Moving out Sunday 13 March

Movin On and Patriot, almost welded to
the Dock after 6 Days waiting for a break
in the weather. Have had a great time though, met 2 Gold Loopers staying here .Bill and Barbara on Bailiwick a 45ft Californian,
Looked after us, loaning their SUV and treating us to Docktails

Line up of expensive fishing machines, these things burn
more fuel in one hour than I use in a full days travel.

The crew heading out in Bills (thankyou)
Chevy. Did shopping and Lunch dates.

Chuck and Vicki, our great travelling companions,
We pigged out here on the $7.95 seafood Buffet.

Yes, its a tourist town, so everything
is upside down ( Ripleys )

One of the fishing flyers, its Spring break and the owners
son has been taking friends out on it, lots of noise
and lots o drinking, fortunately the weather is rough
so they couldn't go far.

How's this for a bank, Reception at Wells Fargo
Panama Beach City, unbelievable service, I would recommend
them to anyone.

Bills Californian, nice boat, same as our first boating
buddy's, Bill and Joyce's Carried Away, which by the way
is for sale at a very reasonable price thru Curtis Stokes.



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Took our little bikes for a 4 mile ride
through the parkland and Golf courses
adjoining the Marina, very well kept,
great homes and gardens, and every
one waves or says hello. 

One of the Lakes.

On one of the free days
I made up a mounting
bracket for our new outboard
It is a Lehr, Propane motor,
very green, don't have to
carry any petrol on boat

Getting mugged by Fred the Basset Hound

Docktails with Bill and Barbara, and their English
Trawler Owning neighbours, celebrating getting
their Green Cards after 8 Yrs in the States. 

Nice Grand Banks Motor Yacht

Next few Photos of some
quite nice homes



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This is where we are at. Leaving
tomorrow to get staged a little further
East for our trip across the Gulf.
A weather window may open on
Tuesday night for a crossing, arriving
Wednesday afternoon, 169 Nautical
miles, should take about 20 hrs.

Windy days at Baypoint Marina, Panama Beach.

Bay Point Marina – Panama Beach City

We are into our 5^th day here & look as though we will still be here until the winds drop. Every day the winds get stronger & stronger – today 20 knots + with gusts to 25 +& seas of 10ft.

We are waiting for better weather to continue west towards Apalachicola. This will be our launching off point to cross the Gulf of Mexico (about an 18 hour trip) to reach the west coast of Florida at either Dunedin or Tarpon Springs. We have to choose a good weather window to cross over leaving during the late afternoon, travelling at night to arrive about 10am the following morning. This straight across route as opposed to the Big Bend route of following close to the coast line is done to avoid the hundreds of crab pots and the shallow waters off the coast line. Even at the far end of the trip it is necessary to keep a close eye out for them.

The marina we are in is clean, tidy & safe but unfortunately away from all the shops & places to walk or cycle. Colin has repaired a flat tyre on my bike (it's even too windy to ride), made a bracket to hang the dinghy motor on (after skip diving to find a suitable piece of wood), rebedded the stanchions, and now polishing the stainless steel rails & fittings. We could do some revarnishing but the wind would blow the varnish right out of the can. We have filled in the remainder of the days with laundry, sleeping, docktails, reading complete books, and other Loopers blogs who are way ahead of us. Fortunately the Marina has cable TV with about 60 Channels, has Fox movies as well,best selection we have seen so far, although the news component is very poor as usual.

Another Looper here at the marina whom Colin became chatty with offered us the loan of his car. So we visited our bank to pay an account (for a $30 wiring fee) whereas at home I would just transfer via Bpay or direct to their account. Here they still use cheques a lot. We had a look at down town Palm Beach City where during spring break many students come to celebrate – a bit like an older version of “schoolies” - suffice to say we didn't have lunch there but at a more senior looking type of establishment – greyer hair & lower prices. We also topped up with some groceries & shouted ourselves some $1 ice cream sundaes from McDonalds (one of their few good food items). We escaped by car a second day & lunched out again. Seeing as though we will be here until Sunday Chuck & Vicky decided to pick up a rental car & go back home to Mobile to complete a couple of chores & collect a couple of items for the boat. It's only a few hours drive by road (about 145 miles) – always much longer by boat. If you want to get any where quickly don't go by boat. We now know of at least 5 boats waiting to cross the ditch ( Gulf of Mexico ), so we should have plenty of company for the long trip, once the weather lets up.

Orange Beach to Panama City

Still at the Wharf Marina, Game fishing is huge here, record size Blue Marlin
Dorado, Sailfish, and Spearfish to name a few.,

If things get too quiet you
can go for a spin on the Ferris
Wheel, or take in a Movie at
the on site Cinema.

Our happy crews at a local restaurant, prices were
quite reasonable for a top establishment.
L to R ,Tommy. Vicki, David, Dawn, & Chuck.

Nice Corvette outside

Into the Channel behind Orange Beach, Passing private homes & docks

Colourful

Dawn enjoying the Florida sun.

Our Boat Buddy Patriot, these GB 42s look great.

Another waterfront home, this is a
little larger than average, the smaller
homes are almost cheap compared to
what we would pay for similar in
Australia.

Docktails on Patriot.

This was fun, tow was completely blocking the canal, spoke to the
Capt on VHF, waited only 15 min to clear.

This 20 mile stretch is known as the Grand Canyon, easy
calm traveling, nice views, little traffic at this time of
Year, Temps from 7 Cel to 17 Cel. Nice when sun is
out but chilly in wind.

Capt view down the Grand Canyon, note the Chartplotter, White line
in centre is the Canal, the rest is wetlands.

Fish camp, Banjos optional.

Eagles nest on top
of power Pylon, saw
a number of pairs
flying about and swooping
on fish.

Nearing civilisation, tourist airboats roaring
around.

Panama City. for anyone who might be
geographically challenged, this is in
Florida, Not the one with the huge
shipping canal in South America, in
case you might think we are off course.

From 'Bama to Florida

GIWW to Panama City.

We left Mobile & crossed the muddy bay in reasonable weather with choppy water & wind that changed direction 3 times during the trip across. We entered the GWII (Gulf intracoastal waterway) and travelled 33 miles passing Orange Beach, & marinas & holiday homes to stay at The Wharf. This is a grand complex consisting of a large marina, high rise condominiums, a cinema, a street with a huge variety of shops & restaurants all lined with palms which are lit at night. This was all very new & impressive built with the holiday maker/boater in mind with all facilities – a village in it's own right. We enjoyed dinner in one of the many restaurants with Chuck & Vicki & their friends David & Tommy Sue.

The next morning our plan was to have a leisurely start about 9 ish & head for Sandestin but on discovering that the distance was 72 miles we decided to leave immediately as Movin' On is the slower boat & we needed a head start. It was a long day. We travelled through large bays – Perdido & Pensacola which can come up rough but were Ok, many Bayous, & a shallow cut where we watched the bottom stir as we passed through. Pensacola is a large Naval Air Station & home to the Blue Angels (an airforce flying group) but they weren't about this day. We left the state of Alabama and entered Florida near the Big Lagoon – no obvious change just a sign. A long thin stretch of land separated us from the Gulf waters for much of the way and was mainly white sand dunes. However where land allowed, a couple of large cities popped up also and we wondered what would happen in a huge surge or tsunami – the area was very low lying. The marina restaurant was buzzing being a Saturday night & we gave it a miss after the long day. Nights are still cold here as is any wind that gets up. We were in bed by 8.30 !!

Today we travelled 47 miles very easily for after leaving the bay we entered a 20 mile long canal that we could drive on auto pilot. We hit high cruising speeds of 8.5 mph assisted by the current. Midway in the canal this came to an abrupt halt when we came upon a tow and its barges straddling the canal. We called him & he asked that we wait while he guided the barges back parallel alongside the bank (That;s not what he said but we guessed,) We watched impressed as he manoeuvred this powerful tow pushing these 4 barges against the current sideways into the bank. When completed he asked us to “cm'n by”. We wallowed & swung through the huge whirlpools created by the tow. Then we passed a grey haired fellow in a skiff rowing up stream against the current. We saw 2 pairs of bald eagles at each end of the canal (they must have divided the territory) floating high in the thermals. Many dolphins crossed our bow & surfed in our wake in the larger bays. It was a much easier day except for the last bit when we entered our slip with high pole only to tie to & an opposing wind. Thank goodness for bow & stern thrusters – and all done with no screaming. We are at another pleasant marina (Bay Point) in Grand Lagoon near Panama City.

The boat is running really well (& so it should after the money spent on it) & I should touch wood & not jinx it by saying so. We have found the horn now works & the depth indicator on the chart plotter & other annoying things that we couldn't get to work before now do. The electrician who crawled over the boat & under the console & floorboards in the engine room must have tightened up a few connections. He handed Colin a couple of orphan wires that belonged to nothing & led nowhere. So we live in hope.

LA to Wharf Marina Orange Beach Alabama.

Relaxing round the pool at Johns in Santa Ana, getting ready for our round US flight, via Chicago and Charlotte (North Carolina)

Mike, Johns son, bought his nearly finished
Ford Truck for us to see, a beautiful job.

Johns not too Shabby 67 Ford Ranger, would make a
great tow vehicle for the race car. 

Made it to the boat yard ,Boat work not finished, air con
waiting to be installed

Lunch across the river, to chill out.

nough said.

Our thanks to our great friends Chuck and Vicki for
not only giving us a home for 5 days but loaned us a car
also.

Movin On, Movin towards the water

Another truck shot, Dodge..

Nice rear on this new Camaro

Manoeuvring was tight getting out.

Big props for big boys toys, worth nearly as much
as my boat

Our first night back in the water, before rain and 30 knot
winds, and cold. 

Buddy boat, Patriot leads the way out into
Mobile Bay 

Cold and windy Bay.

Back into the Gulf intra coastal water way all
calm going, and the sun came out

Tied up at the upmarket Wharf Marina, They look
after Loopers at only $1.00 a foot

250 acres of Marina, Condominiums and retail shops,
restaurants, even a Cinema

Town Square

Part two of Americas Great Loop

The Loop – Part 2 Alabama to GIWW

We left La by plane & took the scenic route via Chicago, Charlotte to Mobile. ??? Just walked from one terminal to another – saw airports. Lost 2 hours one way & gained 1 hour the other – all very confusing – I believed we had plenty of time for a sit down & some coffee - but no, we heard our name being paged from the boarding gate (it was OK we were there ) so we cancelled the coffee idea.

Our friends Chuck & Vicky (who we had travelled part of the last section of the loop with ) picked us up and took us to their place in Mobile where we stayed for more days than we intended. They also loaned us their car – which was invaluable.

We arrived at the marina where the boat had been for 3 months with an agreed list of jobs to be done & only 1 had been completed. There was no way we could move on to it. It was Friday & we had planned to drop our lines the following Friday.

To cut a long story short Chuck is a close friend of the owner & a few of the boat yard managers had their asses kicked because of the $#%@& ups & delays. We had work men there for the next few days getting the jobs completed. The main job was the work on the air conditioners which would be essential for travelling in the Bahamas. Boating is such fun!

Over the next few days we set about getting the boat ready – washing & polishing the hull, cleaning the wood work and all the wooden venetian blinds, anti-fouling parts of the hull, repacking clothes, cleaning the squabs, oiling the teak boarding platform, washing the mats, scrubbing the floors (after all the workmen had been - at least twice) and did 3 trips to Walmart to reprovision the boat (apparently food is expensive in the Bahamas & we were advised to stock up) and then trying to find places to store it all. I know I'll never be able to find it again. Ain't boating fun!

We were told the boat would be splashed (in the water) on Monday, then it was Tuesday , then Wednesday mid morning & we were finally dropped in at 2.00pm. Hooray ! - but no - Colin pressed the starter button & there was no response – nobody home. Various guys looked and had various opinions – batteries, (4 in total) chargers, links, meters, starter motor ??? We were now a house boat.

Thursday morning & the experts arrived early to check - and they were thorough. By mid morning they had checked & rechecked every possibility & found it was a stuffed starter motor that couldn't be repaired – a replacement was needed . That upped our bill by another $1000. But we pressed the button and got immediate motor noise. We were mobile. We stayed on the boat IN THE WATER and had a good storm to welcome us back to boating. We were due to leave with Vicky & Chuck on Friday – and it happened. We left Dog River Marina at 10.30 Friday 4^th March 2016 for the next leg of our Great Loop.