The Crossing

From the time you start to even think about The Loop, you hear about The Crossing:  the 10-30 hour passage from Florida's Panhandle to its West Coast.  For many Loopers in 8kt boats (ie those boats who cannot cross in daylight hours) this is their first overnight experience. It might also be their first off-shore experience.  From docktails to dinner conversation be it June or October the conversation almost always rolls around to the crossing, particularly if you have crossing veterans in your midst. Everyone wants to know how it was, what route they took, if they have any advice to share.

The America's Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) provides information,support and an online forum for members. Each morning I receive a report on questions and answers posted on the previous day's forum.  The questions range from good anchorages to good restaurants to electrical wiring to finding the perfect Loop boat. Beginning in late October a daily post is provided re: Crossing Weather. This year is is provided by a volunteer names Eddy. The difference between a good crossing and a bad crossing can be the weather. Flat calm waters and a full moon are the perfect scenario, and may the winds be ever in your favor.

Although the Cap'n has over 15 multi day off shore races under his belt, I have 2 off shore overnight experiences and we had our "Off-Shore Specialist" Al on board for our our crossing, we still spent a good deal of time pinpointing the exact best departure and arrival day, time and location.

As it turned out we had a great trip with relatively calm seas and a just past full moon. Although we knew there were several other Loopers crossing the same night we did, not a one came over the horizon or appeared on the AIS.

We left St. Andrews Marina, Panama City just after 7AM on Monday November 10th. About 1PM a sport fishing boat crossed our bow. About 2PM a gull hitchhiked a ride for about 5 minutes, about 3PM a few dolphins frolicked to starboard, about 4PM we saw a sail boat to port.  And that was it -- no more signs of human or sea life until we neared the entrance to Tampa Bay.  What we did see was a sunset that stretched across the starboard horizon, the moon rising to port ablaze in orange about 9PM, stars galore, and a peaceful sunrise. It was spectacular.

After taking the early evening watch so the Cap'n and AL could watch the Eagles game on tv, I took my first solo middle-of-the-night-when-everyone-else-was-asleep watch -- an accomplishment I am proud of. We all took turns on "secondary watch", ie, sleeping in the salon in case the watch captain needed assistance. Hamilton took it as his duty to sleep in the pilot house thru the night -- snoring slightly but still at the ready if the watch captain needed any help or happened to have a piece of cheese to share.

By 12:30PM on Tuesday November 11th we were in our slip at the St.Petersburg Municipal Marina. By 1:30 we were all napping.

This is where FREEDOM will be for about 2 months. It feels good not to have the daily "Where are we going tomorrow, how many miles is that, is there enough water in that anchorage, where is the next marina, what time should we leave?" conversation that has been our constant companion since we left Charleston in April. Now it is time to enjoy St. Pete. We arrived on a good weekend, the annual Rib Fest is taking place to our port along the waterfront and we have been able to hear the nightly concerts from FREEDOM ( Daughtry, Starship and Lynyrd Skynyd), To starboard, docks are being installed for the annual Boat Show scheduled for the first weekend of December.  But before that we have a few weeks of shore leave scheduled and we are busy putting the boat away and packing our sweaters before the drive north.........

The Gulf Coast

Perdido Key, Florida

As I noted a few posts back, we arrived at Mile 0 of the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway on Monday October 27th. As we watched our bow cross this milestone on the nav screen, I turned to the Cap'n and asked: "Did you ever imagine that you would motor your own boat the long way around to the Gulf of Mexico?"  What a sense of accomplishment we felt!  We knew we would miss the fresh water of the lakes and rivers (ie, we knew we would have to resume rinsing the boat off every time we came ashore), but we were excited to explore this uncharted territory for us.

Our first stop was Dog River Marina, in Mobile. Known for their exemplary service department, and in need of an oil change and a few other routine maintenance jobs, we decided to stay there for a week to get the work done and to do a few road trips. Several other Loopers were there  and at the neighboring Turner Marina

At Dog River we were docked next to the Capt. Sydney, a Shrimper ( aka, shrimp fishing boat).  Soon after they returned to the dock one afternoon I noticed some familiar faces gathering beside Freedom: fellow Loopers with plastic grocery bags and buckets in their hands.

 I opened the pilot house door and asked what was happening: "We can buy a bag full of shrimp for $20" I was told. I grabbed a bag and got in line for $6/lb shrimp that looked like this:

First thing on the 30th we dropped Ham at a local pet motel and headed off on a Halloween Road Trip to Fayetteville, GA for a fundraising concert ( more on that in another post).   On the way back we stopped in Montgomery, Alabama to see the Capitol area and to tour the First White House of the Confederacy.  Although Jefferson Davis and his family only lived in the house for three months, it has been lovingly restored by a local committee of women. Over  the years, family members have donated pieces of furniture, portraits and clothing for display on the house. The house was even moved, board by board, to its present location across from the Capitol Building.

The Dining Room. The Chandelier and the drape of the gold curtains look like an angel from certain angles.

After returning to Dog River, we got a good night's sleep and headed towards Ocean Springs, MS the next morning. My college friend, Connie Moran, just happens to be the Mayor of this charming, arts-centered  Gulf-side town, The annual Peter Anderson Arts Festival was being held that weekend and we decided it was the perfect chance to enjoy the festival and catch up with Connie and her husband Jack, fresh back from their honeymoon.  Our Looper friends Vicki and Mark from Blue Willow joined us for the day. Due to its elevation, Ocean Springs was spared much of the flooding and wide spread damage neighboring towns and cities experienced after Katrina. Although roofs were lost, large trees still arch gracefully over the streets which brim with locally owned businesses. It was fun to walk though the festival with Connie, meeting many of her friends and business owners, while the guys stayed back at a local watering hole to watch football.  It was slow going at times -- everyone wants to say hello to the Mayor -- but lots of fun to see the art work and meet some many local residents and visiting vendors.

Ocean Springs is best known for Shearwater Pottery, but we think sometime soon people will be talking about their home grown Crooked Letter Brewing Co.

Shearwater Pottery was founded in 1928 by Peter Anderson with the support of his parents, George Walter Anderson and Annette McConnell Anderson. From the 1920s through the present day, Shearwater Pottery has produced art pottery, utilitarian ware, figurines, decorative tiles and other pottery pieces. Shearwater Pottery is high-grade hard fired earthenware intended for functional as well as decorative use. Each piece is individual and unique in nature. 

The next day we drove back to Ocean Springs to see the waterfront before heading to Biloxi to pick up our favorite Vet and Crew Member: Al (and his golf clubs).

We are strong believers in the Looper Road trip.  Many marinas offer courtesy cars, allowing boaters to drive to the grocery, restaurants, or local historic sites -- as long as you can be back in 2 hours. That does not always give us enough time to explore, so we like to rent cars when we want to go further a field. This typically requires an advanced degree in logistics. Here is what we did in Mobile:

Picking up Rental Car:
1) reserved marina courtesy car for 4PM Wednesday
2) drove courtesy car to Mobile airport, with the Cap'n riding shotgun
3)Cap'n waited in airport parking in courtesy car lot while I filled out paperwork for rental car
4)Played follow the leader back to marina (our GPS was less than reliable, requiring wild lane changing and the Cap'n muttering under his breath at the expense of lead car driven by the Admiral #greatmomentsinmarriage)
5) Returned to marina at 5:56PM, just under our two hour limit

Returning Car:
1) Drove rental car to Biloxi to pick up Al ( and his golf clubs)
2) Drove from Biloxi to Mobile Airport
3) I went inside to fill out paperwork for rental car return
4)Cap'n and Al parked rental car in row 5, keeping an eye out for white pickup truck from marina
5) White pick up truck, with Jarvis from marina shows up, loads Al's golf clubs and duffle.
6)Jarvis delivers us safely to marina while he , by hands free cell phone, encourages his gf to take a new job and orders some sort of personalized tshirts, and tells us all about his many boat trips across the Gulf.  He was delightful. Thanks goodness he could pick us up, otherwise we would have driven back to marina, picked up courtesy car, played follow the leader back to the airport ( 30 minutes from marina), returned rental car and then all driven back in courtesy car.


The next morning we were heading east with Blue Willow. We intended to stop in Orange Beach, but it was barely 11:30 when we arrived and after a good wave to Connie from Patriot on the dock we continued east, thinking Blue Willow was behind us heading to their intended dockage about an hour or two ahead, Meanwhile, they stopped in Orange Beach to say hi to Connie and Jim and  thinking we were there, took a slip for the night. By the time they called us we were an hour away.  Yikes -- long story short, we went on ahead to Holiday Harbor Marina in Perdido Key  and enjoyed a quiet night with dolphins swimming in the bay and a tequila sunset.

Calm seas, impressive clouds and low flying birds on the way to Pensacola

A short ride along the coast found us in Pensacola by 11AM.  After securing Freedom, we headed to the National  Naval Aviation Museum on the base. Full size and scale models of planes, aircraft carriers of all ages were on display.

This plane lay on the floor of Lake Michigan for nearly 50 years. The fresh water kept it in pretty good shape until it was recovered and restored, It had seen combat in WWII and was lost in the lake during a training exercise.

A replica of the Blue Angels flying overhead in their F16's

The Cap'n and Al checking out the AWACS plane -  looks like part helicopter, part plane, part satellite dish

AWACS plane

President Nixon in Marine 1

The Cap'n deplaning from Marine 1

Man on the moon

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The last Navy  Boat Plane

Unmanned stealth plane

 The Naval Airbase at Pensacola is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.  They are combining their celebration with the annual Blue Angels reunion and an airshow. We were luck enough to be at the base when the Blue Angels were practicing.

A bad picture of the Blue Angels.They move too fast to capture on a cell phone! I think one plane is upside down and the other right side up!  But, they were close, and we had to spin like a top to keep track of them! 

Bench where we sat waiting for our cab ride home

We really enjoyed out stay in Pensacola, but the next night was just as much fun when we docked at the Ft. Walton Beach city dock with Blue Willow, Patriot, Aunt Aggie, and Karty Party. Everyone came onboard Freedom for cocktails and conversation before dinner.



Friday brought us through the "Grand Canyon of Florida" which we have renamed the "Sand Canyon": cliffs of sand resembling the structure of Arizona's Grand Canyon, but in gradations of white not terracotta. It is beautiful

For now we are docked at St. Andrews Marina in Panama City waiting for the weather window to open for our Gulf Coast crossing. Here is what we are doing and seeing:

Dinner at local haunt, Hunts Oyster Bar. Jim and Connie from Patriot and Vicki from Blue Willow are listening intently to somehting the Cap'n was saying

This part of the panhandle is known for its oysters. They were yummy.

In the St. Andrews Park just a few blocks from the marina

Happy to be back in the land of Spanish Moss draped Live Oaks

After we have been off shore and the boat is coated with salt I think I should brush it off the railings into small jars and sell it. How fresh can you get?

Hamilton, The Boat Dog, striking a pose in front of the Salt Kettle.

 Fingers crossed we will leave Monday morning and arrive in Tampa/St. Pete by noon on Tuesday.  I am relieved to have Al on board. He and the Cap'n make a good team and knowing he is here allows me to relax and enjoy the ride.........

Oh the Places We Have Been

I just realized it has been a month since I have given a proper 'waterways we have traveled' update. So, here it is:

After we returned from Memphis we headed south down the Tennessee River. After a week under the shed at Grand Harbor, we looked forward anchoring in Bay Springs Lake for a night or two and exploring the many coves with our dinghy. Unfortunately, for the first time in months we had a full day and a half of rain, plus high wind and tornado warnings. Not good anchoring weather......We ducked into a marina just before the deluge. The following day we locked up three times -- once dropping 84 feet (the deepest lock on the Loop) putting us back into the rhythm of the waterways.

Heading south on the Tennessee then the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway we had two weeks of spectacular scenery, perfect weather and intermittent nights of docking and anchoring. This was truly  the most beautiful part of our trip: patches of trees with yellow, orange and red tipped leaves, eagles flying overhead, misty mornings, fishermen tucked in coves. Fellow experienced Loopers had told us not to expect much barge traffic south of Grand Harbor, but a larger than average grain harvest has put more tows on the waterways and they were once again our nearly constant companions. In fact,if it weren't for the tows we would have been completely alone some days.  Once we got into rural northeastern Alabama we went for an entire day without seeing any pleasure crafts other than the ones  traveling with us.

 Prior to construction of the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway, the only way for barge traffic to travel from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico was via the Mississippi, Heavy traffic, current and it's more western location made this a more cumbersome and much longer route, particularly from ports along the eastern Tennessee River
The first known recommendation to connect the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers was made by a French explorer, the Marquis de Montcalm, to Louis XV of France in about 1760 or 1770. In 1810 the citizens of what is now Knoxville TN petitioned the Congress to build such a waterway shortening by 800 miles teir distance to the trading ports of New Orleans and Mobile. After numerous surveys, investigations, and proposals, not to mention Congressional stinginess and bickering, the project was finally approved in 1946. 25 years later: As part of his “Southern Strategy” for reelection, President Nixon included $1 million in the Corps of Engineers’ 1971 budget to start construction of the Tenn-Tom. On May 25, 1971, the President traveled to Mobile, Alabama, to participate with then Governor George Wallace and other elected officials from five states to symbolically start construction of the long awaited Tennessee -Tombigbee. However, the actual start of construction was delayed until December 1972 because of a lawsuit filed against the waterway by a small group of environmentalists. The federal courts eventually ruled in favor of the project. (The History of the Tenn-Tom)

Further lawsuits and political wrangling ensued until 1977 when President Jimmy Carter withdrew his opposition and construction of the waterway began, Whew!

After 12 years of construction at a total cost of nearly $2 billion, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was completed on December 12, 1984. The last plug of earth was removed from the waterway channel at Amory, Mississippi, allowing the long awaited mixing of the waters of the Tombigbee with that of the Tennessee River.

Dedication of the Tenn-Tom Waterway

The Tenn-Tom officially opened to commerce on January 10, 1985 when the Towboat,Eddie Waxler, transporting nearly 2.7 million gallons of petroleum products, made its maiden voyage on the waterway. A lottery was held to select the first commercial tow to transit the waterway.

The dedication of the completion of the waterway was held on June 1, 1985. Record hot temperatures did not deter some 100,000 people, including many Members of Congress, Governors, and other elected officials, from attending ceremonies in Columbus, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama that day. During the previous week, numerous other celebrations were held throughout the four-state waterway corridor from as far away as Paducah, Ky and Gunterville, AL. One newspaper reporter observed that such public exuberance that had been displayed at the Tenn-Tom events had not occurred in this region since those celebrations held at the end of World War II.

It is quite a waterway. Outside of random barge  loading facilities, the saw nothing but trees and birds for miles on end. The locks were in great shape and well run -- we seldom had to wait for an opening. 

I enjoyed these intrepid plants nestled in the lock bollards (posts we wrapped a line around as we locked up or down)

These plants didn't even need a bollard -- they just grew on the  lock wall

As we dropped they were a lot further away!

Where the Tombigbee River was too curvy to allow barge movement, the Corps of Engineers cut straightaways. Some of the "oxbows" left behind are silted in but many can be used as restful anchorages close to the waterway but out of the way of tugs and tows.

Once we hit the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway, the last portion of our route to the Gulf of Mexico, things got a little twistier. 

Here's a shot of our navigation screen from the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Wateerway. That's FREEDOM below where it says Seanna. We were loopin' the river on the Loop!

 Fortunately, our AIS would alert us to an approaching barge and we could slow down and wait for them to come around a curve. I can't imagine not having that technology and rounding a blind curve to find a tug pushing 6-8 barges in my direction, with no where for us to go but into the shallows.

Meeting a barge in a straight away

 For this portion of the trip we played follow the leader with fellow-Seleners Bart and Beth aboard Seanna. We first met them way back in July in Put-in-Bay, Ohio. Next time we saw them was in Columbus, MS when they tied up next to us while the Selene Passage,  was across the dock. It was our own little Selene Owners Rendezvous.

We have continued our system of traveling for several days and then stopping for about a week.  Most marinas offer a special weekly rate and staying put for a bit allows us to socialize with fellow Loopers and locals, explore areas of the country we would never get to know otherwise, and head off on a few road trips. In Columbus, MS, for example, we attended the Roast n Boast, the  Mississippi State BBQ Championship: 

A home made smoker built to look like a train. The owner had his area at the contest decorated with model trains. They were the only contestants who shared their barbeque with anyone who came by. It was about the best pulled pork we have ever had!

I am guessing the pigs run extra fast when they hear they are at a BBQ Championship!

...visited the annual Caledonia Days festival about 30 minutes away; stocked up on greens at the Saturday Farmer's Market; toured the antebellum Waverly Plantation Mansion,in West Point, MS:

Construction was completed in 1852. The large cuppola and upper floors are reached by a self supporting spiral staircase.The Mansion is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young girl who died in an accident in the home. It stood vacant for nearly 50 years -- during which time it was a popular party place for local youth (including the dockmaster at our marina) -- until the current owner and his wife purchased it in 1962. Remarkably, the home suffered little damage  after all those years of neglect. -- even some of the large gilded mirrors survived with nary a crack The now-widowed owner still  lives there and uses the tour fees to maintain the home. No inside pictures were allowed,

A 400 year old Magnolia tree in the front yard of the mansion. Extensive gardens surround the home. In the 1800's it was a large cotton plantation

..... and the childhood home of Tennessee Williams:

The home was orignally sited three blocks away at the parsonage for the local church where his Grandfather was the Rector. When the church expanded, the home was moved to its current location

 drove past cotton fields:

From a distance it looked like a fresh snow had fallen. The plants were 3-4' high. What backbreaking work it must have been to hand pick.

 and enjoyed docktails and dinner with other Loopers.

It seems that every time you have had enough of something on the Loop: locks or lakes or rivers or tug boats or catfish etc,  the scenery changes and a new set of adventures are at hand.  We have said goodbye! to the rivers, locks,  fresh water, and catfish  and hello! Gulf Coast, palm trees, white sand, dolphins on the starboard side  and oysters on the menu.  It's not a bad thing.....