Dec. 20, 2010 Panama City to Apalachicola, Fl.

We started the day off with great weather and smooth water. Departing around 9:00 am from Panama City, Florida. Today’s run would not be too long, approximately 6 hours to our destination, White City! Leaving Panama City, we got to enjoy a show put on by a 50’ Naval Hover Craft running probably 50 miles an hour. It came up on us quickly with a roar and lots of water being blown from its air ride. Three of the yellow Mercury Engine test boats were cruising by us at 50 to 70 miles an hour. The test drivers would wave at us when they saw us taking their picture. Hey, we felt like we were sitting still when they came racing by. We are cruising at a warp speed of 8 and ½ miles an hour. We don’t miss a thing. We enjoyed watching the dolphin playing in our wake!

White City is just a few miles down the ICW from Port St. Joe. There is a small park, with a floating dock (a dock that will fall and rise with the tides,) a few houses a little ways down the road! Needless to say there is not a whole lot there!
UH-OH!! Blue smoke coming from the exhaust! Can’t be a good thing but…lets hope for the best! Checking out the gauges and watching the RPM and our speed everything looks normal! We had to make a few phone calls to get an idea why we were all of a sudden pouring blue smoke out of our exhaust. We contacted our local mechanic in Mobile, Paul Dunham. Made a call to one of Brandy’s friends, John Messier, talked to a mechanic, Robert Hayes from Port Saint Joe, that was off of work for the week. Robert, did refer us to a Yanmar Factory Mechanic, in Carrabelle, at Dockside Marina. Robert, deserves many thanks for stopping at our dock on his way home that morning to help us diagnose the problem. Our number two cylinder was not firing.
We were going to need a mechanic, the decision was made to take it very easy on the engine and keep moving east. We took our time and made the short little hop to Apalachicola.

Arriving in Apalachicola, early in the afternoon allowed us to get the bicycles down from the fly bridge and take them for a spin! We toured this neat little historic town. Of all things to be invented in Florida. Would you believe the ice machine was? We wanted to try out the baskets on the bikes so, what could be better then groceries? Everything made it back to the boat in one piece the groceries, the bikes, and even the riders!! AMAZING!!
We really enjoyed the exercise as too.
From the bike ride to a stroll down the long dock, to the covered viewing area to watch the sunset! The shrimp boat passing the marsh in the purple sky, made a great picture! Another enjoyable day on the water.

December 18th & 19th Ft. Walton to Panama City, Fl.

We were up and at 'em nice and early this second day of our adventure! Coffee and breakfast, then time to pull the lines and head to Fort Walton Beach, Fl. We departed from Pirates Cove and finally made it to Florida! As we were headed into Florida, we saw another trawler. A call came over the radio for the "Bama Belle!" WOW!! What a suprise, it was David and Becky, who are some friends, that spend time at our homeport marina! We enjoyed the visit, as they told us about their new boat that they just purchased in Jacksonville, Fl. Turning the bow east, we were going to go into Pensacola Bay, and cross over the Santa Rosa Sound. We had planned to spend the night at the town dock (FYI... This is where the Billy Bowleggs Party takes place each June.) Pulling into Fort Walton Beach, the cloudy weather had scattered and showed us a georgeous sunset! WOW!! It was beautiful! Take a look for yourself! Just for kicks and giggles we also tried our luck at the Florida  Lottery!

Next stop, Panama City Beach! This was a day already labeled for celebration!! My plan was to get Brandy to eat an oyster at Hunts Oyster Bar! Unfortunatley, Hunts was closed! We walked a little bit further to theShrimp Boat Restaurant. The server there was nice enough to point us in the right direction! We ended up at The Salty Hawg Oyster Bar! First part of the order was, a dozen on the half shell, and a dozen char-roasted! Brandy ate her very first oyster, char-roasted and covered in butter and parmesean cheese! Completing our visit to the great hole-in-the wall bar, fried shimp and Oysters Rockfeller, and more beer!!

Departure Date, 12/17/2010

FINALLY!!! Friday morning, at 10:00 am, December 17, "The Great Loop" adventure is underway! Brandy and I departed from our homeport, Sundowner Marina, located at the Dog River bridge in Mobile, Alabama. With a long blast from the horn, we pulled out of our slip. The "Bama Belle" was heading out on this trip of a lifetime. YAY!!! The weather, overcast and 54 degrees, and rain was predicted. We went across Mobile Bay, towards Baldwin County. The ride across the bay was choppy but had a great push from the current. Traveling to the south end of the bay and turning east we entered the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. We were comfortable cruising from the lower helm. We passed under the Hwy. 59 bridge at Lu Lu's Restaurant. Our resting place for the evening was going to be nothing but a overnight stop at Pirates Cove in Lillian, Al. Time of arrival...time for a drink, approximately 4:35pm, traveling the distance of 58 miles. Pirates Cove is a out of the way Marina & Bar, that has been going strong since the 1940's. This was my Homeport for the sailing vessel " O Baby Baby" in the 1980's & 1990's. How many places can you go in and have more dogs then people! That has kept Brandy from going into dog withdrawls!! Oh yea! I forgot to mention that Brandy had 5 dogs 2 cats and a horse! It didn't take her long to figure out that we didn't have room for 400 pounds of dogs on this boat. She found a new home for a few, and a babysitter for the other critters. For dinner we ordered a pizza that was loaded with all kinds of goodies! That with a few beers! Woo Hoo....., We were good to go! Of course I had to add another Pirates Cove Riff Raff T Shirt to my collection.

Crew Mate

Along with many other delays, the "Bama Belle" could not depart for her adventure without a crewmate!
A good friend of mine, Skip Troup, is a Realtor in Mobile. Skip gave me a call one evening and said that he may have someone to go with me! He had just listed a house just north of Mobile and the owner was fixing to head back home to Montana. Her name is Brandy, and works for the City of Mobile. I was introduced to Brandy, over the phone! I invited her down to Sundowner Marina to spend a day on the boat! We discussed the details and requirements for this journey. We decided that we could work together on this AWESOME ADVENTURE!

"The Great Loop" Adventure Aboard "Bama Belle"

Pre Departure "to-do" List! November 20, 2010

Finally, the biggest project on the "Bama Belle" is complete! Thanks, to a local fabricator Jerry Wigfield who spent many hours putting together a davit system! After a couple weeks of hard work, liquid sunshine, and a lot of tweeking, the system went out for a sea trial!  The beautiful calm waters of Mobile bay had to be stirred up! A good friend and his wife, Jeff and Pam Dimoff, took out the" Island Lady" to create some man made white caps! Jeff and Pam also took some great pictures! I would like them to know how much I appreciate all their help! Everything worked out perfectley! The inflatable dingy is now secure in its custom davit system. I can now scratch that off of the "to-do" list!

Next, came the installation of the second VHF radio with AIS features, along with the antenna. This could not have been done without the help of Mike Tiller. The "Bama Belle" is now fully equipped with two radios and two repeaters located on the fly bridge!  Mike will also be installing  a few more additions needed for "The Great Loop Adventure!"

CJ, my son, wired up the stereo on the fly bridge, also the antenna needed for the TV. Everyone knows that you must have good movies, and great tunes on any trip!

Several things have now been scratched off the list! There are still many more to go, which has delayed this journey down the "blue highway." Although everyday progress is being made, and the excitement is growing minute by minute!

"My First Boat"

Let me tell you how I became interested in boating.

I purchased my first boat at a garage sale for $2.00 in the summer of 1960, I was nine years old. That boat would fit in the back of my mom's station wagon. My mom would drop me off on Saturday mornings at Newport Bay so that I could enjoy a day of fishing. I didn't have a motor, so plan B came to mind. I had to get out the oars. I caught sea bass and rock bass. I enjoyed watching all the boats coming and going. I would row by John Wayne's huge yacht the "Wild Goose" and Gomer Pyle's yacht a converted PT Boat. Shirley Temple had a beautiful house on a point overlooking the bay. Life was good!!!! I was having fun on the water.

The Great Loop Adventure aboard the "Bama Belle"start date is around December 17, 2010