Thursday Nov 30

We had an amazing day yesterday. We were crossing Santa Rosa Sound when at least 20 dalphins joined us. They were playing in our wake. There were many full grown and many babies jumping and diving. What a thrill! We had been seeing one or two here and there but this was a whole pod. We also passed a beautiful shrimp boat named "Miss Mildred" - don't often see them with the nets out like this.

We are in Sandestin waiting for weather to pass. Will do laundry and grocery shop. Next stop will be Panama City. Should be there for a few days.

See you out there somewhere.
Ann & Rob

Nov 27 Update

Hello All - - We have been here at The Wharf in Orange Beach, AL for the last 10 days or so We have decided to leave tomorrow and begin our move to warmer climes in Florida. We plan to leave Carabelle for the Gulf crossing around December 5 or 6 depending on the weather, of course. We won't go straight across due to the short days. We can't do 130 miles in the daylight this time of year. We'll stop in St Marks, Steinhatchie, Crystal River, Clearwater and then to Palmetto for December, January and February. This should be an interesting crossing. The "armpit" if Florida is very shallow, especially in winter which could take some time as weather is
critical.

We have really enjoyed Orange Beach. We've had a car for the last 10 days so have been able to see a lot of the area. The hurricane Ivan damage is mostly cleaned up. Except for the state park on the gulf. It has not been touched yet but I think the plan is to tear it down and completely rebuild. We took the ferry across to Dauphin Island and looked around there. Drove to Bayou la Batre, a small fishing village close to the Alabama Mississipi border. There used to be a really good diner with piles of oyster shells around. All that is gone with no evidence of oysters at all. We did not drive any further west.

One of our boat neighbors gave us a 20 lb redfish the day after Thanksgiving. We had no way to filet it or even cook anything that big so . . . we had noticed a restaurent on the beach with a sign that said "you hook it, we'll cook it". Took the fish there and had the best seafood meal in many years. What a neat experience that was.

We're planning to be home for a week or so mid December. We are still speaking to each other so feel that we have accomplished a lot. Heard about "Boat Sex" at the meeting in October - all women at this particular meeting. Boat sex is when he stands on the bow of the boat and she stands at the stern and they yell "---- you" at each other. Pick your own 4 letter word.

Keep in touch - see you out there somewhere.
Love to all
Ann & Rob

Back on the Water Again

Hello All - Rob and I have been home for the last couple of weeks. Working hard to catch up on client appointments and bookwork. Last weekend we went to the lake house with Sarah & Eddie and Bill & Eva. Went to see Lion King Friday night and left for the lake on Saturday morning. Had a fabulous time. We hiked, played cards, read and sat in front of the fire, talked and laughed and ate at least every 15 minutes. It is so rare to have such good friends that you can completely relax and just enjoy each other.

We had an interesting trip in and around Mobile Bay. We went from Bobby's Fish Camp all the way to Dog River - about 130 miles - we knew of no good stopping places. We left late because of heavy fog and were delayed further by a late train on a swing bridge. We entered Mobile Harbor just a dusk and had another 15 or so miles across Mobile Bay in the dark! Mobile Bay is very shallow so you have to stay in the shipping channels. We did fine - but it was scary and really wierd to just forge ahead into total darkness. Thank goodness for electronics. Spent 3 nights at Dog River Marina. When we left Dog River for Orange Beach, the weather said the waves on the Bay were 1 to 1 1/2 feet - Big mistake - they were more like 4 to 6 feet. Again, it was a scary crossing - with waves over the top of the boat in some places. Again, we made it Ok with no damage. The Orange Beach Marina is very nice and we expect to be there until the end of November.

Wednesday, Nov 1st

Good Morning All.... As you can see, I finally figured out how to upload a picture to the blog site. We took this picture at Bobby's Fish Camp on the Tombigbee River in Alabama. This is the only dockage in about 250 miles - no services at all - it is just a dock. We had a perfect afternoon there - no other boats - Bobby was not even around.

The next day was interesting. We had a run of 130 miles with no choices but to go all the way. We had heavy fog until around 9 AM and a railroad bridge delay. We waited for about a hour for the bridge to open. We arrived in Mobile Harbor just at dusk - wove our way through huge ships and oil tankers and finally into Mobile Bay after dark. We still had about 10 miles to the marina at Dog River. We made it fine with the help of radar, a good chart plotter and a good search light. The moon was bright and the weather fine which helped. The Bay is only about 9 feet deep and I'm told that you don't want to be on it in a storm. You also cannot go out of the channels because the "spoil" from the dredging is dumped along the channels making it very easy to run aground. We are at Dog River now, finally have good internet reception. We are planning to leave later today or tomorrow for the Gulf. We are really enjoying the seafood - fresh oysters and shrimp - right off the boats.

We have rented a car and plan to be home on Friday or Saturday. We are feeling the need to see the grandkids and catch up at the office. We will have been gone from home a month - long enough.

I'm going to try uploading some more pictures . . .

See you guys out there somewhere.
Love from Bob & Ann