Florida Panhandle.

11/21/07

We arrived at Turner Marine in Mobile and the first thing Rolf did was hop off and check to see if the mast is indeed here. And it is!! I would have been good if he turned off the engine first. We spend the day on Monday doing mast prep. At 3pm we put it in and we are once again a sailboat. Yea!!! The slips here at the marina are very interesting. Everyone is backing in. They are so narrow we had to pull up the fenders because we had only inches on each side of the boat. There is a short step off dock next to the stern but otherwise only pilings to tie up next to. It was certainly a fire drill going in the first time. But they had us turn around 3 times when we put the mast in so we are getting better at it. I guess we will be not complaining about the crooked piling at the yacht club. That slip is positively spacious compared to this. The mast went in without much problem though. The only thing that went wrong with the shipping was a foredeck light that was broken and easily replaced. We have been happy all the way down the river that we did not have the mast on deck. It would have been very miserable with that extra 20 feet sticking out in the slips and especially the locks. We did stop and have some fresh shrimp and it is extra yummy here. Tastes like a whole different animal. Grandma Kathy Turner drove us to get groceries and we are ready to roll. We left here on Wednesday to go to Pensacola as there is threatening weather forecasted. Here is a picture of the Mobile Channel Light.

11/22/07

Happy Thanksgiving Day. We watched the Packer game on the boat and out to Landry’s Seafood Restaurant for dinner with two other couples. They offered turkey but we stuck with the seafood. Will go back to tradition next year when we are home. It was a 40 minute walk to the restaurant, so we worked off the food.

11/27/07

We stayed in Pensacola from Wednesday the 21^st to Tuesday the 27^th. We were weathered in here as predicted. One day we rented a car and went out to the National Aviation Museum. That was really worth seeing. They have a movie on the Forrestal Fire so we watched that. Huge hangers with as many planes as you could want to see. A person could spend days there. We have been to the aviation museums in Portland and Palm Springs and this is the biggest and the best so far. We did a little catching up with the shopping and eating and such. There is a hardware store with a good concept. The right half is regular hardware and the left (and equal) half has nice things for the home and Christmas decorations. So the couple can come in, separate, and meet at the checkout with their stuff. Good deal.

 We also got to go to church. There was one ELCA church in town so we took a cab. We thought it would be nice to go because the picture of it was so similar to our church architecture wise. It was very familiar. The cabby forgot to pick us up so we hitched a ride home with a nice couple who also drove us around town and stopped at Joe Patti’s fish market. They have every kind of fish you could want plus other groceries and deli things. It sort of reminded me of Meisfeld’s except with fish instead of meat.

One night we went to McGuire’s Pub. It was a very authentic Irish Pub. There was a guy in kilts playing the bagpipes. Rolf was especially impressed with the restroom signs. The men’s room has a sign that says “women’s” and an arrow that points to the women’s room. Vice-versa. Someone actually sued because their daughter walked into the wrong room.

Here is a picture of one of our first dolphin sighting. We are really south now.

11/28/07

It was nice in Pensacola but after a week we were more than ready to move on. We are getting to be such vagabonds. A week in one place and we feel we are growing roots. We moved from Pensacola to Destin & then on to Panama City. Our friends Steve and Pat S. met us there. Steve doesn’t want us to use his last name in case any crazy people want to email him. They are going to help us with the gulf crossing. It is a long trek and will be great to have extra people for help and watches. Pat and I went grocery shopping. The store was less than ideal if you know what I mean. My feet stuck to the floor in the check out line. I don’t think I need to elaborate more than that. Needless to say I did not get the chitlin log they had available.

11/29/07

The four of us headed for Apalachicola. Due to a 50 foot high bridge we went outside of the Intracoastal Waterway and around that bridge, then back into the Waterway. We arrived at Scipio Creek Marina in the afternoon. Our first impression was of a pretty derelict place. Once we got tied up and around the corner though it was kind of nice.

This is the entrance.

They advertised fresh oysters so Rolf and Steve and I decided to check it out (Pat says NO to oysters of any kind). We stopped in the bar and ordered a couple of dozen. Well these oysters were really fresh out of the water. The 3 bartenders stepped up, put on gloves and started shucking. We were slurping and oohing and aahing all over the place. They also had about 6 kinds of sauces. So we ordered another dozen. Plus they found some extra big ones in the pail and threw them in for us. What a treat. I was full to the top but of course Steve and Rolf were also still able to put down a full dinner. Plus against their will they served Jimmy Buffet beer. They are angry with him about the gill net thing so he is no friend of theirs. Who knew Jimmy had beer along with all the other things he does. We were trying to find a place in town to watch the packer game because it is on the NFL network. The bartender (the one that talked) said there was maybe one place that might have it but you shouldn’t go in there unless you have a gun. So we opted out of that. He also said he doesn’t go downtown because he lives on the river?? We ended up back at the boat listening to it on the radio. Pat and I stayed up and listened and drank beer and talked football and the guys went to bed because it makes them so nuts then they can’t sleep.  Friday morning we went to a café for breakfast before leaving on the big crossing. The town is kind of cute. Some antique shops and hotels and gift shops. It still is a small town though. We stopped in a bakery for a loaf of bread and she didn’t have any because it is “winter”. Not enough customers to keep it fresh. Then we found a café. We ordered breakfast and Pat went out to get a paper. She came back empty handed. No paper in the town. Rolf ordered de-caf with the breakfast and they don’t make it there. So he headed down the street in search for that. It was a unique breakfast experience but we did get to eat. On the way back we saw the bread truck pull into the marina and Rolf, who is not afraid to ask any question, got the delivery guy to sell us a fresh loaf out of the back of the truck. It felt a little illegal.

People making small talk always ask where we are going. We usually answer “Florida”. They are a little sensitive about that since we are already in Florida. We try not to answer that we are headed to the “real” Florida.

So off we go to the gulf crossing and the “real” Florida.