Day 144 & 145 November 11-12, 2022

Day 144 Friday November 11, 2022

Home Port Marina, Gulf Shores

We slept in until 7:30am!!  We  had no weather impact from Hurricane Nicole, barely 5 minutes of rain.  We spent the morning planning on Arion, finally getting our next marina reservation at Orange Beach. Orange Beach isn't far away but it gets us going forward in the right direction.  

 We are now in brackish water.  The boat is covered with salt!

Planning over, the ladies headed to Publix for groceries.  This time Joe was our chauffeur.  Their boat neighbor generously offered the keys to his truck for us to do errands.   He was previously a harbor host for the area and said boaters borrow his truck all the time.  We continue to meet so many generous and friendly people.  

 Some of the entertainment at Lulu's.

We witnessed a bit of excitement at the docks.  It was dark and a boat was backing into their slip.  The woman on the swim platform was reaching for a pilon with a boat hook.  I don't know if she was trying to keep the boat away from it or trying to guide the boat but the hook slipped and so did she! She landed in the water behind the boat, with the motors running.  Not sure if the captain knew she was in the water; the boat still seemed to be moving.  Jerry went running to help.  With the help of her friends she was able to get back on the boat.  Scary stuff.  I still can't figure out why he didn't turn the boat off....

 

Dinner tonight was at Lulu's.  It was song writers night with performances of their original work.  Jerry has been in search of a good shrimp and grits.  It is a signature dish at Lulu's and did not disappoint!  The Key Lime pie was delicious too.  

 

Day 145 Saturday November 12 2022

Home Port Marina MM155 to Orange Beach Marina MM167

Underway at 9:10am.  Sunny start to our our short 2 1/2 hour travel.  We traveled with Arion and Grand Wazoo, enjoying the ride. I was surprised that we were still seeing tows and barges in the narrow channel of the GIWW.  A little breezy we were protected by the gulf shores on each side of us.   

  

 That's a roof loaded on the barge!

We saw more dolphins, this time moms with their babies.  Orange Beach Marina is located off a channel of the Intracoastal Waterway; it felt like we were back tracking.  What took us over 2 hours by boat was really only 20 minutes by car.  

 One of the marinas along the way.

Very tricky and shallow entrance we really had to pay attention to the markers.   Thankfully the dockmaster Scott had sent us a map and our slip assignments because the marina is a bit confusing too.  We were in a covered slip with pilons and no cleats.  We are learning to tie to the pilons while keeping the tide changes in mind.

  

Engine off at 11:45 we are looking forward to seeing Janet and Russ from Tug Bussle.  They have friends visiting them here at Orange Beach Marina.  We Ubered with Joe and Laura to a Food Truck Festival -- back in Foley where we had been docked in the morning.  It was the first year of the festival so there weren't many trucks. We stood in line for about 45 minutes, all the while the weather was getting colder and the wind blowing harder.  

 

 

By the time we got our food it was threatening to rain.  We ate very yummy stuffed grilled cheese sandwiches and macaroni and cheese.  After inhaling our lunch we ordered an Uber for the trip back.  We had to wait about 20minutes in the cold for it to arrive.  BRRR...

Back to the boat we tried to warm up, watched some football and took a nap.