that speed! We might have been getting a little benefit from the river or outgoing tide, but hey – this is great! He thought it felt like she popped up a lot easier and faster than she did in fresh water. She likes the salty floatation benefit.
We saw some dolphins! YAHOO! It’s so good to be back in salt water!!
There were several fishing boats out in the bay, cruising along the edges of the navigation channel.
Some of the seagulls got confused and followed us, like we had a free lunch for them or something. No way Jose… you gotta work for your groceries around this boat! HA! Even though they are really annoying sometimes, it was good to hear the familiar sounds of the sea.
At the bottom of Mobile Bay we turned EAST!!! We’re going EAST now!!
After only about 40 miles, we were arriving at Lulu’s Homeport Marina in Gulf Shores Alabama. (Lulu Buffett is Jimmy Buffett’s sister, and has a few of these Lulu establishments in Alabama and Florida.). Notice the width of the channel here. Just remember this for a few minutes.
When I made our reservation, I was given a slip number. When I asked if we should hail them on the radio on our approach, he responded with a hesitant, well…. yes, you could do that, if you really need some assistance. HA! OK, no problem. We can dock this popcicle stand by ourselves – we’ve done it a time or two. 😉. The hardest part was discovering where our slip was, but we figured it out and just pulled the bow right in. The fella on the big SeaRay right next to us came over and grabbed a line, which was nice. Island Girl looks so little next to that big 56’ SeaRay.
It was so wonderful to be at our stop before 1:00! In the last four days we’ve gone a total of 340 miles, and they were all long days. During that time, our room steward got really lax on the promptness of housekeeping. Today was like one of those times when you come back to your hotel room and the bed still isn’t made? Yep. Hazel hasn’t even made the bed yet! HA! We had some lunch, then went for a walk to try to find the marina office so that we could get the secret squirrel codes for the wifi. We asked three times where to find the office, and nobody in the restaurant, store, or arcade really knew. It must be well hidden. So I finally just called, and found out that they’re out on the canal at the fuel dock. Ahhhh! OK. Well, since I paid for our slip when I made the reservation, he just gave me the 007 codes on the phone.
Once we got that, we just went back to the boat. Kenny had thoughts of washing the boat, but it was really hot and sunny out, and we’re both really tired. So he took a nap and I worked on weather and reservations. Some of the updated forecasts are now showing Saturday, and more of them are beginning to agree that it’s going to be a beautiful day on the Gulf. YAY! So I made reservations – even for Clearwater for Saturday!! Thinking positive here!
Around 6:00 we wandered over to Lulu’s for dinner. It was a beautiful evening at dusk… with a crescent moon and a star, and palm trees. 😊 But WOAH NELLY! There were people waiting EVERYWHERE! Like all around the store, arcade, playground… We overheard somebody say it was a two hour wait. WHAT?! Kenny observed that almost everyone had children with them, so what about if we just go in and check the bar? So we did, and amazingly, out of the 20 or so chairs around the bar, there were two. A lady was standing at one of them so I asked if they were available. She said one was…. and then changed her mind and said we could have both of them. Something about she told somebody she had a chair, but they were himhawin’ around and didn’t come in, so she said we could have it. That was super nice! So we were way lucky to get a spot and have dinner right there.
Now, back to that picture where I said to remember the size of the channel? Check this out. A tow with two barges came cruising right on by! It was amazing to watch! I really hope we don’t meet one out there!! We’ll check the AIS before we try to leave the marina basin. We’ll try a little video here….
Tomorrow we’re going to Pensacola. We’ve never been there before. In 2018 it was a mess from a hurricane and we were having really cold and crummy weather so we didn’t even try to find somewhere to stop. Everybody’s favorite marina (Palafox) still isn’t rebuilt, but there’s some docks right next to it that are taking transients. Hopefully it’ll work out ok. I called to make a reservation today, and the fella said to just give him a call when we’re about 30 minutes out. Hmm. OK? It’ll be even a shorter day… like 30-ish miles. 😁