Archives 2023

Day 218 – 221; 12/23 – 12/26: The day before Christmas Eve brought one of our Christmas gifts to us – a visit from our son Michael! We will miss Sarah this year at Christmas, but will just do a Christmas repeat when she and Richard come to visit at the end of January. Michael had a Baltimore Blast game in Utica, NY the evening of 12/22 (bummer they lost), which was followed by a bus ride through the night to get back to Baltimore. He caught a few hours of sleep on the bus, then a few hours at home then boarded a flight from Baltimore to Tampa, arriving a little after 2:00 pm. There was just enough time to pick him up, get back to the boat for a little snack and head back to Tampa with our good friends Steve and Carolyn to go grab dinner and see the Trans Siberian Orchestra (TSO) concert. The TSO concert has been a Christmas tradition for our family for 8 or 9 years now, but we usually attend in Washington, DC. It was amazing that when we looked up where they would be and where we would be, Tampa on 12/23 was a perfect intersection. The show was fabulous, as usual. We had great seats right on the floor in the 6th row where at one point in the show, we enjoyed being snowed on. Most people know TSO from their big hit “Christmas Eve Sarajevo” (see rendition below from our seats).

It’s hard to explain TSO to someone. TSO was formed in 1996 by Paul O’Neill as a progressive rock band that would push the boundaries of the genre further than any group before. TSO is named after the railroad in Siberia, a symbol of hope in a hard, unforgiving place. They are partially hard rock and partially symphony orchestra.

Paul O’Neill said “I wanted to take the very best of all the forms of music I grew up on and merge them into a new style. Basically I was building on the work of everybody I worshipped: the rock opera parts from bands like the Who; the marriage of classical and rock from bands like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Queen; the over-the-top light show from bands like Pink Floyd… I always wanted to do a full rock opera with a full progressive band and at least 18 lead singers.” And he accomplished all of that with a Christian theme and amazing Christmas show. Paul died in April of 2017, but his memory and band lives on. Everyone enjoyed it and everyone, especially Michael, slept well that night!

We spent 12/24 (Christmas Eve Day) being a little touristy. We started with Dad’s egg scramble for breakfast, a walk on the beach and to the end of Pier 60 followed by lunch at Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill for their famous Grouper sandwich.

We hit a few of the beach shops before heading to Tampa to go to The Florida Aquarium. The aquarium was a nice mix of fish, fowl, reptiles and other wildlife like penguins, ring-tails, otters and iguanas.

We topped off the night with a visit to Steve and Carolyn’s beautiful waterfront condo in Clearwater Beach, where we enjoyed some snacks and champagne, then it was back to the boat for one of Michael’s favorite dinners….Mom’s home made pesto and shrimp!

Christmas morning was just a few gifts under the painted palm trees, Christmas movies, football and prep of some of our favorites Christmas food traditions: prime rib, roasted red potatoes, broccoli casserole, corn soufflé and apple crisp….. a challenge for a small galley and small ovens, but we did it! Steve and Carolyn joined us for our Festive Fleming Feast! Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and Michael had to fly home later that night since he had practice in the morning….. life of a professional athlete!

12/26 was a strange weather day…. It had rained overnight then cleared, looking to possibly be a sunny day. The fog rolled in and out 3 times, so we alternated between sunshine and cool overcast fog. It was a laundry, cleanup, trip planning day for us, followed by an amazing dinner at Steve and Carolyn’s.

12/27 we are off to St. Petersburg for a couple days where we connect with Carol’s cousin Rick and his wife Heidi… then we will venture down the coast with them for a few days hitting Anna Maria Island, Bradenton and Long Boat Key before going to the ReliaQuest Bowl to see Univ of Wisconsin take on LSU on 1/1/2024. We are ready for the Florida weather to kick in…kind of tired of being chilly, foggy and otherwise a little damp!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Day 214 – 217; 12/19 – 12/22:

We tried to get an Uber/Lyft to Tallahassee Tuesday morning (12/19) to get to the rental car site, but that was a colossal waste of time…. Waited on line over an hour to be assigned a car, which never happened. Remember we said Carrabelle was small? Well that means no ride or cab services except for ONE woman (Sherry) that the marina recommended. She runs her own business, but was booked that morning. We finally got into Tallahassee in the afternoon with a ride from Sherry (at twice the cost of an Uber/Lyft, she sure knows she has a monopoly.) At that point, we no longer cared….we had some freedom and some wheels, so we were off to run some errands, do a little shopping and find a restaurant for dinner.

12/20 (Wednesday), we were off (by car) to Apalachicola, which we passed through very quickly on the boat, but didn’t get to enjoy the quaint little town. Located where the Apalachicola River meets Apalachicola Bay, the name “Apalachicola” is an Indian word interpreted as a ridge of earth produced by sweeping the ground in preparation for a council or peace fire. Over time, the term has been translated as an area of peaceful people or people on the other side. “Land of the friendly people” is a common interpretation of the word….and we certainly found that to be true!

Although Mexico Beach and Panama City suffered more catastrophic damage, Apalachicola was hit hard by hurricane Michael in 2018 with 160 mph winds, but the downtown shops and restaurants are nearly all recovered. Full of art galleries, local shops, breweries and restaurants, we enjoyed the day there before returning to Tallahassee for dinner and to drop off the car. The devastation on the water front is still apparent:

12/21 (Thursday) was looking like “go day” to cross over to Steinhatchee after being in Carrabelle for almost a week. 12/21 we were up early to get a pump out and brave the waves! Waves were forecasted at 3-4 feet, so we knew it might be a bit bouncy, but it was supposed to improve as the day went on. As we headed out of the protected area behind Dog Island, we saw 2 smaller boats returning – one was a 27’ Ranger Tug (Hope and Dreams) and the other a 37’ SeaRay Sundancer (Current Situation). It was too much for them and they decided to turn around and run inside to Alligator point. The Ranger Tug called it quits until Thursday and dropped anchor at Alligator Point with some others who were also waiting it out, but the SeaRay ran inside for a while then stuck its nose back out to see if conditions were any better for another try. After conferring with us and a few other boats who pressed on, they decided to give it a go as well.

The first couple hours were pretty bouncy with waves as high as 6’ but mostly in the 3-5 range. We took them slightly off our port bow or straight on the bow; never full on the beam (side of the boat) which would have been a miserable ride, pitching back and forth. The Fleming guys once said “your boat can handle far more than you probably can,” and “you’re not in rough waters until you have water shooting through the hawse pipes” (those are the thingies that look like port holes in the bow (front) that the lines (not ropes) go through to then tie onto a cleat; you can see them in the picture above.) Well, we got to see water shooting through the hawse pipes!

It was about an 8 hour run. About half way, the waves eased to about 3 feet and the last couple hours was pretty flat. We arrived in Steinhatchee about the same time as Current Situation (the SeaRay) and Kim’s Crossing (a 40’ Mainship), docked at the same marina and enjoyed docktails and appetizers on Legacy as the sun went down.

Friday, 12/22 was to be fairly ideal conditions with waves less than a foot and sunshine for us to continue our trek to Clearwater Beach. Nearly all of the boats holed up in Carrabelle, who didn’t go at the same time as us on Thursday, were on the move to Steinhatchee. Up and out at 6:00 am, it was still dark as we navigated the twisty narrow shallow channel back to open ocean, out of Steinhatchee and headed for Clearwater Beach. Carol was on the bow with a spot light locating the red and green markers (you remember “red on right returning”… So we kept the green on our right since we were not returning; we were leaving the harbor) while Gary drove the boat and kept us centered in the channel looking at chart plotter. Sunrise was at 7:30, so we did start getting some light almost at the end of the very long channel. Current Situation decided to run with us all the way to Clearwater, where they will leave their boat over the holiday to return home. Kim’s Crossing stayed behind and would leave at first light, but not go all the way to Clearwater.

We arrived in Clearwater around 5:00 pm, an uneventful 11 hour ride. If not for the extended stay at Carrabelle, we would have broken up the trip and stopped in Cedar Key and/or Crystal River on the way to Tarpon Springs/Clearwater…. But we had a deadline! We lost internet and cell signal for most of the trip (we were too far out to sea), but we were lucky to have Current Situation running with us. They have a different internet service and were able to get a message to the folks Carol was supposed to meet with, telling them we were signal-less and she needed to reschedule! Something for us to think about when we cross over to the Bahamas in February. We saw several groups of dolphins on the way, but only one that chose to swim along with us. Needing to travel so far (120 miles) and get there before dark, we were traveling at about 11.5 knots vs. our normal 9.5 knots, so that may have been why they didn’t tag along. So nice to be in clean water again!

We were excited to make it to Clearwater Beach to visit with Steve Little and Carolyn Reynolds, our good friends who winter there. Our first stop with them was one of our favorite restaurants on the beach – Frenchy’s. I always order the blackened grouper, but stone crab is in season so decided to switch it up….. Delicious! I’m sure we’ll be back there before we leave Clearwater for the grouper! It is the best!

Sat, 12/23 Michael arrives to spend Christmas with us… feeling blessed! We will also enjoy our family tradition of going to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas show here in Tampa. We go every year in Washington DC and were thrilled to see they are playing in Tampa on 12/23 (one night only)…..Perfect timing! The only sad thing is Sarah (and Kylie and Dick) won’t be with us, but Steve and Carolyn will. Next year!

Happy eve to Christmas Eve to one and all!

Day 212 – 214; 12/17 – 12/19: Yes… we are sort of stuck in the middle of the “Forgotten Coast Highway”, waiting for a weather window to cross over to Tarpon Springs/Clearwater. We arrived in Carrabelle on 12/15 and we are still here!

This region has been dubbed the Forgotten Coast because it’s the last remaining stretch of unspoiled, pristine Gulf Coast beaches that haven’t been overrun by high rises and strip malls, but it’s also about an hour away from the nearest city large enough to get a rental car!

Back to being stuck….yesterday, waves were 8.5-9 feet high with a 6 second period (the period is the time between the peak of each wave; ideally you want twice as much period as the waves are high to travel comfortably). First off, 8.5-9 feet waves are way too large to be traveling in and they’d be coming at us every 6 seconds. Today waves are 5-6 feet with a 5-6 second period, so that’s still a no-go. Our “go” criteria, ideally, would be a max of 3-4 foot waves and 6-8 second period…. It looks like Thursday may be our “go day” and the shorter route to Steinhatchee (Option 1) then a second hop all the way to Clearwater as opposed to the one long run (Option 2) to Tarpon Springs/Clearwater is looking like our best option.

So all this sitting around and waiting brought me to the history of Dog Island and Carrabelle, Florida – a wonderful mix of Native Americans, shipping, bootlegging, logging and war.

Rio Carrabella was the first name of the town and was said to mean “beautiful river”. Early settlers in the area, both Native Americans and early Europeans, hunted the bountiful game for food and furs, which were then shipped out of St. Marks.

Carrabelle’s boom time came after the Civil War when lumber and naval stores were the most important commodities. In 1875 the first lumber mill was established – cutting pine and cypress from up river and in swamps, then shipping it to the north. Ships, mainly schooners, would come through and pass and drop anchor behind Dog Island in Ballast Cove, so named because the ships would drop their ballast before sailing into Carrabelle to pick up their cargo. To this day, people find ballast rock in the cove.

By 1893 there were many lumber and saw mills along the Carrabelle River and the downtown area was established around Coombs Mill, close to the mouth of the river. The town was incorporated in May, 1893 and during this time, the area flourished – docks were stacked high with lumber and turpentine. There was a railroad station from which trains brought in needed supplies to the residents but also carried salted down mullet and other goods to points north. The railroad brought tourists from Tallahassee to stay at the Lanark Springs Hotel, a luxurious resort hotel.

A disastrous hurricane hit the town head on at the turn of the century and it was at this time that the downtown area was moved to its present location. The town was rebuilt, and many of today’s larger buildings were built during the early part of the 1900’s.

This was a boom time for Carrabelle. Lumber and turpentine were king. During a short period, Greek sailors came and began a flourishing sponge industry.

Between World War I and World War II, Carrabelle went into a severe economic slump. Fishing became the principal industry and along with the entire country, Carrabelle slipped into the depression.

During the Prohibition much business was done by barter and there was a brief period in which smugglers from the Caribbean unloaded their contraband near Alligator Point and hid in the nearby woods.

In 1942, with the entry of the United States into WW II, Camp Gordon Johnston was opened for the purpose of training amphibious soldiers on nearby beaches. The camp trained a quarter of a million men, many of whom participated in D-Day, and closed in 1946. For many it was the last stopover for those going to the Pacific or European theaters.

(Training exercises on Carrabelle Beach 1943 State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)

Carrabelle was also an important port for shipping oil from Texas. Oil came through the Intercoastal Waterway to Carrabelle and then on to Jacksonville through a pipeline, where it was loaded on ships for delivery to Europe. The pipeline began at what is now known as Three Rivers.

Carrabelle has a population of 2600, or 544 people/square mile; compare that to Arnold, MD (our town) at 24,000 people or 2224/square mile or even more stark: Annapolis at 40,812 or 5664/square mile. I think you get the point. Can you say small? It is small, but the people are very nice with families that have been here for generations. We had dinner at a local restaurant Saturday, 12/16, and it was fabulous. Okay our waitress was about 80 years old, but she was great and “rocking it” in her lighted Christmas tree sweatshirt and Santa hat. Good thing we went when we did…they are now closed for the rest of the year so employees can enjoy the holidays!

Today (12/19), we will Uber/Lyft to Tallahassee and do a little touring and shopping in the big city! We have our eye on a Thursday (12/21) departure for Steinhatchee.

Day 207 – 211; 12/12 – 12/16: Tuesday, 12/12 Diane came by with some amazing handmade cro-nuts (combination croissant and donut) from Parlor donuts (my favorite was the maple bacon) and we all indulged, then said our goodbyes and went our separate ways….for now! Matt and Tonia (Lil Sudden) as well as Boris, Mayli, Annette and Michael (Saga) had their boats hauled to have to bottoms cleaned and painted, then headed for the aiport to go home for Christmas. We returned to Diane’s condo so Gary could help with a couple projects then decided on steaks on Legacy for dinner; Steve joined us for our last night together as he is also headed out on 12/13 and we plan to depart for Panama City.

12/13 (Wednesday) we had our last latte with Steve until some time in January, then we cast off around 9:15 am for a 7 hour run to Panama City. It was a chilly day (again) but that didn’t stop the dolphins. We enjoyed escorts right from the beginning including a Momma (or Dad) and baby, followed just behind by Dad (or Mom), in what looked like Momma teaching baby how to jump. There was another pair that enjoyed catching some big air and a playful single who was showing off with some big jumps. They are very playful creatures! Check out the videos below:

This went on for most of our trip across Choctawatchee Bay until we reached the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). The ICW (mostly a man made ditch) proved to be narrow and shallow, so Gary had to really be on his toes to keep us safe while Carol had a BOD call. Passing a tow was a little gamey since there was barely room for both of us. It was also the tow captain’s first time on this stretch of waterway, so we figured it out together. We did see some wild animals along the way – very exciting indeed! (see below).

We carefully passed a working tow at the West Bay Brige (Rte 79) as we entered the Grand Lagoon making our way to the CSS Yacht Basin. He was broadside across the channel but we determined we could squeeze through and he didn’t need to move. CSS Yacht Basin was a small (maybe 12-15 slips) marina where we were given our slip assignment by phone, but saw no one. That was fine. We were only there for one night, made dinner on board and were off again in the morning (Thursday) headed to Apalachicola. With bad weather coming in, we wanted to get as far east as we could to be able to capitalize on a good weather window for our crossing, should it reveal itself. The best place to be, giving us the most options to cross, was Carabelle. From Carabelle, we could cross over to Steinhatchee (about 8 hours) or Clearwater (about 16 hours), both in open ocean (see below).

Our Thursday run to Apalachicola was also cold, uneventful and accompanied by dolphins. We left around 9:00 am and arrived around 3:30 pm, but the clock said 4:30 having crossed back into Eastern Standard Time. We’ve somewhat come to take it for granted that we will see dolphins on each leg of our trip now and assume they will give us more of show than just surfacing to breath – we want to see some big air! We did notice the water is much more brown, they say from the tannins. Frequently, water in streams and rivers becomes tea-colored from naturally occurring tannins (chemicals found in many plants.) Tannic acid is released from decaying vegetation, leaching into the water. Although the color isn’t very attractive, they say tannins do not pose a health issue….. not sure I’d swim in this water!

This section of our trip was one where the devastation from Hurricane Michael in 2018 was evident. Hurricane Michael hit the Florida panhandle as a Cat 5 Hurricane in October of 2018 with winds up to 160 mph. Making landfall at Mexico Beach on October 10th, Apalachicola (slightly to the east) was also severely damaged with some destruction still evident, some recovery completed and some recovery still under way.

Apalachicola was a pleasant stay, but we hardly got off the boat. It was dinner, a movie and early to bed after a long day. Gary was exhausted after a very intense, twisty, turny, shallow, narrow run. Friday, 12/15 our destination was Carabelle, the furthest point east before we will do the south eastern open ocean crossing. We left around 10:00 am and arrived around 1:00, despite a weather forecast of some wind and waves. We knew we’d be in fairly shallow waters (12-15’ max) protected by barrier islands, so the wave height would be limited. We knew Legacy could handle it, but it was not for other smaller/lighter boats, many of who stayed hunkered down in Apalachicola. Waves maxed out at about 3 feet (despite a forecast for up to 5 feet) and we ran from the pilot house to stay warm and dry. We had no issues at all, but took the standard precautions of securing the kitchen cabinets with baby locks, securing the coffee maker and other things on the galley countertop and storing the bar in a basket on the floor.

There are quite a few loopers here at Carabelle waiting for a good crossing window. It’s not much of a town, but there is an IGA, couple restaurants and post office within walking distance. Closest rental car is in Talahassee about 50 miles away, so we will keep an eye on that if we need to abandon our plans of getting to Tampa by boat by 12/23 when Michael arrives. Right now it looks like we may have a weather window on Tuesday.

12/15 brought us an exciting night to watch our son Michael (who is a goalkeeper for the Baltimore Blast – a professional indoor arena soccer team) play against the Empire Strykers in Ontario, CA. Blast won 7-5 and Michael played a great game. It was great to see the offense and defense start coming together after 2 home game losses to start the season. Michael started the first home game with a close but sad loss, but did not play in the second game. He came out strong and will also start against the Tacoma Stars on Sunday night…. Tune in on Twitch at 8:05 pm EST.

12/16 (Saturday) we sat tied up in Carabelle and it was rain, rain, rain, high in the 50’s and windy. That made it a good day to give the boat a top to bottom scrub inside… gosh she now looks great! Also a good day to bake some banana bread, read a novel and repair Old Glory who started to fray in all the wind we’ve encountered. Had dinner at “The Fisherman’s Wife” which looks to cater to the locals and it was surprisingly excellent! We had low expectations and were very pleasantly surprised.

Our eyes are on the weather forecast to make a good go/no-go decision on getting across the Gulf to the west coast of FL….. see graphic below. We are currently contemplating the 170 mile trek, which would be about 16 hours, but are conscious of safety and falling prey to “get-there-itis”…. So we will wait and see. You may ask why not just keep bopping around the panhandle making daily progress close to shore? The answer is, it is too shallow. We knew we needed to make this crossing at some point. It’s just a matter of weather now. Stay tuned as we stay bored!

Day 202 – 206; 12/7 – 12/11: Thursday, 12/7 we were off to Johnson Cove near Orange Beach, AL around 11:00 am, arriving around 2:00 pm. We double backed from Bay La Launch into Bay Saint John then snaked our way through a well marked, but at times shallow channel to arrive in Johnson Cove where we anchored 4 across (see chart below). We deployed Legacy’s tender so that, combined with SAGA’s tender, all 7 of us could dinghy over to the infamous Flora-Bama Beach Bar. One of the “world’s top beach bars”, the Flora-Bama is uniquely located right on the Alabama and Florida line. This honky tonk has been a landmark since 1964 and is a must visit for Loopers. The Flora-Bama has five stages for live music with country, rock, dance and beach music 365 days a year. Famous for their Bushwackers (basically a very boozy milkshake) in varying flavors – you can enjoy one inside or while watching the sunset on the beach. We were glad we were there off season when 3800 of our closest friends were not there, vying for space on the dance floor. We enjoyed a couple adult beverages and 2 of the bands before heading back to Steve’s homemade enchiladas for dinner. The dinghy ride back in the dark was aided by Steve’s forethought of bringing a heavy duty outdoor flashlight and Gary’s phone with the Navionics app allowing us to retrace our path into the cove, following the line we recorded earlier in the day…. Safety first!

It was a whole lot less stressful leaving Johnson Cove on the morning of 12/8 knowing we had enough water depth, we retraced the path we traveled into the cove using the Navionics app. Today, we were off to Fort McRee, built in 1839 as part of 3 main forts to serve as coastal defenses of the Pensacola Bay and the deep harbor. Fort McRee, Fort Pickens and Fort Barrancas formed the trio of forts. It was a beautiful 3.5 hour run with more dolphin escorts and a sighting of the Blue Angels practicing off in the distance. We anchored in the beautiful white sandy cove with 12 or 13 other boats, quite a few who were loopers. We were treated to a fabulous charcuterie board that Matt and Tonia made. Carol was still nursing the pulled pectoral muscle, so we didn’t go ashore to explore the old fort and beaches, but some of the crew did.

Re: Fort McRee…..In 1861, state militias began occupy federal forts as the Civil War began to loom. Southern troops occupied Fort McRee in mid-January, and by the end of March guns were being mounted and additional batteries set up. The morning of November 22 1861, the Pensacola area began to experience the thundering artillery from forts, batteries, and ships. Union troops held Fort Pickens and began the bombardment of Confederate forces at the Pensacola navy yard, shores batteries, Fort Barrancas and Fort McRee. Under heavy artillery fire, Fort McRee was exposed to severe bombardment at its front, flank, and rear. The forts were designed as a trio of defense, not to fight each other. Two Union warships, U.S.S. Niagara and U.S.S. Richmond joined the bombardment of Fort McRee. This massive artillery exchange shook houses ten miles away and concussion-stunned fish floated to the surface of the bay.

Confederates forces at Fort McRee fired back against the two Union vessels and Fort Pickens. However, after five hours of continued artillery exchange, the guns of Fort McRee fell silent, evidence of the extensive damage to the fort. Operating the cannon was impossible. The following day, battle resumed in earnest, however no return fire came from Fort McRee. The damage to the brick edifice and cannons was extensive. The flag pole had been shot and the wooden structures within the fort had caught fire at least three times during the bombardment

Confederate forces abandoned Fort McRee. The once imposing fortification had been reduced to a burned-out and fragmented brick shell. Essentially abandoned after the Civil War, the toll of warfare and of the elements continued to take Fort McRee into further ruin. By the early 1900s, what little was left of this once imposing defensive structure was rapidly crumbling. Today, nothing visible remains of this Third System fortification, except a few crumbling walls and deep depressions in the beautiful white sand.

We could see how this cove would be a happening place when the weather is warm; some said weekends will see over a hundred boats tied together, stern into shore. As the sun went down, Boris made some amazing waygu burgers and Gary made his now infamous Old Bay air fried French fries. It was an early night since we wanted to be up and out early to get to the Grand Lagoon Yacht Club by 8:00/8:30 am.

It was anchors up by 7:30 am and a short 30 minutes run to GLYC so we could get secured and hit the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola by 9:00 am when it opened. It was foggy as we entered, but we were all secured in a matter of minutes.

We had an amazing day at the museum, guided by a former A6 pilot who was fabulous. Highly recommend this museum which was only recently reopened after the shooting that occurred on the air base in 2019. Reopened to the public on May 17, it was closed for 3 years. It was a trip down memory lane for Gary and Carol after 20 years at Northrop Grumman, seeing some of the planes that NGC built: E2Cs, EA6Bs, F14s and F18s as well as the many aircraft that came before them in support of WWII.

After touring the entire museum, it was back to GLYC to watch the Army/Navy Game. Unfortunately, Navy lost 17-11. Funny story of how we heard about GLYC…. We were on our way to Johnson Cove on 12/8 and the 4 captains were on the radio talking about finding a marina for 12/9 when another person came on and said he was a member of GLYC and they would love to welcome 4 loopers! Initially told it was $1.00/foot, he later came back on the radio and said they’d love to host us for free, just come to the bar and watch the Army/Navy Game but be sure to root for Navy, this being a Navy town. Hailing out of Annapolis, home of the US Naval Academy, that was an easy ask! The guys sat at the bar while the ladies enjoyed the warmth of the sun on the deck and we all insured we spent our share of $$ on appetizers, dinner and drinks. The sun went down and the fog rolled in, but it was a beautiful afternoon.

Sunday, 12/10 was to be about a 50 mile run (6 hours) to Destin/Shalimar for Coda and Legacy while Lil Sudden and SAGA had plans to anchor off of Fort Walton Beach. Why the break up? Oh it wasn’t really that – Steve on Coda needed to get to Destin where he was having a new hot water heater delivered (his started leaking after 15 years) and he wanted to get a jump on getting that installed. For us, Gary’s sister Diane lives in Destin so we wanted to spend some time with her. The 6 hour run started easy enough, but that all changed when the winds kicked up. Legacy managed to get docked in 40 knot winds, while Coda had to drop anchor for a time, sorting out their reservation. All worked out and Steve later came in to the dock. Lil Sudden and SAGA abandoned their plans for anchoring and joined us at Two George’s Marina. Thankful that the marina was able to accommodate all of us, which was no small feat; SAGA and Coda spent the night at the fuel dock while Legacy was in a slip half our size, sticking out into the fairway by atleast 20 feet. Regardless, all were safe and sound.

Carol and Gary went off to see Diane’s place and enjoyed dinner at one of Diane’s local favorites while the rest of the fleet hunkered down in the marina and between the 3 boats, made dinner. It’s fridge clean out time for the Seattle crew, as they are all headed home in the next day or so for between 1 and 2 weeks.

Monday, 12/11 was a nice down day at the marina – Diane was kind enough to drive Steve to pick up his water heater and then we were off to the grocery store for supplies. Carol and Gary planned a “Good Bye For Now” dinner of Alaskan king crab legs, accompanied by side dishes from the fleet. Diane joined us bringing an amazing appetizer and dessert! Of course we had the Clemson soccer national championship game against Notre Dame on in the background, which Clemson won 2-1 for a second national championship in 3 years. Go Tigers!

We will be here on more day, leaving for Panama City (7 hours) on Wednesday, then Apalachicola (7 hours) on Thursday and Carbelle (3 hours) on Friday. We hope to do the 8 hour open ocean crossing to Steinhatchee on Saturday, 12/16 and continue down the coast to meet up with Michael (son) in Tampa on 12/23. Winds and weather for that crossing are in the NO-GO range right now, with waves over 5 feet and winds +35 knots….. so we are watching that closely and will have to adjust our timeline with the weather. We have 3 days of slack to get there on time, so praying for a good weather window.

Day 199 – 201; 12/4 – 12/6: Monday, 12/4 we left Bay St. Louis, MS just after 7:00 am for about an 8 hour run to Biloxi, MS in fairly open water. Carol had a board call for several hours and was glad that the dolphins were a bit scarce so she didn’t miss anything. Arriving in Biloxi, we passed our marina to go buy fuel, going under the Beach Blvd (Rte 90) Bridge that separates Ocean Springs from Biloxi into the Back Bay for Biloxi. Buying from a fuel service that primarily services the shrimp fleet, we paid $2.95/gallon versus 4.00 – 4.25/gallon at a pleasure craft fuel dock. It was well worth the extra time to get there when you are taking on over 900 gallons!

We then backtracked to the Point Cadet Marina adjacent to the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino. Arriving around 3:00, the boys went and tried their hand at blackjack for about an hour before dinner (none successful). Matt and Tonia made dinner and then the boys were off again seeking restitution….. alas the casino won again, but none were too badly bruised! Casinos are not much of Carol’s thing and nursing a newly pulled pectoral muscle, stayed back with some ice and a Hallmark movie!

Tuesday, 12/5 it was time to leave Biloxi, MS and cross over to Alabama. We were up with the sun and under way before 7:00 am. Within 15 minutes of us leaving the marina, we had dolphins in our bow wave or riding along side. One pair decided to give us a particularly amazing jumping show, our first of this sort of performance so far. It was truly amazing to watch them play, staring right back at us. Legacy was accused of “stealing all the dolphins.” Must be something about the color, sound or shape of the hull they just love!

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It was a particularly long run from Biloxi, MS to Gulf Shores, AL, where Homeport Marina is built around LuLu’s, Jimmy Buffett’s sister’s restaurant chain. We arrived around 3:00 pm and once all were settled in, headed to Lulu’s for a beer and early dinner. Food was fabulous, as was the service. We met several live aboards in the marina who were kind enough to take Tonia and Matt to the grocery store. We all shared our short lists with them and they picked up the few things we needed. Lulu’s also has a very large arcade so some of the crew enjoyed the games that night. The next morning, one of the live-aboards also drove out ahead of us and took the pics below. So sweet of him!

The next morning we were off to the Wharf Resort Marina, also in Gulf Shores, AL less than an hour away. The forecast was for high winds in the afternoon so our short trip was perfect. This stop included a touristy area with shops, restaurants, a Ferris wheel, ice skating rink and even laser tag. Being off season, we could literally walk in anywhere without a wait. The best part of the day (aside from 12/6 being Carol’s Mom’s 86th birthday… Happy Birthday Mom!) was the arrival of the parts needed to repair the converter so we could get hooked back up to shore power.

Zach from Island Marine Electric in Fort Lauderdale had diagnosed the issue with the converter and overnighted the parts needed. Gary and Steve carefully removed the board with the burned out power supply and also found the fan that was supposed to cool it had failed. That, according to the supplier, was the cause of our issue. The fan that cools the power supply failed which caused it to overheat and begin to melt down. That tripped 2 fuses that cut off the power to the unit and stopped the burn. Gary and Steve replaced the fan, board and 2 fuses and we were up and running again. All parties believe there should be a heat sensor on that board that would trip the fuse and shut things down before it reaches a danger point like this one did. We will continue to work that!

The weather has continued to be unseasonably cold with mornings in the 40’s, highs barely in the 60’s and long pants and sweatshirts the dress of the day. We are eager to continue to head south in search of sunshine and warmer weather. Our next stop is still in Alabama: Johnson Cove, where the thing to do is go to the FloraBama Bar, right on the FL/AL line. Once we cross into FL, that will be “sweet 16” state that we’ve visited on this trip.

Task of the day is to look at our next ports beyond Destin, which we should reach by 12/11 or 12/12. The Seattle members of our flotilla will head home for Christmas while, since our home is rented, we will continue on down the coast of FL and likely be in Tampa for Christmas.

Day 193 – 198; 11/28 – 12/3: After our arrival in NOLA and whirlwind tours of the French Quarter, Garden District, Bourbon Street, and Frenchman Street (live Jazz), we decided on a down day on Tuesday, 11/28 to await the delivery of our new house batteries (8 of them at about 70 pounds each)! Toni left for her flight at zero-dark-hundred, so Steve went back to bed and decided on a down day as well. That was lucky for Gary, since Steve leant an extra set of hands to get the new batteries on the boat, the old ones off and the new ones hooked up. Being an electrical engineer, Steve’s insight is always helpful! Hooray for new house batteries! We enjoyed one final version of Thanksgiving dinner with our leftovers and it was an early bed time for Gary, pretty tired from all that work!

Wednesday brought a day of meetings and making turkey soup for Carol while Gary caught up on lots of email and other chores that needed to be done on the boat. When you are cruising, you still need to do laundry, clean the bathrooms, vacuum etc. After dinner and meetings, it was time for a movie and looper midnight (around 9:00 pm) came early as expected! Thursday and Friday we had big plans for lots of museums (WWII, Katrina, Mardis Gras, and 1840 house) and 2 of the most famous restaurants in NOLA: Commander’s Palace and Antoine’s.

We spent all day Thursday at the National World War II Museum and only have one negative thing to say….. we just didn’t have enough time! The Museum was one of the best we’ve seen, explaining the circumstances and actions that lead up to the war as well as the events and battles on all fronts (Europe, Africa, South Pacific and Asia) on the land, sea and air. Truly an amazing museum that we’d highly recommend and would have spent a second day if we had time.

Dinner was at Commander’s Palace, a restaurant known for its fine dining nestled in the Garden District. Emile Commander established a small saloon at the corner of Washington Avenue and Coliseum Street in 1893. Within a few years he turned it into a restaurant patronized by the distinguished neighborhood families of the Garden District. By 1900 Commander’s Palace was attracting gourmets from all over the world and continues to do so today. Patrons are required to dress appropriately for dinner including a suggestion for men to wear jackets.

It was fun to toss our boat shoes and sweatshirts aside, and dress up for the night. We were lucky to get a reservation for 8 at 8:00 pm, since reservations are made months in advance. The food was fantastic, as was the wine that Steve chose. For some time, he had been looking for a Spanish Cabernet Sauvignon called El Nido, one of his favorites. They had it and it was amazing! We topped off the night with Bananas Foster prepared table side.

Friday, December 1st was planned as another museum day taking in the Katrina and Mardis Gras Museums as well as the 1840 house with Matt and Tonia; Steve decided to stay behind and have a workday on Coda. Halfway through the Katrina Museum, our plans changed and we hot footed it (in an Uber) back to the boat. While working on his own boat, Steve began to smell something burning electrically and started frantically searching his own boat for the source. Finding none, he came out of his engine room and determined it was coming from Legacy. We are very thankful that he was docked right next to us AND stayed behind that day to take immediate action. Mayli and Steve disconnected the shore power and opened the engine room hatch to see if they could determine what was happening. Smoke billowed from the engine room, smelling of electrical burn. Fortunately, there were no flames and damage was contained, but lots of smoke and a terrible smell. Steve searched high and low in the engine room and lazarette for the source of the smoke and could not find it. You’d think that something that produced that much smell and that much smoke would have left behind a large blackened area. Since it did not, that pointed us toward the converter that receives electrical power from the pier and converts it to current the boat can consume. Something inside melted down and caused the unit to fail.

To make a long story short, no one was hurt, the converter failed inside and contained the meltdown (as designed) so that was the only thing damaged, but now we have no way to take in power from a marina and can only run on our generator (burns fuel; don’t want to run all night) or batteries (barely lasts all night). Thankful we had just replaced the house batteries so we have a decent option until we can get the converter repaired or replaced.

It certainly took our day of touring and changed that plan! There wasn’t much we could do in working toward a solution, being a Friday afternoon and business days ending….of course that didn’t matter to the guys at Burr (Fleming dealership) when we called them at 4:59 pm. Michael got us in touch with the manufacturer of the converter and atleast the dialogue began. We had reservations at Antoine’s at 5:00 for 8 of us, so with heavy hearts, we put on our “Sunday-go-to-meeting-clothes” with smiles on our faces (okay Gary’s was a grimace) and headed out to dinner at Antoine’s – a world renowned French-Creole restaurant that has been family operated for 5 generations, opened in 1840. The setting was top notch, but none of us were super happy with our food. We did enjoy the experience and distraction from the unfortunate events of the day.

Saturday brought heavy rains so we decided to forgo returning to the museums and instead made a Sam’s Club and grocery store run to re-provision after Thanksgiving, Gary safely disposed of the old batteries at an auto part store and we hung out until the Baltimore Blast game at 5:00 pm. Those of you who know us well, know that our son Michael plays professional indoor soccer for the Baltimore Blast (in addition to his day job as a civil engineer). He’d be starting in goal for the season opening home game. Gary made a big turkey pot pie for dinner and we all gathered on Legacy to watch the game. Despite a strong start and 4-2 lead at the half, Blast lost to Texas 9-5 with three of Texas’ goals being on an open net in the last few minutes as the Blast tried to press with a 6th attacker (like pulling the goalie in a hockey game). Lot of new players et al for the Blast, so working out the kinks is a bit expected. Hoping next game the Blast defense shows up for the 2nd half (who said that!?!?)

Sunday, 12/3 it was time to bid New Orleans adieu and we began our trek east to Bay St. Louis, MS. We were up and out around 7:30 am to retrace our path from Lake Pontechartrain through the bayous and canals into Lake Borgne.

Starting around 11:00 am and for almost 2 hours, we were escorted by dolphins, sometimes 5 or 6 at a time. They ran in front of us, rode in our bow wave, ran along side of us on both starboard and port or swam just off the stern in the wake. It was an amazing couple hours with Carol leaning over the rail, cell phone on a wrist strap, trying to best capture the beauty and playfulness of these amazing creatures. Of course the videos and photos don’t do them justice, but we tried.

Check out the video below of 5 or 6 dolphins in front of us and on our bow wave, breaching 2 or 3 at a time!

We arrived in Bay St. Louis, a small quaint town with cute little shops, around 2:30. First order of business after docking was a beer at one of the local waterfront restaurants and some lunch for Steve! Since the shops would be closing between 4:00 and 5:00, the ladies set off to browse while the guys had a second beer; some of us later came together for a bar food dinner of appetizers. With darkness coming so early (between 5:15 and 5:30 pm), and needing to run the generator to recharge the batteries to get through the night, we retired early, ready to make the trek to Biloxi in the morning.

In Biloxi, we would all take on fuel (lowest price in the region). Then the guys were looking forward to taking their fuel savings and trying their luck at the casinos!

Just saying….the casino won! Now it’s onto Gulf Shores, AL.

Day 189 – 193; 11/24 – 11/28: Friday, 11/24 (day after Thanksgiving) we were off on a 2 day trek to New Orleans with Coda, leaving Lil Sudden and SAGA to take a few extra days stopping at some of the ports along the way while we planned to hit them on the way back to FL. Why the different plan you may ask? We’ve been having trouble with our house batteries so new ones will be delivered in New Orleans. With our failing batteries, we only had power while running the engines, running the generator or in a marina plugged into shore power. Heading straight to New Orleans would get us to marina power and the new batteries the quickest.

Steve’s girlfriend Toni arrived from Seattle on Thanksgiving day, way after our bed time, so we decided we’d all sleep in Friday morning (with our bellies full of turkey) and planned an 11:00 am departure. We left in glorious sunshine but crisp temperatures, headed to an anchorage off of Horn Island, south west of Pascagoula, MS.

We knew it would be a fairly long run, around 6 hours, but knew we had Thanksgiving Round 2 waiting for us when we arrived. We had our eyes peeled for dolphins and they did not disappoint. We saw them off in the distance jumping and playing as well as feeding with the birds. The best was when they decided to be our escort and 4 or 5 of them rode in our bow wave (see videos below).

We anchored in about 20’ of water and rafted up with Coda. It was great to just sit and relax with Steve and Toni after such a beautiful ride, and of course Looper Midnight came early (around 8:30 pm) and we all turned in. We had the benefit of the protection of Horn Island to the south, but when the winds shifted after we had gone to bed, we found ourselves in about 7-8’ of water and winds too strong for us to stay tied together. Coda pulled off and set their own anchor around 11:00 pm. We also pulled anchor and reset further away from the island, back in about 20’ of water. Now on our own anchors, we bounced around a lot less and got a few hours sleep before setting off around 7:00 am for the final leg of our trip to New Orleans, a 9.5 hour run.

It was another beautiful crisp day navigating some narrow channels where depth outside of the channel had only 4-5’ of water. The last stretch was a man made canal with plenty of depth, only a few tows with barges to pass and a railroad bridge where we had to wait for a train to pass and request an opening. Settled into our slips, we were all exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before, ate at the local restaurant at the marina (which was quite good) and turned in early. Our prize of touring New Orleans in the morning was ahead of us and we all slept like babies!

Sunday morning, 11/26 we ubered into downtown NOLA in search of beignets – a New Orleans delicacy which is basically fried dough covered in powdered sugar! We found them at Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter, right near Jackson Square. With a little (okay a lot) of sugar and some caffeine from the lattes, we were off to explore New Orleans with the help of the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus.

New Orleans history goes back to its founding by the French in 1718, who ruled it until 1763. Following Britain’s victory in the 7 year war, the French colony west of the Mississippi River including New Orlean was ceded to the Spanish as a secret provision of the 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau. According to our tour guide, King Louis XV of France transferred ownership of the region to his cousin, King Charles III of Spain to avoid having to give up the region to Great Britain as one of the settlements of the war…. If you don’t own it, you can’t give it up! Quite brilliant and sly.

No Spanish governor came to take control until 1766. French and German settlers, hoping to restore New Orleans to French control, forced the Spanish governor to flee to Spain in the bloodless rebellion of 1768. A year later, the Spanish reasserted control, executing five ringleaders and sending five plotters to a prison in Cuba, formally instituting Spanish law. Other members of the rebellion were forgiven as long as they pledged loyalty to Spain. Although a Spanish governor was in New Orleans, it was under the jurisdiction of the Spanish garrison in Cuba.

In 1800, Spain and France signed the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso stipulating that Spain give Louisiana back to France, although it had to remain under Spanish control as long as France wished to postpone the transfer of power.

In April 1803, Napoleon sold Louisiana (New France) (which then included portions of more than a dozen present-day states) to the U.S. in the Louisiana Purchase for $15M. At first, Napoleon, planned to build a huge North American empire based in Haiti, but a slave rebellion on the island ended this plan. Embroiled in a war in Europe, Napoleon accepted defeat in Haiti and decided to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803 to help finance his war with Britian. Louisiana was admitted to the union in 1812 as the 18th state.

New Orleans culture is truly a mix of French, Spanish, African and Caribbean influence. One fascinating thing we learned was the number of free, well educated and professional blacks in this area of the Deep South at the time. In 1805, a census showed a heterogeneous population of 8,500, comprising 3,551 whites, 1,556 free blacks, and 3,105 slaves. The free blacks had slaves themselves and were mostly from Haiti. Interracial marriage was common and life under French and Spanish rule was quite good…. That would all change under US rule with its views on slavery and reinforcement of the caste system built to keep the black population as slaves. More on that another time!

Our tours took us through the French Quarter, down Bourbon Street (Oh My!) and through the Garden District. We ended our first couple days in NOLA on Frenchman Street enjoying some live jazz in various styles.

Lil Sudden and SAGA arrived in NOLA on late Monday, joining us on Frenchman Street. Nice to have the Flotilla together again. Watch out NOLA! Frenchman Street is known for its local live jazz bars. We hung out and listened on Monday night, grabbed dinner but didn’t stay out of late since Toni had to leave very early in the morning to catch a flight.

Tomorrow was another day and we expected to receive and install the new house batteries – YAY! We are here almost a week… so plenty of time for touring.

Days 184 – 189; Nov 20 – 24: November 19th (Sunday) had taken us further down the river system, where we celebrated our last lock until we hit North Carolina. That called for a little champagne toast as we enjoyed Sunflower East Anchorage!

The morning of November 20th (Monday), brought us some challenges. Having left the last lock behind, we were now in tidal waters and under estimated the power of the tide. Over night we swung around and now had 3 anchors tangled around each other….ugh! With a lot of team work and patience, we got them all sorted out and were on our way around 8:30 am. Monday would be about a 5 hour run with our next anchorage in the Tensaw River, just where it branches off of the Mobile River; It was a twisty turny, yet uneventful run…. Let’s just say more of the same! We did pass Bobby’s Fish Camp on the way that was previously a must stop for loopers. With rates at $2.75/foot with no power or services, we decided to pass and anchor out further down river.

Arriving at the anchorage in Tensaw River, it was cloudy with rain arriving in the afternoon. We had 2 anchors down and a stern tie for 3 of the boats; Saga decided to anchor on their own, but joined us for dinner. The stronger winds and rain came after dinner, intensifying overnight. We pulled anchor around 8:00 am on 11/21 (Tuesday) where it was raining on and off. There were cows on the beach…. What?

Legacy’s anchor was up first, just before the skies opened up; Coda was not so lucky and Steve got drenched! We ran from the pilot house the entire day due to the rain, dodging tons of debris from (we are guessing) all the rain raising the water level which re-floated all the junk from the beaches. We aren’t talking just a few sticks or clumps of grass…. We’re talking full size trees and logs! We were happy to reach the end of the river and Mobile Bay/Gulf of Mexico and clear water.

Not being able to secure slips in Mobile, we made the run across Mobile Bay to Fairhope Yacht Club, who could accomodate all 4 boats for our 3 day stay over Thanksgiving.

Mobile was very industrial with tows, container ships, military ships, ship building and oil rigs. We were excited to be out of the river system and into Mobile Bay, but were surprised as to how shallow it was (8-12 feet) with some dangerously shallow spots we needed to avoid.

Check out the video below of our last day on the river.

The shallow made for warmer waters and DOLPHINS! They were super hard to catch on video or photo, but great fun to keep an eye out for. We did get a short shot of them riding in our bow wave and playing ahead us. You might wonder why they ride in the bow wave of a boat. First of all they are very curious animals and want to check out the boats. Second, it’s an energy efficient way to travel with the flow of the water assisting them – faster and farther with less effort. Being playful and curious animals, though, it’s mostly for fun. We sure thought it was!

Thanks to reciprocity with AYC, we stayed at lovely Fairhope Yacht Club and enjoyed a cocktail at their bar where we found our AYC burgee on display with all the other reciprocal clubs, then it was back to the boats for dinner.

Fairhope was a lovely town with a very nice Main Street filled with a variety of shops and restaurants. We particularly enjoyed Panini Pete’s (a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives location) for lunch and Gambino’s for dinner (Italian if you didn’t already guess!). Fairhope also boasts a beautiful waterfront, scenic bluffs & parks, flower filled streets and colorful sunsets on the Mobile Bay. With a couple rental cars, we re-provisioned all of the boats including for our Thanksgiving Dinner. Thanksgiving festivities started at 1:00 pm with ‘’Appetizers in the Adirondacks’ on the yacht club grounds including a tasting of 6 differernt Cabernet Sauvignons chosen by Boris. Dinner was at 3:00 pm aboard Legacy with delicious contributions by all including 2 turkeys, 2 hams, 3 kinds of stuffing and all the other fixings. We were creative with our seating of 12, but no one left hungry and everyone had their favorite things! We all know what happens when turkey and red wine comes together…… tryptophan overdose which enduces sleepiness!

Do you remember the now infamous 1997 Seinfeld episode when Jerry and George scheme to make as woman fall asleep so they can play with her antique toy collection? They feed her a big turkey dinner with lots of gravy and a box of red wine. Tryptophan was specifically mentioned as “that stuff in the turkey that makes you sleepy.” The rest, they say, is history regarding the birth of the tryptophan myth….. It’s just a myth! Of course dinner was followed by football and dessert along with the massive clean up effort.

After 3 days in Fairhope, we are off (11/24) to New Orleans with Coda. We will anchor half way and arrive the evening of 11/25 (our 6 month mark on the Loop). Saga and Lil Sudden will take a couple extra days to get to New Orleans, arriving 11/28.

Days 182 – 183; Nov 18 – 19: After a lovely night at anchor with the reunited 4 musketeers (do you remember their names? D’Artagnan, Porthos, Aramis and Athos), we were anchors up at 9:00 am headed to Okatuppa Creek – a 54 mile run that took us about 6 hours. Scenery was more of the same as we wound our way down river, following a path that looked like a ribbon thrown on the ground. The Tombigbee River twists and turns, folding back on itself in sharp curves, passing itself going in the opposite direction.

The riverbanks are mostly a tangled mess of fallen trees due to erosion, exposing sandy beaches and shallow flats on some of the sharp curves. We were thankful for the uploaded route with hundreds of waypoints and the autopilot making each little turn every few minutes. It’s a lot of beeping, as the autopilot beeps every time it makes a turn, but a huge help not having to make each turn manually. Of course we never leave the helm and can take autopilot off with a single button.

We arrived at Okatuppa Creek around 3:00 pm and proceeded cautiously with Lil Sudden in the lead, knowing they drew the least amount of water. Always smart to be cautious, but water depth wasn’t an issue as we saw no less than 8-9 feet and at times 30 feet. About a half of a mile in, we zigged around Mona Lisa who was already anchored in the middle of the creek and found a nice wide part at a sharp turn that would allow us to anchor, raft all 4 boats and tie off the stern to a couple trees preventing us from swinging. This would also keep the passage open for other boat traffic, should there be any. Mission accomplished around 3:15 pm. This was not our first rodeo!

Around 4:15, what did we see coming around the corner, but 2 more Flemings! Blue Moon (58-032) and Blessed Again (55-053), who we had seen several times on the loop but not yet spent any time together, asked to join our raft. Of course we said yes. We already had 2 anchors down and there was literally no current or wind, so they just came along side. Within a few minutes, we were 6 across and truly ready for a safe arrival drink as Boris and Mayli worked on dinner – a home made fish stew made from Boris and Michael’s previous fishing efforts! It was lovely to finally meet Steve and Judy on Blue Moon and re-meet Perry and Vicki on Blessed Again. We had first met Perry and Vicki at anchor in Cape May, day 2 of our trip! Blue Moon is Legacy’s younger sister, having been delivered June of 2021 whereas Legacy was June of 2020. Fleming produces 2 58’ boats per year. Okay, truth be told, we have been semi-stalking both boats on NEBO for some time (as they have been doing the same with us), but just hadn’t managed to cross paths. Well now the gang was all here!

Sunday morning, 11/19 was CHILLY!! We awoke to 36 degree temperatures, but a forecast to reach 70 degrees. We broke up the raft around 7:00 am to get to the Coffeeville lock before 8:00 since the lockmaster agreed to lock us through before shutting down for some maintenance.

All 6 boats locked through with ease – our last lock on the Tenn-Tom which took us down 34 feet. Hooray for our last lock in a while! Check out the video below of Legacy leaving the last lock.

The rest of the river was more of the same with a bit of barge traffic to navigate. Check out the video below of a slight traffic jam with 2 barges and our fleet all passing each other.

Scenery was still lots of erosion, downed trees and exposed beaches; a bald eagle, a few floating logs but no alligators yet, although other boats have reported seeing some. We did see varying depths of water, but nothing that gave us great pause.

Our next stop: Sunflower East Anchorage; should arrive around 1:00 pm. Tonia and Matt are making dinner: Risotto! We may pull out some jalapeño poppers and see how they come out in the new air fryer. One more anchorage on Monday then we are in Mobile, AL for Thanksgiving. Much to be thankful for!