October 18, 1999:

Green Turtle Bay, Kentucky

We met up with our cruising buddies, George, and Dale, and Peggy and John of the Gypsy Soul here at Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers, Kentucky. We went to a beautifully decorated restaurant called Patti's. Each room had a different theme, but the whole restaurant made you feel as if you were in an English Garden of yesteryear. I had the house specialty, 1-inch thick pork chops, spinach salad with mandarin oranges and a baked potato. Mark had catfish, salad, cantaloupe, grapes, and raisins. Mark and I shared a piece of mile high lemon meringue pie. We had a wonderful time talking to other cruisers and hearing George's stories. I watched two birds soaring today, I thought they were eagles, but when they got closer they turned out to be turkey buzzards. We got some exercise today walking around the marina. We did the wash and cleaned the icebox. We put in 5 large blocks of ice and one bag of cubes to keep things cold. We will stay one more day at this marina, Peggy and John are leaving tomorrow to anchor out in Bird's Song Creek; we hope to meet up with them again.

Jean and John, the couple who sold us the Sankaty are coming down to Louisiana and would like to meet up with us and take us out to dinner. It would be such fun to see them again. They got to be our good friends while we were going through buying their boat. We hope to meet up with them in Demopolis, Alabama.

Peter sent Mark a happy birthday card from Blue Mountain over the Internet, which really touched Mark. He truly enjoyed it.

October19-23, 1999:

We stayed at Green Turtle Bay five days. Time enough to enjoy Kentucky's Indian summer and put the mast up. The water is very low this year and the bridge clearances are at least 52 feet at normal pool levels. Since we have a mast of 50 feet, we are pretty sure that we won't have to put it down again. If we do, Mark has agreed that it will be his Christmas and birthday presents for the next 10 years. He is like a little boy with a new toy; he wants to sail the Kentucky Lake so badly.

We have met some interesting people here. A Copperhead snake that had crawled up on a carport bit one of the drivers. The venom is poisonous and deteriorated the cartilage in his finger and he has to wear a brace on it. When his girl friend came to see the snake that bit him, it bit her too. They both spent 4 days in the hospital. Needless to say, we don't stray far from the cement walkway around here.

We met four people on a boat called Reel Therapy. It turned out that the owner, Charles, is a physical therapist, cute title. We went to dinner with him, his wife, Margaret, and hired captains of the boat, Bob and Gloria. We ate at Patti's again.

They are going to Hilton Head, North Carolina in a huge motor boat. On the morning they left, I was listening to the VHF radio and heard that they hit something and bent a propeller. They had to come back and replace it.

I have made a friend here, short lived as it may be. Her name is Elaine and we starting talking about important things right away. Usually conversations are rather shallow, but somehow we felt comfortable with each other from the start. I explained that I feel like I have lost my identity and she said that this is normal for people who had a job they loved and have retired. It takes about 6 months to start feeling the cruising identity. She suggested I start journaling. She was a successful real estate agent, and we talked over tea for hours. She has been cruising and living aboard for 4 years. She and her husband Rich live on a trawler named Explorer. I hope to see them again down the line.

We will leave today, after a nice long rest. We hope to anchor out tonight. I bought a 15-day fishing license and will try my luck tomorrow.

The beautiful Kentuky Lake

October 24, 1999:

We finally left Green Turtle Bay today. We sailed with the jenny only as the wind was gusting to 25 miles/hour out of the north. At dusk, we sailed into a quiet little bay and into Ginger Cove. This is where we spent the night at anchor. The sky was clear and it was another beautiful stargazing night. We ate shrimp primavera and carrots (from the ones canned in Tigerton); we played a game of Clue and went to sleep.

October 25, 1999:

I woke up this morning and got out of our toasty warm sleeping bags to meet an ice-cold cabin. I wanted to go fishing this morning, so I dressed hurriedly and climbed up into the cockpit. I was greeted with ice crystals everywhere. The air was filled with a dense fog, which started to disappear around the edges of the cove as soon as the sun had been up for a while. I watched the fog slowly disappear; soon I could see treetops and then the shoreline, finally blue herons wading in the shallows for their breakfast. I only had artificial bait so I tried some small canned shrimp, which sure didn't fool these Kentucky Bass. I didn't get a nibble, while fish were jumping all around me as if laughing at my silliness. I'll try again when I get some real bait. We brought up the anchor and slowly floated out of the bay. Then we put our sails up and glided away.

October 26, 1999:

Yesterday we sailed down Kentucky Lake, which is really the Tennessee River. Dams were constructed to flood the banks and create Kentucky Lake. Last night we threaded through a needle-like entrance to enter Leatherwood Creek, another nice anchorage. We ate tuna mushroom soup casserole and were rocked to sleep by the gentle waves.

October 27, 1999:

Today we motored most of the day, as the wind was almost non-existent. We went under a 65-foot bridge with our 51-foot mast. This was an unnerving experience, as the mast appears as if it is going to hit and you must proceed slowing taking it on faith that you will squeak through without hitting. Mark says it clears by 10 feet or more but it looks like inches to me. Next we were sailing toward a railroad bridge that obviously had only a 10-foot bridge clearance. It gave us a moment's pause until we realized that it was a drawbridge. We tried to contact the bridge, but until we got right up to it, no one answered. Finally they raised it and we proceeded down the lake to stop for the night at Cuba Landing. We met Marilyn and Gary Schuller from Peoria, IL. They have been living on their boat for 11 years. They have a 36-foot trawler named Puttsin. We went to dinner with them at the Log Cabin Restaurant and I had BBQ ribs, baked beans, potato wedges and coleslaw, all for $ 7.95. Mark had catfish. Ever since we got catfish from Gene and Dave, he has been ordering catfish. Marilyn just retired from an office managerial job and Gary retired a year ago from his data processing job. They are heading to Stuart, Florida and are planning to go through the Okechobee River. They have a 4-foot draft. I have heard that we will probably not be able to do that as a five foot draft is too deep. We will then go around the Keys, which will be fun. I really like Key West.

October 28, 1999:

Last night we anchored in Jetter Towhead. We could hear cows and bulls until well after dark when they settled down to sleep. I finally went fishing. The current took my line away from the boat and downstream. There was a very slight tug on my line; I wasn't sure if it was a fish or not but I started to pull it in to check. Just when I needed it most my reel slipped and wouldn't work so I had to pull the line in hand over hand. I thought for sure if I had a fish it would have escaped, it had plenty of chances. However, there on the end of my line was a 10-inch catfish. I thought about keeping it, but I couldn't think of a place to clean it and I didn't want to get any of the teak messed up with blood and guts, so I gently took out the hook and released it. When it got really dark, I decided to stop fishing and start stargazing instead. I took my line and tied it to one of the stanchions on the boat, thinking that maybe I might get a fish. I got tired and went to bed, forgetting that I had tied my line to the stanchion. In the morning Mark yelled that I had a 15-inch catfish on my line. Yes, I let that one go too. I need to put a platform on the back of the boat over the water so I have a fish cleaning station; then maybe we could eat what I catch. Catfish is a very tasty fish.

October 29, 1999:

Today we are heading for Pickwick Landing Marina, just south of the Pickwick Lock and Dam. I called ahead to the Marina to be sure that we had a space for tonight and the operator said "Yes, and there is someone here waiting for you" John and Jean, the former owners of our Sankaty had come to meet us and take us out to dinner.

I saw a very interesting boat today and after doing a little research in one of our guidebooks, I recognized it as a mussel catching boat. It had a wood framework and long metal bars from which hung chains with soft hooks on them. Mussels lie in the bottom of the river with their shells open, when the soft hook brushes against them they close on the hook and mussel fisherman can pull them up. Divers have pretty much replaced this way of fishing for mussels so this was a rare treat to see a mussel catching boat. Most of the mussels are harvested for freshwater pearls, which are exported to Japan.

The South is steeped in history; we float through battlefields of the Civil War and suddenly history comes alive. Names like Vicksburg and Shiloh have a new meaning. Our guidebook says that the defeat of the Union forces at Shiloh saw the death of old concepts and the birth of a new realism. Southern forces were no longer considered invincible; the Union army could win. In times to come, the memories of Shiloh would stand out in the diaries and letters of veterans more vividly than any other battle. General Sherman later said of Shiloh, " No one fought harder than we did there." Now this is the way to learn history.

This afternoon I also saw a bird up close and personal that I have been observing from afar. Turkey buzzards sail the skies down here and at first they fool you into thinking they are eagles since they soar like them. I can assure you that up close they don't look anything like an eagle. They are ugly!! We rounded a bend in the river and there were three turkey buzzards feeding on the shoreline. I got out my binoculars and took a good look at them. They have a pink bare head and they walk something like a rooster. Weird birds !!

As we came into Pickwick Landing Marina, there was a group of trees that were showing their fall dress. The reds, oranges, yellows, browns and greens were so clearly reflected in the water that bone would swear there was another world down there. As we came into the harbor, looking for a place to land, we saw Jean and John waving at us and taking our picture with a video camera. Mark must have gotten nervous with the audience we had because we made every mistake you can think of coming into our dock. We looked like rank amateurs, and we have done this flawlessly so many times. John and Jean took us out to dinner at Pickwick State Part Resort. We had a buffet dinner and the guys had baked catfish. It was so much fun seeing them again. We may meet up with them near Mobile Bay and take them for a sailboat ride on the Bay before we go west to the Florida Panhandle.

We heard that there is an island called Cedar Key located between Pensacola and Tampa Bay. People say it is a beautiful place except for the cottonmouths, which are so plentiful that you shouldn't walk at night. We are not going to Cedar Key; I don't care how beautiful it is. Cottonmouth is another name for a Water Moccasin, a poisonous relative of the rattlesnake. They are called cottonmouth because when threatened, they open their mouths to reveal a white lining. No thank you!

Much more to come about Cedar Key.

The narrow TennTom River

October 30th - 31st:

If I thought that going under bridges of 65 feet with our 51-foot mast was exciting, think of this -- a 52-foot bridge. The water is also about one foot above normal pool stage so we just squeaked beneath these lower bridges, actually tickling the bridge's belly with our antenna. After sidling up to the bridge to see if we can make it, we gun the engine a little more and go under it. Today just after passing under one I noticed smoke billowing out of the galley. My first thought was that it was something cooking on the stove, but then I remembered that I had turned every burner off. It was an over-heated engine and we had to stop, anchor in midstream and let the engine cool. After it had cooled, Mark added some hot water. He couldn't add cold water as the engine was too hot and cold water might cause some metal piece to crack. Because of this, Mark will have to replace the impeller on the engine. We have some replacements so all it will require is an uninterrupted hour of work.

We went through five locks today, one right after the other and then decided to stay in a Marina to rest up for tomorrow. There are six more locks to go before we hit Demopolis, Mississippi.

On the 30th we stayed at the Smithville Marina in Mississippi and took the courtesy car, a 1980 Chrysler New Yorker, with one headlight working, a busted suspension spring, and an engine working on four of its six cylinders through unfamiliar backroads infested with Southern sheriffs to a Wal-Mart to buy some supplies.

On Halloween, we left for another Marina. We will go through two more locks before we reach the Aberdeen Marina. Turned out that we had a long wait at the Amory Lock and therefore came in to the marina in the dark. We're getting used to working as a team; Mark calling out desired change in compass headings, while I steered. We made it in safely and a lot of trawler owners helped us tie up the boat as we landed in the dark on Halloween night. Trick or Treat. I made a treat, shrimp primavera, which we ate with gusto, not having eaten since 11:00 A.M.

November 1, 1999:

I woke up this morning to a drizzling rain; we haven't seen many on our way down here. I thought about how all along the way we seem to be hitting peak color season at the locales we visit. Perpetual Fall. Better than Indian Summer, a whole string of Indian Summers like nature's pearl necklace, not visible without movement south. My favorite season has always been fall. The excitement of a new school year whether as a child or as a teacher was so wonderful. Some poets say fall is a time for dieing as Winter approaches with Spring being a rebirth, but I always thought of Fall as a rebirth with all the new faces filing into my classroom and we would start yet another year of getting to know each other, by Spring I knew almost everyone pretty well.

November 3, 1999:

For my birthday, Mark took me out to a restaurant and we had White Zinfandel and ate with a lot of nice cruising couples. I ordered stuffed shrimp and when I got them I announced to everyone at the table that I had the wrong order. They were red peppers stuffed with melted cheese. Someone near me said, "What did you order?". I told them " the Stuffed Shrimp special. They said "What was it suppose to be stuffed with. I said "Crab Meat" assuming that they would be stuffed like they are at home. "Maybe the special is stuffed with cheese and peppers" one of them said. I started digging and guess what I found? You're right, a little shrimp in the middle. We all had quite a good laugh about that one.

A couple of glasses of white zin and we decided to part company with about 12 other cruisers and head for bed. Most of the people we meet have trawlers, which take over 100 gallons of fuel each day and go at double our speed. These boats have room enough for a sitting room and a real bedroom, but I wouldn't like the expense of the fuel or the pollution I would be responsible for. The idea of sailing, using the wind, (in sync with Mother Nature rather than against her appeals to me. I'd be lying though if I didn't admit that I'm jealous of all their room and homey atmosphere.

November 4, 1999:

Today we are going to try and get a courtesy car so we can do some grocery shopping. We are going to be anchoring out a lot until we reach the Fairhope AL Marina, so we will need food. I'm tired of just eating out of cans. The weather has turned against us and it is very cold here at night and early morning, below freezing in fact. We really do stay warm as long as we stay in our toasty warm sleeping bags, but eventually we have to get up. By that time the sun is up, we are warmer. Some friends of ours said that it is 75 in Wisconsin. Wouldn't you know, we would have a weird weather pattern down here this year. Alabama residents say that frost this time of year is very unusual.

November 5-6, 1999:

We anchored in Foscue Creek, my favorite anchorage so far. Sankaty was anchored in a park -like setting just across from the Coastguard Station. The beautiful trees in their fall colors reflect in the water. There are people fishing in boats and from the shoreline in the park. We liked it so well here that we stayed two nights.

November 7, 1999:

As we were waiting for the Demopolis Lock to accommodate us, we saw something fairly large swimming directly for our boat. When it reached it, it dove under the boat and stayed submerged all the way to the shoreline on the other side. We never were able to identify it, but it might have been a muskrat, they have dens under the water close to shore. After going through the lock, we again saw something swimming in the water and as we approached we detected two pairs of little ears. As we watched the animals swim to shore we were able to identify them and a mother deer and her yearling emerged on the shore and ascended a fairly steep cliff to disappear into the forest. Last night we had to anchor in a not so desirable spot. Usually we like to anchor off of the river in a creek or stream; but last night we had to anchor in an expanded section of the river. We were out of the barges' path, but felt the swells as they past all night long. We didn't get very good sleep, waking up almost every time a barge went past, and there was a lot of traffic last night.

Black Warrior River

November 8, 1999:

Today we are going through a very narrow section of the Black Warrior River where barges can come around the bend with little notice as the turns in the river are so sharp. It is necessary to announce your presence on the radio at every sharp turn so that the barges know you are coming. When you pass a barge it is up close and personal compared to on the Mississippi where you have hundreds of yards between you. It is a little unnerving and takes so getting use to; Mark is adjusting well.

Mobile River and Mobile Bay:

November 10, 1999:

We are entering Bayou Country. All the trees that line the shoreline have pyramid root systems characteristic of trees that spend much of their time submerged in water. Small tributaries off the main river have names like Big Lizard Creek, Catfish Bayou, and Alligator Alley. I keep looking for two-close set prehistoric eyes in the water but I guess they are hibernating being cold-blooded creatures. We must be getting close to Mobile Bay because we have been seeing gulls for some time now and the breeze is definitely different than the river winds we have been having. We just went through a huge industrial shipyard canal where the sides of the river are totally lined with barges. It was a bit scary as I was steering the boat when I saw three tug boats heading up river at me. "Sankaty to the Barge on the East bank of the river. On which whistle side would you like me to pass?" I said. "Take me on the one whistle side" called the captain. Tug # 2 said take me on the two whistle side and tug # 3 got out of my way to land at a set of barges. "Mark" help I yelled and Mark came barreling up the companion way from the head, "What's wrong" "I have two tugboats headed my way, what do I do? I yelled. "Just thread your way between them " He said like it was a piece of cake. In times of panic I seem to forget the rules, one whistle means I take any boat to my port and two whistle means I take any boat to my starboard so of course down the middle between them was the course. Every thing worked out fine as I steered between them closer for comfort than I like, but I now have more confidence in my ability to steer and I won't panic as much next time.

Boats are being worked on along both shores, boats with propellers taller than a man. We hope to reach Eastern Shores Marina in Mobile Bay tonight and are pushing the engine hard so that we do not arrive after dark. On the VHF radio I hear Russian spoken, this must be a major international port.

All of sudden shush we are out of the shipping channel and flow out into the blue expanse of the ocean like some kind of amusement park ride. We made it; we feel like some past explorer must have felt when they finally transcended the river systems into the bay. We celebrate with a high-five.

A shrimp boat with hundreds of birds thrashing around it for discarded scraps is coming in from a day of work at sea. We must go out seven miles into the bay before we can turn into the channel that will take us to Fairhope and the Eastern Shore Marina. The majority of the Bay is very shallow and must be avoided.

We arrived just at dusk with a beautiful lavender and pink sunset on the horizon. We borrowed a dinghy and paddled a little up the harbor to a place called Fly Creek Restaurant. Mark had grilled Mahi Mahi and rice while I had Shrimp Bisque and a salad. We shared a piece of the best Key lime pie I have ever had.

A couple of guys were playing blues music; a sax player who made some pretty mellow tones, and a guitar player and singer. They really added to the big old back porch atmosphere of the café. It is a neat bare-wood hang out for the locals as well as the cruisers who frequent it.

We called Tim and Matt tonight. Tim and family may meet us in the Keys sometime in January or February. What fun that would be, I'd love to take the girls to Disneyland. Its so much more fun when seen through a child's eye, though I still feel like a child myself on this trip. Matthew turns out to have sleep apnea, just as I suspected; however the breathing mask makes him sick and he can't use it. The doctor said to put a tennis ball in the pocket of a shirt and wear in backward at night. If he rolls on his back that ball will wake him up or cause him to roll back on his stomach where he apparently doesn't have any problems. The snoring is really getting to Char. Mark also snores and I wonder if he has sleep apnea too. When Markus snores I just give him a nudge and he rolls over and stops snoring. Once I fall asleep, I guess it doesn't bother me.

November 11, 1999-

As evening fell today, Jean and John the original owners of Sankaty showed up at our dock and took us out to dinner at the Original Oyster Bar, great restaurant with great food. It is so much fun to meet them along the way; I'm sorry that they had to go home and couldn't go sailing with us on the Bay. Hopefully we will see them again when we can go sailing together. For sure next summer we could meet in Michigan City.

I had my first taste of soft-shelled crab; Jean gave me a bite of hers. It is fried in a light batter and is crunchy as you are eating the shell too. It tastes a little like calamari, I kind of liked it but I'm sure that is an acquired taste just like lobster. I hated lobster the first time I tasted it, I thought it tasted like cardboard; but I love it now. I also had stuffed crab, and little piece of strip steak, baked potato and a great salad bar. Mark had grilled Amber Jack, and turnip greens. He really enjoyed them. Today a lady named Phyllis brought us all the stuff we ordered from E & B Discount Marine. Included was the # 8 chart kit for West Coast of Florida and the Keys, a back up GPS, an electronic Map Tec Kit on CD-ROM for the West Coast of Florida and Keys; and a GPS PC Kit that lets you download waypoints into your GPS. This should make the navigating much easier and accurate. Phyllis is planning on doing what we are doing starting next October. She and her husband already live on board a 32-foot Morgan and looking forward to retiring. Good Luck and we will see you on the ocean next year.

I am starting to really enjoy this slower paced life. You rise when the sun peaks in and wakes you up and you go to sleep early when the sun goes down. It seems natural, with nature's rhythms. Today we are going to go for a long walk into town. We need the exercise and there are lots of little shops to browse. Maybe we will find some good Christmas gifts.

As Mark started to study the electronic charts he realized that he needed yet one more piece of software. One of the power boat cruisers showed him Chart View Tracker made by Nautical Software. We ordered it by phone from a mail order distributor, and had it shipped to Eastern Shore Marina in Fairhope.

November 11-18

We are now at FairHope AL, getting all the software we need to make an engineer feel confident before we go out on the ocean. Myself, I would rather have purchased a small dinghy and motor, which Mark says we can get cheaper in Panama City or some place on the panhandle of Florida.

We stayed at the Eastern Shore Marina for a week now, sampling all the great little seafood places at which the locals dine. Have you ever had soft -shelled crabs. You eat the hard coating of the crab and all. They crunch like chips and taste a little like calamari. Shrimp is the name of the game down here, shrimp cocktails, stuffed shrimp, shrimp scampi, parmesan shrimp and shrimp primeva. I bought some shrimp from a shrimper guy that stays at this Marina named Bob. He gave them to me for $ 4.50 a pound and they were the big ones. He taught me how to snap their heads off, so they could be cooked. They were delicious, so much better than at home because they were just caught.

The sunsets from this marina are unbelieveable. Pinks, lavender, blues streak across the sky some nights and other nights the brilliant orange orb sinks slowly into a deep blue sea with little spikes of yellow light. Twinkling stars fill the sky as the sky deepens to black out over the bay. The lights of Mobile dot the shoreline and sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe I'm really here.

We are planning on leaving the boat at a marina closer to Tampa and rent a car so that we can spend Thanksgiving with my Mom and Aunt in Oscala.

Something we learned the hard way, fortunately it was not expensive.

Whenever you come across something in the water and don't know what's going on, stop until you figure it out.  Use your VHF radio and hail the dredge, they monitor the radio at all times so people can pass safely and not damage their dredge equipment.

In the Panama City pass there was a dredge operation all year long.  Numerous boats were wrecked, entangled in their lines etc.  Many people do not know the rules of the road when it comes to a dredge, so here's the basics.

Day shapes:  on the side where it's safe to pass there are two black diamonds in a vertical line.  On the side where it's dangerous (probably where you were) there will be two black spheres in a vertical line.

Night:  the good side displays two green lights in a vertical line, and the bad side two red lights in a vertical line.

Although dredges almost always have these shapes displayed most people haven't a clue what they are looking at.  As well, even when I see the good side clearly marked I always call them on the radio.  It's a lot cheaper than buying your next boat.

Don't forget that dredges always have pipelines, floating or submerged, numerous lines for mooring, and other stuff that's bad for your boat.