Green Turtle Bay to Paris Landing AGLCA Rendezvous
Shorter travel day so we left Green Turtle Bay at 8:30 after The Grand Wazoo fueled and got a pump out. It felt good to sleep in a bit after so many 7am starts.
The Rendezvous is a gathering of America's Great Loop Cruising Association members. Boaters who are doing the Loop, have completed or are planning to do the Loop attend. Presentations include boat buying, insuring, boat maintenance, navigation and specifics about the upcoming portions of the trip. As planners we attended 4 rendezvous is the past and benefited from from the presentations and the enthusiasm of others about their trip. The Rendezvous ill mean more this time since it will cover our upcoming travel and many recommendations for anchorages, marinas, don't miss locations and things to watch out for.
The meeting starts on Monday so we can take our time and use Sunday to get "ready".
Dune buggy races were happening along the sandy shoreline.
We arrived at Paris Landing at 2pm. The breeze always kicks up when you come to dock but Jerry did fine as usual. A few boat chores and then visiting with Laura, Joe, Arlene and Al.
Coast Guard stationed at Paris Landing
Day 110 Sunday October 9, 2022
We signed up for the "Looper Crawl" during the Rendezvous so this was a major boat cleaning day! Jerry scrubbed and scrubbed the exterior of the boat while I cleaned the inside and the strataglas on the fly bridge. The Looper Crawl is an opportunity to tour other boats, meet boaters, admire the boat, ask questions and discover what you like and don't like. Past Looper Crawls helped us decide what kind of boat and features we wanted for our Looper boat. We figured it was our turn to pay it forward.
Cross bar shows normal summer pool. Water level went down more while we were there.
Lots more boats arrived today.
Boat cleaning done for the day we visited, ate dinner and collapsed. Tomorrow would be day 1 of the rendezvous. We signed up for Tuesday, thank goodness, so we could finish the morning.
Day 111 Monday October 10,2022
We volunteered to hand out Welcome bags so we headed up to conference center a little early. The meeting is being at Paris Landing State Park. They have a nice marina, conference center and a beautiful new lodge with hotel rooms, bar and restaurant. There are park rangers on staff and they do bird rehabilitation and conservation education.
Armadillo photo taken by Arlene of Arion
We registered, volunteered, attended the "Introduction of Loopers in Progress" (that's us!), the Monday Looper Crawl (The Grand Wazoo signed up for 2 days - gasp!), social hour and then dinner. Dinner was a bit of a fiasco with a shortage of food and utensils. Jokes included bringing your own from the boat. Hopefully tomorrow will be better as the kinks are worked out.
Day 112 Tuesday October 11, 2022
Last minute housekeeping then off to our meetings. Route sessions included Paris Landing to Mobile Alabama and Mobile to Carrabelle Florida. The afternoon session was popular - Crossing the Gulf without Drama. Eddy and Linda have crossed it many times; Eddy is the Eddy of "Eddy's Weatherwag", responsible for weather forecasts for safe Gulf crossings. The Weatherwag is entirely voluntary. He does an awesome job helping boaters plan their crossing. Eddy is a retired pilot.
Our turn to host on the Looper Crawl. We had about 60 people come on our boat with several interested in buying it when we complete our Loop. Lots of good questions, it reminded me how much we enjoyed attending the the crawls as planners. I'm glad we only signed up for 1 day -- enough cleaning already!
In case you were wondering, lunch and dinner had enough food. Everyone piled in line though hoping to eat in case they ran out! Today's problem -- only 1 bartender.
Food line wrapped around the room.
Day 113 Wednesday October 12, 2022
An outdoor food truck event with games and karaoke had been planned for the evening but changed to pizza hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce. Hard rain complicated it more, forcing everything inside.
Jenga and Corn Hole
Me, Susan and Arlene singing along.
Sorry attempt at line dancing.
Sweet Jordan food truck provided desert with ice cream and baked goodies. They sold out of all but a half a tub of ice cream. The chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies were awesome. I wish I had snagged some cinnamon rolls. Jordan is a young man with Down's Syndrome who asked his parents why he couldn't get a job. From that innocent question came a business that promotes employees with special needs, teaching them and celebrating their abilities.
A captain's meeting earlier resulted in a change of plans. We were now headed to Chattanooga instead of a Nashville side trip. Lots to do in Chattanooga and a pretty trip. Just need to work out the details.
Day 114 Thursday October 13, 2022
Last day of the Rendezvous. We have met a lot of nice people and, renewed some old friendships learned a lot. Yesterday we learned about travel from Tarpon Springs to Miami and Miami to Jacksonville, as well as a side trip to the Bahamas. Today we attended Jacksonville to Norfolk while our boat buddies from Arion and Grand Wazoo attended a Side trip: The Tennessee River. That will be good info for our trip to Chattanooga. Reservations were made for a few marinas along the way and plans for several anchorages or free walls.
The day ended with a final dinner -- plenty of food and bartenders. Dinner over, everyone said their goodbyes and hopes to meet up somewhere else along the way.
Early 6:30am start tomorrow for our trip to Chattanooga.
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