Orange Beach to New Orleans

Well, we got moving from Orange Beach and headed west as planned. The colds had improved enough to make travel do-able. The first day was our longest travel day across the bottom of Mobile Bay and into the Mississippi sound and conditions were fine. Our stop for 2 nights was Biloxi. Neither Jill or I are big casino folks but it was a nice stop and we got out a bit to celebrate Jill's birthday on the 31st.

Mobile Bay has some gas platforms along the bottom but not enough to worry about and crossing the ship channel was no problem.

The marina in Biloxi had some very nice older boats (wooden) that are well cared for. One was a Biloxi Lugger that looked like it was brand new.

Another was a 1950's Norseman which also looked new. Note the caretaker working on the varnish. Most likely a full time job.

There was also a 50' version of our boat there. I understand the owners are from Indiana but we didn't meet them. In the pic below the 50 is in the top and we're toward the bottom. You can see the 50 is the same with the exception of a back porch and a bit more interior space.

After Biloxi we moved to Bay St. Louis where we would spend a week before entering Lake Pontchartrain. BSL is a very nice small town with a new marina. It was well worth a week's stay to visit all the shops and restaurant's. They even have a small Mardi Gras museum which we visited. They have a display of some of the costumes from the past several years.

 
On Sunday we stopped at a local watering hole and had our first crawfish of the season, 4 pounds to share!!

You may have heard about the tornado's that hit around New Orleans earlier this month. The worst was in New Orleans East which wasn't too far from us as the crow flies. We wisely left the boat and took cover in a bar where we were glued to the weather on TV. It got ugly as the line came through but no tornado and no damage to our boat. We planned on leaving early the next morning but Mother Nature had other plans.

We finally got moving about 11 but were delayed again by a train on the bridge we needed opened so didn't leave the bay until noon. Winds were forecast to pick up in the afternoon and part of the trip was a bit uncomfortable until we got to the pass leading to Lake Pontchartrain. Heading toward the pass we kept seeing debris on the water which we figure had been deposited by the storm.

We got safely into a marina in Slidell where we planned to spend 2 nights until we found out the Mardi Gras boat parade started from here Saturday morning....couldn't miss that!!

Friday night was the "eclipse" which turned out was more of a dimming than what I expected.

Saturday we hung some beads on our boat and made ready to leave as soon as the parade left the harbor to transit the canals. Worked out pretty well and we're glad we stayed the extra night. The following pictures are from the Slidell Krewe of Bilge...

The lead boat contained the King and Queen as well as the court (jesters?)

The theme this year seemed to be "favorite holiday" and some boats went all out. The Halloween boat was the best in my opinion...

We left as planned right behind the parade and headed toward the lake as they went up the canals. It was a very nice day for the 20 some mile run across to New Orleans. A bit hazy but calm water and winds. Jill and I were both excited to be going to one of our favorite places by boat. Turns out they make you run a bit of a gauntlet getting in on a Saturday afternoon. First a group of small sailing dinghy's zipping back and forth right outside the harbor.

Next was in the canal with some pretty high priced yachts lining the way. Shortly after the pic below a sail boat entered the channel heading toward us...pretty close quarters.

We got tied up and headed out to explore the neighborhood which is very nice. Sunday night my sister Kathy flew in to spend a week with us as we explored the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain but I'll save that for it's own posting...it was a fun week!!

We're now back in New Orleans but will be moving again tomorrow. Tune in as we head across the Mississippi River and explore farther west. We'll be going to Houma and Morgan City before returning to New Orleans for March and April.

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.

Updates and Boat Projects

I've had a nagging little voice in the back of my head lately...people saying "I wonder how Jill & Kevin are? What is Chasing 80 up to??" Maybe I'm wrong but we thought it was time to fill y'all in what we've been up to.

Not long after the last post we rented a car and went on a Florida road trip. Jill's sister Amy has bought a house in FL in preparation for her retirement next year. We drove down to meet up with her and Alyn and check the place out. It's a very nice place on a canal and for whatever reason we didn't take any pictures to share with you, sorry. In fact the only picture taken the whole time we were there was at a cool tiki bar with a great sense of humor.

It is a great house in a nice town and I'm sure they'll enjoy the area very much. I know we look forward to another visit.

We got back to the boat in time for Thanksgiving and planned a wonderful feast. One of our boat neighbors had taken the boat south for some fishing....south as in Belize....it's a bigggg boat. They said we were welcome to use their smoker while they were gone so we decided to try a smoked turkey. It seemed easy enough.....prep the turkey (recipe from Kermit Ruffins in NOLA), prep the smoker, check.

Wait about 6 hours, check.

Enjoy a Thanksgiving feast of epic proportions, check!!

It took a bit longer than expected but it was delicious. We're already planning on smoking something for Christmas since they are still gone....hope they're OK.

The next week it was time for the boat to head to the boatyard for some much needed lovin'. It's a day every boat owner knows is coming and don't really look forward to. As much as we try to do all maintenance ourselves there are just some projects better left to the pros. It's been over 3 years since we've paid anyone to work on the engines so we're doing pretty well. I did some research and found a very well re$pected yard here in the area. That's part of the reason we chose to stay here this fall.

Projects were; cleaning the coolers on both engines (like a radiator in your car) there are 3 on each engine, repack the prop shaft logs (designed to keep the water outside where the prop shaft exits the boat), tune up both engines. Since the boat had to be hauled to do the shafts we decided to get the bottom done even though it was done last year. We should get at least 2 years out of a bottom job.

First up is the part I always hate...the haul out. Even though I know we chose an excellent yard that hauls much bigger boats than us I always wonder, what if? One little slip and there goes our house!!

A short video as she moves off.

First stop is the "dirty" side of the yard where the bottom is cleaned with a pressure washer and the running gear is blasted clean. They put us next to the lil 92 foot fishing boat we are docked next to at Orange Beach Marina.

Just when you think you have a big boat.....

I don't feel bad when it's time to pay the bill though. I can't imagine what a bottom job on that thing costs???

After cleaning the bottom the boat is moved to the "clean" side of the yard where the final prep work is done before rolling on the bottom paint. While this was going on mechanics where inside the boat working on the engines and shafts. Jill and I took the time to clean and wax the hull while we were there. The yard was even kind enough to rent us some scaffolding for the week!

Bottom before cleaning....not horrible really.

And after cleaning and paint. We also had the props sent out for scanning and they came back healthy!

We were lucky enough to get a condo in town for the week through our travel club so we were able to stay out of the way of the guys working inside. They were able to put the boat back in the water on Friday but the engine work wasn't finished. Here she is all cleaned up and ready to launch.

Since they were going to need at least 2 more days to finish up we decided to leave Monday morning and come back Tuesday afternoon so they wouldn't have to be putting back all the open hatches at the end of the day...it adds up at $105 an hour! The only question was where to go......where to go....Got It!!

Why not 24 hours in NOLA before we have to pay the boat bill??

Turns out the boat wasn't ready until Thursday so we ended up working around them for the last day or so. All in all we are very happy with the work, delays are inevitable working on an older boat, things break and parts are sometimes hard to find. The boat is running cooler and smother than it ever has. Can't wait to see if our mileage improves. They still need to come to the boat for some final adjustments but this time they are coming to us. Stay tuned for info on our gofundme page.....

Lastly, from the "don't you just feel sorry for us" department...this is the first thing I saw this morning.

Y'all can just keep that s##t up north!!! Good news is we bounce right back and Christmas looks like a beach day!!!

 Stay tuned for the first post in 2017 where we recap all the holiday fun here in Orange Beach/Gulf Shores Alabama...Merry Christmas to all...🎄🎅🎄