Demopolis - Orange Beach, AL - Oct 23-28

"Captain I hate snakes" saw his first snake while pumping out the boat. A 5 foot snake swam along side the boat with a 10 inch fish in his jaws! The captain sprayed him with the water hose. Good thing he didn't have the gas hose in his hand at that point!

Thursday morning we took the courtesy car into Demopolis for supplies for our final leg on the river system. More loopers continued to arrive throughout the day. A few of us hung out at the Marina pool for a few hours in the afternoon. At night went to town for pizza with the folks from Priorities, Perfect Balance, Blue Angel and Just Us.

Friday morning we were back on the river by 7am to begin our 215 mile - no marina- trek to Mobile Bay. We locked through the Dempolis Lock and Dam with seven other boats. We anchored at Bashi Creek with Jim and Connie from Patriot and Mark and Vicki from Blue Willow. (Jim and Connie are from Ludington and have doors in their condo from West Michigan Cabinet Suppy - small world!)

Saturday we covered 106 miles! We got the Pura Vida up on plane and cruised at 23mph.

This was the first time on plane since Steve replaced the distrutor caps and rotors. She ran better than ever!  Today we passed through our last lock of the river system. (No more locks until we hit the east coast next year!)  Even though we are still 116 miles from the Mobile Bay, the river is getting salty and we will start to see the effects of tides. We anchored out alone at the Tensaw River. Saw a beautiful sunset while grilling out.

We woke up Sunday to find that the water level had risen 1 1/2 feet as expected.  It was another beautiful morning for cruising. We were able to stream a Woodhaven sermon while cruising. 

We spotted our first alligator ( a rather large one) sunning himself on the river bank! 

Around noon we passed through Mobile Harbor which is a busy commercial port. We safely dodged large container ships, freighters and Navy stealth vessels. Whew! Shortly after entering into Mobile 

Bay, we saw our first dolphins!!  The first mate will no longer focus on ship related responsibilities.

Argh! We headed south in the international shipping channel a few miles and followed a cut into 

Dog River where we stayed at Dog River Marina. We had a ball watching pelicans dive bomb for fish. Very entertaining! We took a dinghy ride late in the day and stopped for dinner across the river. 

Monday morning Patriot and the Pura Vida traveled out to the shipping lane and headed south 20 miles. It was a beautiful calm morning which we were thankful for as we understand the bay can get quite rough. What a fun ride passing cargo ships, tows, oil platforms and fishing boats. The best part however was watching the many dolphins, some of which danced in our bow wake! Awesome!

A few miles short of the Gulf of Mexico, we turned to the port to follow the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW) to Gulf Shores. We stopped to spend the night at Homeport Marina which in next to LuLu's, a restaurant complex which it owned by Jimmy Buffett's sister! Fun place with palm trees and beach sand! This is a few miles from The Wharf Marina in Orange Beach where we will go tomorrow and spend several weeks.

We are so thankful for the sunny, awesome weather we had on this long stretch. What a blessing!

 Waterfall view exiting the lock

 Dolly Parton Bridge

 We made it to Mobile!

 Navy stealth ship. Can you see it?

 Container ship from Monrovia.

 Looks like the Gulf!

 Patriot being chased by a barge.

 Dolphins!

 Oil drilling platform.

 First mate watching dolphins.

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Steve & Sheli

Wheeler Lake to Demopolis - Oct 17-22

The good, the bad, the ugly.....

The mass exodus from the Rendezvous began Friday at 8:00am. We along with 19 other Looper boats traveled one mile to the Wheeler Lock. We all pulled into our predetermined spots in the lock (half tied to bollards and half tied off to those tied to the bollards). All went very smooth. (THE GOOD)

Our second lock was 15 miles down river. As we approched the lock the wind kicked up considerably.

The wind played havoc with all of the boats and captains once in the lock. As we were struggling to get the Pura Vida into position, one of the other boats came spiraling past us and back out of the lock for a second attempt.  (THE BAD)  Mutiple attempts and much shuffling occurred before all boats were secure. We ended up with two boats rafted off us. We heard a loud crunch as one boat hit his bow on the lock wall. (THE UGLY)  After this lock, 8 boats stopped at Florence and the rest carried on. As the day went on, the group dispersed as we all traveled at different speeds with different destinations.

Late in the day we turned off the Tennessee River onto the Tenn-Tom Waterway where we anchored in a cove for the night. 

Saturday morning we had some troubles lifting our anchor. A boat of fishermen gave us local knowledge of a rock ledge our anchor may be hooked under. After maneuvering the boat to pull on the anchor in multiple directions, she popped loose. (Our other option would have been to cut the anchor line and leave the anchor and forty feet of chain on the bottom of the river.) We thanked the fishermen and wished them a good day of fishing.  Our home for the evening was Midway Marina where we took the courtesy van to town for dinner and provisions. (This is a college town but also a dry county - try threatening your kids with that!)

Sunday was another beautiful, sunny, warm day. (Mid 70s)  We passed through four locks before dropping anchor for the night. Shortly after our anchor was set, a sailboat named Eclipse from Minnesota pulled in and shared our anchorage with us. We invited the couple over and had fun sharing stories of our adventures so far.

After a relaxing morning, we cruised nine miles to the marina in Columbus, Mississippi. Our friends, Randy and Sherri Chester on Priorities from Port Sheldon, Michigan were there to welcome us! 

Randy and Sherri completed the loop last summer and are headed south again with no long term itinerary as they are "live aboards". By evening there were roughly 19 looper boats at the Marina.

Only about half of these had attended the Rendezvous so once again we are meeting new friends and catching up with other we met earlier. We grilled out on the deck of Perfect Balance with owners Jim and MiMi along with the Chesters. 

Tuesday was another gorgeous travel day.  Most of the river is lined with trees. Miles and miles of trees. 

There are a few houses along the waterway, but that's about it. Traffic is light with only a tow with barges or fishermen now and then.  By 5pm we pulled into the Sumpter Recreation Area to drop the hook for the evening.  The sailboat Eclipse was already there so we shared an anchorage once again.

We pulled anchor by 6:45am and traveled three miles with Eclipse to our one and only lock for the day. 

We separated ways after the lock as Eclipse travels at roughly 5mph and we travel around 10 mph.

Our destination today is Demopolis Yacht Basin where we will stay a couple days. Demopolis, Alabama is the last town for supplies and fuel before Mobile which is 215 miles downstream.

 Lots of boats in the lock!

 Just Us crew

 Randy & Sherri Chester on Priorities 

 

Did I hear a banjo? 

We aren't anchoring anywhere around here!

     

 Sheli with her finger in the dike.

AGLCA Rendezvous - Oct 11-16

We had a great time and learned at lot about what to expect in the coming months at the rendezvous.

We had 3 days of lectures on our travels as far as Norfolk VA. There were roughly 200 attendees which included 48 boats that are in process of doing the loop. There were also Gold Loopers who have already completed the loop in the past as well as a group of those dreaming of doing the loop someday. 

On Sunday late afternoon, we had a scary incident. Within an hour of pulling in and docking a fellow looper had a heart attack on his boat.  Other loopers on the dock came to his aid including a paramedic, a surgeon, a general practitioner and two dentists. They used an AED (which a few loopers carried on board) to bring him back. They rushed him to the hospital where his recovery looks good. That brought everyone closer together.

Monday night the weather was cold and stormy. Everyone added extra lines to their boats. While at dinner there were several tornado warnings in the area. We all had to stay in the lodge until these passed.  

On Tuesday we entered the dinghy race. Steve had to be blind folded and drive the dinghy backwards while Sheli directed. Let's just say, we did not win or finish the race. Ouch!

Wednesday night we enjoyed a bbq dinner at a nearby Cotton Gin in Rogersville. The band was a great and a lot of fun was had by all.

Another fun event was the Looper Crawl. Loopers who had their boats at the Marina could open up their boat so others could come aboard and see their boat. We opened up the Pura Vida and received many compliments. We also toured other boats which was fun. 

An interesting tidbit we learned is that more people climb Mt Everest each year than do the Loop!

 Can you find us in the back row?

 Joe Wheeler State Park

 They packed us in pretty tight! The captain said we may need a crowbar to get us out of this slip!

 No time to enjoy the pool. Bummer!

 Dinghy race.

 Band at Cotton Gin

Guntersville - Joe Wheeler State Park - Oct 9-12

Thursday morning we began our trip back downriver. Our first step was to lock through Guntersville Lock. This locking went much smoother than when we came up through the lock a few days ago. (What happens in the lock, stays in the lock)  Our port for the evening was Ditto Landing Marina where if you buy 100 gallons of fuel you stay free. (So we did). The Marina is next to a campground and bike trail, so we took a bike ride to check out the area. 

We finally had decent wifi connection so we took the time Friday morning to catch up on some bookkeeping and downloaded some movies.  Our run today was back to the Hard Dock Cafe Marina.

We enjoyed dinner and the band that night. The band played 80s and 90s Rock, Steve said they would have sounded much better if they played 70s music. 

Saturday our destination was Joe Wheeler State Park Lodge & Marina. This will be our home for the next 6 nights as we attend the AGLCA Rendezvous. There are already about 40 looper boats here. 

It should be a fun time meeting more loopers and learning about what lies ahead. That evening the Yacht Club hosted a "tailgate" party on the docks with chili, hotdogs and football. 

Early Sunday morning we left on our bikes to find a church. We rode four miles to the nearest town of Rogersville where we attended the Rogersville Church of Christ. This service was very conservative and traditional. Sheli asked Steve where the organ or piano were, only to realize all songs were sung acapella. They had no instruments at all! Wow did that congregation sing loud and with lots of meaning. Due to a storm, we were stranded in town for a couple hours waiting for a "no rain" window to ride back home.  We stayed pretty dry on the return and enjoyed stopping along the way to watch a dozen or so deer feeding by the road.

 Ditto Landing Marina near Huntsville.

 We decided not to purchase this Fixer Upper project (a man has to know his limitations)

 Joe Wheeler State Park

Guntersville - Oct 6-8

Guntersville Marina has been our home for the last three days. We stayed here due to the weather forecast and we are pacing ourselves to arrive at the Rendezvous (2 travel days away) by Saturday. Luckily we are the only transients at this marina right now so we have had unlimited use of their courtesy van. (Also the nicest courtesy car so far - bonus) 

Monday we drove up to Scottsboro to The Unclaimed Baggage Store. This store sells contents of lost and unclaimed airline baggage. Everyday they put out 7000 additional items, ranging from clothes, to iPads, to jewelry, to tools, to Pescription glasses and sunglasses, to sporting equipment (they even have a 10 foot paddle board. What a hoot! We picked up some DVDs to watch on the boat.  A big storm came through at night. It was fun watching this from the back of the boat.

Tuesday we visited the Lake Guntersville State Park. We had lunch at the beautiful lodge overlooking Lake Guntersville. What an awesome view. We hiked the "Waterfall Trail" and while it was beautiful, we never found the waterfall. (Steve describes hiking as walking in a big circle to no apparent reason...but Sheli loved it).  Our friends from Twelve Stones and Endeavor arrived at a nearby marina so we met them at Top of the River Restaurant for catfish at night. (No, Sheli did not eat catfish, she had a ribeye.)

Wednesday was catch up day. We went to town for provisions, gave the Pura Vida a bath inside and out and did some wash. In the afternoon we took a dinghy ride to check out some of the impressive homes along Lake Guntersville.  While the weather turned out better than predicted, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. 

 I wonder if any of my clients goodies are here!

 Views from the State Park Lodge

 The pool looked inviting after our hike!

 Our 2nd selfie!

 Sheli having fun....

 Steve faking it...

 The lodge taken from our dinghy ride.

Florence to Guntersville, AL - Oct 3-5

On Thursday night a storm blew through which really rocked the boats in the Marina. Friday was overcast and windy so it was a good time for Steve to do the first oil change of the trip and for Sheli get a walk in at the park/campground near by. At night we walked into town for Florence First Fridays.  This is a street festival held on the first Friday of each month with musicians and vendors on the sidewalk and a band playing on the closed downtown street. All the stores, restaurants and bars offer special deals and entertainment. The big draw for October is the Pumpkin Drop. A pumpkin is dropped from a lift, 50 feet in the air and smashes onto the pavement in the middle of the intersection. Thud wap!  (We're living large now!)

Saturday morning we were on the river by 7am. Today traveled with Twelve Stones and Endevour through two locks.  After the second lock, Tweleve Stones and Endevour turned off to Joe Wheeler State Park Marina. We will be returning here next week to attend the American Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) Fall Rendezvous. We continued on to Decatur to the marina at the Hard Dock Cafe. It was a crazy windy day and the white caps on the water reminded us of being on Lake Michigan.  At night we took a taxi to the award winning Big Bob Gibson's BBQ. It did not disappoint.

Before departing Sunday morning, we again streamed a sermon from Woodhaven Ref. The river surroundings are becoming more rocky as we move east. We past through one lock just prior to destination of Guntersville. Guntersville Marina will be our home for the next few days as rain and wind are forecasted.

 Pumpkin Drop!

 

 See freighter locking down in the left chamber?

 This erupted while waiting for the lock. It must be the discharge for the locks.

 Freighter leaving lock.