Back in Orange Beach....

We left off with our plans for January so I thought it was time for an update. It pretty much picked up where December Left off.

Shortly after the New Year boating friends from points north began arriving here on the Gulf coast (via car) to escape the winter for a bit. Many of the Pier 5 gang from GTB come down and it was great to see them all for a bit. Other friends are "future loopers" Ed & Kyle who are down along with Kyle's parents. They have an awesome condo on the beach and we had dinner there one night.

 
One last dinner and sunset at the Tiki bar and it's time to pry ourselves away from Orange Beach (for now).

We left for Sandestin on the 18th as planned....maybe that should have been a clue. The forecast was for light winds with fog burning off by 0900. We moved to the fuel dock to top off and, sure enough, the fog was gone when we left. We still hit a few patches along the way but it wasn't bad all the way to and across Pensacola bay. Approaching the bridge to Pensacola Beach I could see the fog developing ahead and hoped it wouldn't last too long.

About an hour later this was our view.....

And things didn't improve at all for the rest of the day. This was our first time operating this long on only instruments....a bit stressful to say the least. One good thing was (I kept telling myself) no other fool is out here today without running AIS. For the most part that turned out to be true. We did meet a tow that had gotten a bit out of the channel and run aground!! We crept by at dead slow to be sure we were well out of the way. We could hear his engines before we ever saw the barge. All in all between radar and charts we did fine and pulled up to a free dock at Fort Walton Beach ready for a beer!

Our goal for the weekend was Sandestin FL where looper friends Melissa & Tim have their boat, Near Miss. We got in on Friday with the plan of staying 2 nights but the weather forecast wasn't looking good (again). The storms that passed through the south last weekend came through this area. Choctawatchchee Bay runs west-east and can get stirred up quite a bit in winds from the west.

They took us to a local watering hole on Sunday to watch the Packers playoff game. This place is a huge Packer bar with everyone (except us) wearing green and gold. I understand we are no longer welcome there after the outcome.....

We had great fun on the visit and didn't mind the 2 extra nights at all. We left Tuesday morning under much better conditions.

On the way west we decided to stay at The Wharf complex since the price is good and it gives us an easy run to Mobile Bay. We got in on Wednesday afternoon and found that GTB friends were playing at the Hot Spot that night...what are the chances?!?

One downside from all these snowbirds is they bring down the northern germs....Jill came down with a cold about the day we left and it finally got to me 2 days ago. Our planned 2 night stop at the wharf is now on day 5. We both seem to be getting better but the run to Biloxi is a long day and we don't want to be "out there" feeling bad. The winds should be dropping overnight and with any luck (and a good nights sleep) we'll be on our way by 0730 CST...or Tuesday...who knows.

Christmas on Chasing 80

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and got off to a great start in the New Year, we sure did! In the last blog we recapped some of the maintenance we had done in Gulf Shores. After a week of being on the hard we were put back in the water so we could move back on board while the engine work was finished. Lucky for us that Saturday was the annual Christmas party at LuLu's (a block away) followed by the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach lighted boat parade. The boat didn't run but we had a front row seat for the parade!

Every year LuLu's hosts and afternoon with Billy Claus, Santa's brother who's allergic to snow. The party starts with LuLu (Lucy Buffett aka Jimmy's sister) reading the tale of Billy Claus to all the little kiddies. It's a cute little story that she wrote several years ago. I guess her brother isn't the only writer in the family.

About the end of the story the whole place shakes as a low flying plane buzzes the complex and the kid's go wild. Turns out Billy arrives every year by seaplane....way cool!!

For the next few hours Billy does the traditional Santa thing and listen's to each kids wishes which he promises to deliver to his brother. Billy is assisted by the LuLu Belles as his version of an elf...only cuter.

After a short time Jill & I left LuLu's to the kids and headed back to the boat to get ready for the parade, Since we were tied up right next to the waterway we were able to sit comfortably on the fly bridge and watch the whole thing. There were about 30 boats this year which is down from 50 in the past but it was a chilly evening for boating. Even though we couldn't move don't think we didn't participate!! The boat in the second picture really put up some lights and took home first place this year.

Once we got the boat back and moved back to Orange Beach Marina Jill got busy getting our decorations up. I helped by staying out of the way!!

Before we knew it it was Christmas eve and the weather was beautiful so we did what any self respecting boater would do.....put on our Christmas best and go for a dinghy ride....to the Flora Bama!

Murray Christmas!!

Frosty at the beach

We were back early and settled in to watch White Christmas before turning in. Next morning we woke to what has become a Christmas tradition for us, Lox and bagels with a schmeer...not sure where we picked that up from. Nice thing about living on a boat and being together 24/7 is we have no time to worry about surprising each other with something for Christmas so there is nothing to unwrap on Christmas morning. A bit later we returned to the Flora-Bama who was hosting a Christmas pot luck. They provided all the turkey and ham and we all brought side dishes. It was very well attended and there was plenty to go around.

After a feast of epic proportions we grabbed a beer and moved to an outside deck to enjoy the nice weather. It was then that we discovered what Santa does to unwind after an extremely busy 24 hours..

Later in the week looper friends Liz & Bob from Knot Sew Easy (you may remember from earlier blogs) drove down from Michigan to escape the cold and ring in the New Year with us. We went to the Wharf entertainment complex for NYE and had a bite to eat and listened to some music before the rain set in. We were back on the boat by 10 and made it up till 11!! (that's midnight for them)

The Wharf does a Marlin drop at midnight but I'm not sure how many people were left to see it. It really poured that night.

Next morning we were lucky as the rain let up for most of the day before starting again in the evening. We all jumped into the dinghy and headed off to the "Bama" for the New Years Day festivities.

And a better pic where Liz isn't cut in half...

The festivities at the Flora-Bama revolve around their annual Polar Dip which I decided would be fun to do with 2000 of my closest friends. The others (wiser) in our group decided to watch from the beach and take pictures. Jill got a quick video of the mayhem...I'm sure I'm in there somewhere.

I'm not sure why they were flying that red flag but the waves were over my head! I'm pretty sure everyone survived.

All too soon Liz & Bob had to return to the great white north and we returned to our routine of doing a little something each day to make Chasing 80 better. It's a labor of love for sure and beats workin'.

The influx of snowbirds has been very apparent this week on the roads as well as in the grocery store...seem's nobody knows where they are going so they go slow...very slow. Part of the influx were pier 5 friends from GTB who come down for a few months each year. They know where they are going.....

We've really enjoyed our stay here but we're both ready to get moving again. We'll spend the next week finishing up some boat projects and hope to get moving about the 18th or so. We may head east for a few days to visit other looper friends before doubling back and heading toward Mississippi and Louisiana. We are reserved in New Orleans in early March for 2 months so February will be exploring Lake Pontchartrain and further west toward Houma & Morgan City. Mardi Gras starts this weekend and runs till Fat Tuesday on February 28th so we're sure to find a parade or party along the way... stay tuned. We'll begin sending out tweets on travel days so you can follow along @mvchasing80 and the "Locate Us" link will be live again!!

 
PS one more from the "don't you feel sorry for us" department.....tonight's forecast.