Preparing for the trip

Captain Jerry has been making the final preparations to North Star, our 32 foot Cape Island down east trawler. We are anxious to leave our landlubber lives behind and begin our long awaited journey around the Great Circle. Join us as we travel 10, 000 kilometers: through the historic Trent Severn Waterway; the pristine waters of Georgian Bay; the North Channel of lake Huron; and hop from beach to beach on lake Michigan. We will visit Chicago and begin our trek along the rivers: Illinois; upper Mississippi; Ohio; Cumberland: Tennessee; Tenn-Tom Waterway and the Black Warrior. We will have transited through 68 locks at this juncture. We have chosen the inner route from Mobile Alabama to Tarpon Springs Florida and the shorter Ocheechobee Waterway to reach the East coast of Florida. We will skip over to the Bahamas to wait out the winter before heading North on the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway.
The 10 years of researching and planning are finally at an end and we invite you to come along on our adventure.























Thursday, November 3, 2011

Ingram Bayou on the Golf Coast

The wind subsided enough for us to make our get away yesterday at 11:30. There was a light chop on the bay but it was coming from the right direction and it calmed down as we progressed south.

We had to be on constant watch for crab pots but they were easy to spot so there was no problem. We encountered several shrimp boats who seemed to be having some success catching those tasty crustacians.  I managed to catch the Captain Sid boat before we left Turner Marine and purchased 2 pounds of fat fresh shrimp. I was ready with my Creole fixings so we invited Randy for dinner on our boat when we reached the anchorage. Fine meal, now I am planning some Jambalaya.


Entrance from Mobile Bay to GIWW
We are on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) so we are in protected waters until we reach Carabelle. We passed the famous Lulu's Restaurant but it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner so what would Jimmy Buffet do? Keep going!  Lulu is Jimmy Buffet's sister and the guide entices you to stop to see if Jimmy is there.


Lulu's Restaurant at mile 155 on the GIWW

It was crowded, the food must be good


Lulu's is at Homeport Marina

We are starting to see dolphins, no Manatee sitings yet. No, I did not get a picture yet but I am sure there will be more.to come. There is still some barge traffic and the shores are populated now hence the Internet connection while at anchor.

We spent the night at Ingram Bayou (N30 19.2407' and W87 33.4841')  just east of Orange Beach Alabama. There are about 10 boats here and room for more.  It is well protected and a nice mud bottom with a one foot tide.  It is 20 degress celcius this morning at 8:00 so we are not in a hurry to weigh anchor and reach our next destination. Our Canadian friend, Randy, is joining us at Perdido Key which is a sandy barrier type island just 20 miles from here. The guide says we can walk across to the Gulf side and have a camfire below the tide line.  Sounds promising.



Ingram Bayoo anchorage

We will enter Florida today, no more deadlines, there are no locks until we get to the Ockichobee Waterway. We will have some bridges that need to be raised so we need to check schedules for these otherwise it is clear sailing and playing.








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