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.