Pensacola! (805 miles from Port Mansfield)

We arrived in Pensacola yesterday evening after a lovely 53 mile sail across Mobile Bay from Bayou Aloe anchorage on Dauphin Island, where we spent 2 nights. We're anchored right in front of my sister Judy's new house on the Intracoastal Waterway. Our brother-in-law Yohannes is doing an amazing job...their house is going to be gorgeous! Everything in it is top of the line, and the cherry spiral staircase is an absolute work of art! They lost their house to Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and this house is going to be MUCH better than the old one! It's 3 stories high with a breathtaking view! I'll post some photos soon. We went out to a GREAT Mexican restaurant last night to celebrate niece Karen's 26th bday. We are so glad she's here, having just arrived from her librarian internship in Germany with a side trip to Morrocco! It was a great evening, and their neighbors, Mike and Susan joined us. They're really fun and interesting and know everyone in town! He told us about the upcoming Regatta Al Sol sailing race from Pensacola to Isla Mujeres on May 9th. It's really tempting to join them, as it's just 555 miles due south from here! The weather's so perfect right now, we could be on our way, but would hate to miss Tom and Jodie (who are in Key West for his bday!), and also Alfred and Monika, who we haven't seen in YEARS, so we'll prob'ly stick to a couple more west coast Florida stops. This morning, Karen and I took the mainsail in to have a 12 inch tear repaired by Hunter at Schurr Sails. I'd tried fixing it with the sail repair kit, but it didn't hold. Hunter was so nice to have it finished by this afternoon! Karen and I are planning to grout the shower tiles while I'm here, and I think that'll be at least until Tuesday. We'll see....

Another Day in Biloxi!

We've been waiting patiently for the strong north winds to die down, and tomorrow looks like the day we'll finally head for Dauphin Island (Mobile) and on to Pensacola! We've really enjoyed being at a marina and meeting nice people! Saturday, I met Bernandette and asked if, by any chance, she was going to church the next day, but she said she had to work (parks dept). I gave her our card and was surprised when she called later to say their boat couldn't go out in the strong wind, so we went to St. Paul's Methodist Church across the bridge in Ocean Springs yesterday morning. It was a lovely service with a guest speaker from Seashore Mission. Bernandette is really interesting! She lives in Louisiana, is a great health enthusiast (and it shows!), served twice in the Peace Corps (Guatemala and Roatan, Honduras) teaching organic farming techniques, and told me about a great book, Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon. I'd heard of it from Li Ling in Rockport, who wanted to give me her own copy, but I really must order it now, as it has a recipe for kambucha, a fermented mushroom drink I almost tried in the Bahamas! Many years ago ('93?) a visiting pastor gave everyone at church in Spanish Wells a start of this thing you incubate in strong sweet tea until it grows like a pancake on top, and it's supposed to be a great immune-booster. Anyway, a visiting "friend" threw mine over the side before I even got to try it!! She was a nurse and told me she could not in good conscience let me drink that stuff! It made me laugh to be reminded of it, and I'm inspired to try it again. Bernadette swears by the stuff and said I could get another start with JT's Kambucha at a HFS. We had dinner here on our boat last night with dock neighbor, Ron. He was our first-ever dinner guest, so I used the bird china! Daren thought the dogs would be a nuisance (!) but they were very good the whole time! Ron has a '69 GTO that he put in a Mustang Club's Car Show over the weekend. It was right here at the Isle Casino, so we didn't have far to walk! He won first place in the non-Mustang category (see photo). He and a bunch of his boating friends go to Pensacola twice a year so he showed us good places to anchor on the way. We're hoping we can anchor right in front of Judy and Apar's house on the Intracoastal Waterway. We shall see....

Biloxi, MS

We finally got underway yesterday morning, after 3 nights in Rabbit Island (without internet), and had a lovely sail across the Mississippi Sound. We made it all the way to Biloxi just before dark! We'd planned to anchor at either Ship Island or Hook Island, but both are bird sanctuaries, and it wouldn't have been nice to taunt the dogs by not letting them go to shore, so we headed for Point Cadet Marina in Biloxi. It turned out we were nearly out of fuel and had to sail most of the way to the marina. Daren kept the engine sputtering along by pumping it with the bulb pump we got in Galveston. It was a nail-biter, and we were REALLY happy to tie up to the fuel dock. We celebrated with a prime rib dinner at the Isle Casino next door. It looks like we'll be here a couple days, since the weather's supposed to turn nasty tomorrow and Sunday. The dock master told us that Hurricane Katrina brought 35' of water up to the third floor of their building! Seems everywhere we go there's a horror story of one hurricane or another, which should spur us on to Rio Dulce! We'll get there! We met a really nice dock neighbor, Ron, who has a gorgeous Hunter 44' sailboat. It's amazing how much roomier a boat looks without 2 bird dogs on it! Ron took us to West Marine, where we got the chart we need to get to Judy and Apar's house in Pensacola, and he showed us good anchorages along the way. We're only 2 days away, with a stop in Dauphin Island, just outside Mobile Bay. In the meantime, it's nice to get the laundry and re-provisioning done and catch up on e-mail.

The Big EASY???

We made it through New Orleans today, but what an adventure! A gorgeous sunny day, but perhaps a bit too windy! The Harvey Locks went really well, then we zoomed down the Mississippi River at 9.5 knots (4.5 knot current) toward the Industrial Locks about 6 miles away. I was worried about missing the canal entrance, as it would've been nearly impossible to motor upstream! There wasn't much room to wait for our turn through the locks, so we were directed to a holding area on the side of the bascule bridge. Well, the strong (40 knot!) winds pinned us to the dock! As it turns out, we could've waited there until the wind eased up, but NO-O-O-O! I insisted we had to do get off the dock, so Daren skillfully pivoted with a bow line, which was no small feat! Unfortunately, I was so busy fending off the dinghy from the dock that I got left behind! I know it sounds crazy, but I waved Daren to go on without me, thinking I could get back on the boat from the bridge wall. I went up to talk to the really nice bridge tender, Xavier, who got in touch with the captain of a tug boat and barge, Sebring, who helped Daren tie up to them, since we'd missed our chance to go through the bridge and another boat was now in the lock. Meanwhile, I walked out to the end of a rickety catwalk after climbing and squeezing through various fences! I thought I could just climb down the creosote supports and onto our boat when Daren came through, but it looked kind of scary from 20 feet up, and the bridge tender was waving me back over to say that Sebring would pick me up on their way through the bridge to the locks. By then, Daren and the dogs cleared the lock without me. I went back to the catwalk and the crew of Sebring put a ladder up for me to climb down to the barge. >Whew< It was all rather embarrassing, but the crew of the tugboat were SO nice, and I got to go through the lock with them. Once I calmed down a bit, it was really fun to see the inside of a tug boat and learn about their interesting lives and schedules. They have 2 captains, Bobby and George, and 3 deck hands...all young guys; soon-to-be-married Hank, his cousin, Scott (who loaned me his camera phone!), and Eddie, who gave me some ice! This whole episode lasted about 3 hours, so you can imagine how happy I was to be back on our boat. After I went with Sebring through the lock, Daren pulled up along side the barge, and I got back onboard, to the ecstatic delight of Pete and Libby, who must've been worried about me!
You've got to admit that God was looking out for us today, since nobody got hurt, not even the dinghy! Captain Bobby told us of a place to anchor a few miles away, and we got here about 3:30! Daren took the dogs to shore, so it all turned out fine! I know we'll all sleep well tonight! We'll go 20 more miles to Rabbit Island tomorrow, but may have to wait for weather before we cross the Mississippi Sound to Gulfport, Dauphin Island, and then Pensacola, where we're looking forward to seeing our brother-in-law, Yohannes, and niece Karen.

Louisiana Bayou Country!

We've been having a wonderful scenic trip, but our fridge slowly lost it's cold again!! By Easter Sunday evening, we were desperate for ice, and I called on the VHF to see if anyone knew of a place to buy it...on Easter Sunday! Sure! The nicest boat captain called back to say he was getting a ride to shore and would send some back with another crew member, who brought a bag of ice right up to our boat in his skiff as we were driving along! It was an amazingly nice thing to do, and certainly saved our bacon (and everything else in the fridge)! I don't know why I'm always so amazed when things work out so well, but it always makes me smile and thank God for sending helpful people our way!
Daren decided to pull into a marina Monday night at Intracoastal City and fix the fridge again. Well, as soon as we plugged into shore power, it got cold, so it just needed...more power! Yesterday morning, Kurt from Shell Morgan Marina kindly offered us a ride to town (Abbeville) to buy a deep cycle battery. How nice was that?! His family's lived there for 7 generations, mostly rice farmers. He and his wife take turns cooking and haven't eaten out in YEARS! Imagine! They have 2 Clydesdale horses on his lovely property that was hit hard by the last hurricane, so he bought a piece of property on higher ground with a corral for the horses if another hurricane comes. We love the Louisiana accent, and everyone is so friendly and helpful!
We left the marina this morning and motor-sailed 38 miles to Charenton Canal, which crosses the Intracoastal Waterway at mm 122! We anchored just before the rain hit, and didn't even bother putting the dinghy in the water to take the dogs to shore.....it looks much too alligator-y!! Marsh on all sides! Pete and Libby had lots of exercise while at Shell Morgan, so they're fine!
We heard from Candy that The Bootlegger's back in the water today, so they should be on their way soon! I'll try to get some photos posted! It's just beautiful along the Waterway....like a big river, and the weather's been perfect!

On the "Road" Again!

We finally left Galveston yesterday morning after 10 days of running around, sightseeing with Darryl and Laurie, doing laundry and shopping by bus, and fixing the fridge! We had a great time, but felt it was time to get moving again. We left about 9:30 yesterday morning, only to find that we couldn't get past a railroad bridge that was closed until 1 pm!! So we anchored near Moody Gardens, a nature park with big pyramid terrariums, and had lunch. By the time we anchored last night, we'd only gone 21 miles!
Today we went 50 miles, and are anchored in a lovely spot, Taylor Outfall Bayou, and are grateful for our screens! We're at mile marker 290, which means we're still 290 miles west of Harvey Lock in New Orleans. Port Mansfield is at mm 630 and Rockport is at mm 521, so we've made some progress! We're still hoping Candy and Orville on The Bootlegger will catch up to us, since they're a lot faster than we are.
Tomorrow, we'll cross the Louisiana border at mm 265. The weather has been perfect, and we're actually able to sail along with motoring, which helps our speed. The waterway is scenic and fun and the dogs like to get to shore twice a day. It's also nice to be anchored before the mosquitoes come out at night!
Have a great Easter! Please continue to pray for our dogs! We're entering alligator country!!