Bare Bottom in Mobile

Hi Everyone...Ben here...ready for the Mardi Gras,

Did you know that Mardi Gras really started in Mobile, Alabama - not New Orleans, Lousiana?  Well, that's the story here, and they party in a big way for ten days with parades every night and big fancy dances.  The night we tried to go to the parade, it was real stormy.  Izzy said it was raining cats and dogs, so I really wanted to go, but they canceled the parade.  Too bad.  Maybe next year I'll get to see the cats and dogs at the Mardi Gras parade.  I'll have my beads all ready.

The last time I wrote to you I was getting all excited about staying at the Dog River Marina in Mobile, AL.  I imagined it must be a real green grassy place with big trees and rabbits and squirrels to chase, and a welcoming committee of friendly dogs to play with me.    WRONG!  No grass, only mud and stones, and high water when the tide came in - covering the parking lot and walkways.

No squirrels or trees or rabbits.   There was a dog there named Diesel but he growled at me and tried  to grab me by the neck one night.  Izzy wasn't too keen on taking me out for many walks after that.  I think it should be called "Mean Dog River Marina". Jeff and Izzy seemed to like the place though - Diesel didn't try to bite them, and there was a courtesy car that they could use almost any time they wanted it...as long as the tide was low!

Here's Diesel waiting for a second chance at my throat.  Maybe he wanted my Mardi Gras beads. 

Tough kashitsky, Diesel!

Jeff liked it here because they took our boat out of the water and fixed up the bottom paint that he had scraped off  over the past year ( I think he told them that I did that), then put on new zincs for the salt water, and straightened out a shaft that was making a little vibration.   Here are a few pictures of our boat being hauled out with her bare bottom showing.  I felt kind of bad for her being humiliated like that.

Big straps were put around her belly and she was lifted out of the water and carried over to dry land...$$!

Looks like a cruise ship from here!

There's the scraped bottom paint from one (or more) of our encounters with the bottom of the river..$$$!

Uh-oh... looks like we need to do some work on this prop and shaft... $$$$$$$$!!!!

Since I couldn't stay on the boat during the lift out and inspection, Izzy decided it was a good day for me to go  for a cut and fluff.  When she picked me up from the spa, I saw our boat still dangling from those straps, tucked neatly in between two other boats in the parking lot. Looks like we'll be staying out of the water for a while.

 A big ladder was at the back, and Jeff was waiting there to try to convince me to climb up there to get in. 

In boat terms, the Izzy R was "on the hard".  They must call it that because of how difficult it is getting in.  But my dinner was up there, so I endured a rather undignified manhandling and arial lift with my legs dangling and my bare bottom showing...just like the Izzy R.  Izzy took pictures of my bare bottom too, but I deleted them.

Little did I know that this was going to be the last I saw of land for a couple of days.  Getting down from up there was not going to happen for me!  No walks or dodging Diesel, but it was cold and rainy anyway.  I'm glad I have my yard out on the bow, and it was fun barking at the workers from way up there. 

Jeff and Izzy went to a restaurant called the Blind Mule one night for Italian food.  My guess is Lasagna from the smell of their breath.  I wanted to go - never saw a blind mule before - but they said dog's weren't allowed.  Odd that they allow a mule there but not a nice house (boat) dog like me.  

Rules, rules, rules... I should have been able to get in there, after all the mule is blind – how would he know. I just had a cut and fluff at the Petsmart, so he couldn’t smell me.

Our friends Frank and Terry arrived at the marina one afternoon, so we had buddies to go to dinner with.  One night was the local Yacht Club for a great Prime Rib dinner, and another night everyone hopped into the courtesy car for a wild ride in the rain into Mobile to what Jeff called a local funky Mexican restaurant.

We left Mobile on a windy day to cross the big Mobile Bay, and head for Florida and her warm sunshine.  Jeff was hoping to get Izzy into her bikini - yeah right!  Again it was cold and breezy - Izzy wasn't goin' for it.

Big storms threatened us, but Jeff knew we'd be in the protction of the Intracoastal waterway before it hit us.

Izzy and I still worried about it a little as the sky got darker and darker.

Finally it blew over with only a little rain on us, and the haze lifted so we could see the picturesque lighthouse in the Bay

and the barge that was stuck in the shallow water at the entrance to the ICW blocking our path.   We slid  by with only a few scrapes on our freshly painted bottom...

Then we saw them - the dolphins!  We must be in Florida again!

They romped and jumped and played in our wake as we rode down the ICW.

I wonder if I'm too old to learn how to do that...

YEP!  Just as I thought.  We've crossed the Florida State line.

Uh-oh! What now?  There was a guy in a funny rubber suit looking under our boat after we pulled into the marina today. 

As it turns out, it was just that pesky Florida State Line again. We already bought it once last year, remember?  I don't know why we had to buy it again, but that's what the man in the funny black rubber suit sold to Jeff. I think it was $40 this year, and it's a little bigger.

Smells like crab.

Wonder what he's going to do with another one...

We went to a place called LuLu's that is owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister.  Apparently she's crazy, because they sell a beer there called the Crazy Sista Ale.  It was a great looking spot if the weather had been warm and sunny so we could play out in the volley ball court and enjoy some sunshine while eating our Cheeseburgers in Paradise.  Instead it was 33 degrees that night, and I was happy to curl up in my bed on the boat.

Now it's looking more like Florida as we pass the white sand beaches.  If I weren't freezin' my tail, I'd like to get Jeff to drop the anchor and go for a swim here, or jump in the dinghy for a quick ride over to the Floribama Bar

Instead we drove on and on that day, after this pretty sunset when I thought we should be stopping for a nice walk and some Ol' Roy. 

Even past dark! This is something we haven't done since we were in Florida last year when Jeff and Izzy each took a turn at miscalculating the next anchorage for the night. I'm not sure which one did it this year, but I'm staying out of it before they blame me.   Good thing we just had that new search light installed. It came in real handy as Izzy was frantically trying to shine it on the markers in the dark shallow waterway as Jeff drove slowly into Fort Walton Beach.  Since we ended up at a FREE city dock, I'm bettin this was Jeff's idea.  

Here's the free City Dock in Fort Walton Beach in the morning.  Luckily it was right next to a park so I could stretch my legs a little.

I thought we'd be done with the barges after leaving the rivers, but NOOOOOOOOOOO!

ICW sand dunes

Panama City evening shot while we were having our 5 o'clock somewhere rest time - bundled up on the back of the boat.

Some of my new friends in Port St. Joes.  They weren't much on conversation. Maybe they're just old.

This boat, called the "Manatee", has done the Loop for 21 years.  That's 147 in dog years.  

Port St. Joe Marina

One afternoon we arrived in Apalachicola, Florida - the home of the best oysters!  When we came to the dock, I thought I was dreaming because there was a boat that looked just like ours parked right in front of us.  The boat is called "Eagle's Nest", and we met the owners, Janice and Eddie.  We made friends right away and made plans to travel south together for a few days.

It rained most of the day we spent in Apalachicola (what else is new, eh?), but we had some of those really good oysters on the half shell there.  They use the shells to spread on the parking lots and pathways.  Not too easy on a guy's bare feet.  Izzy got out my Nikes so I wouldn't track mud into the boat, and to protect my feet. I wasn't too sure about being seen in public in them.

 

These boots are pretty wussie, but I have to admit they feel better than walking on the sharp oyster shells. Where were these things when I was getting all those burrs stuck in my feet in Texas??

One more day of travel in a rough sea to a town called Carabelle, before we have to make a big trip overnight to cross the Gulf of Mexico.  Janice and Eddie wanted to cross too, so we traveled together, with Eddie leading the way.

 

We left Carabelle ("Clarabelle" to Jeff ) at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and headed far out into the Gulf where the water is deep enough to travel safely without running aground in the dark.  We planned to be in Clearwater by the next morning when it would be light enough to avoid running over the crab pots that litter the shallow waters all around the harbor entrance. 

Jeff and I took a nice late afternoon nap while Izzy drove and took pictures. 

We saw a pretty sunset over the water, and then it became real dark!  There were no clouds, but no moon either.  The only light was the one on Eddie's boat in front of us.  Izzy said she felt like one of  three wise men following a star.  (??) 

And then we discovered the bizillion stars that were out there.  Pretty cool!  It was a little scary not being able to see what was in front of us and where we were going, except when we looked at the  the radar screen.

Jeff and Izzy stayed up all night driving, but I went to sleep.  I guess they didn't trust my skills.  They watched the Super Bowl on the TV and listened to music to stay awake, and Izzy baked an apple cobbler sometime in the middle of the night. 

By 10:30 the next morning we were all tied up in the Clearwater City Marina after dodging crab pots in the glare of the morning sun for the last 10 miles or so.  That night we all celebrated the successful crossing and thanked Eddie and Janice for leading the way.

Randi is coming to visit us soon, so I'll write more then. 

Now I have to go and explore this new town.  There's a beach here that Izzy wants to see.

Love,

Ben