April 25 - 27, 2016 Orange Beach, AL

April 25 - Yup, we had to go to Lulu's!  Around 11:00 AM we started getting our dinghy down to get ready to head to Lulu's for "Cheeseburgers in Paradise".  Just before we were going to head out, S/V Delayed Gratification texted telling us they were passing Lulu's and would be at The Wharf shortly.  We hung around and caught their lines then headed out.  They settled in then put their dinghy in the water and met up with us at the restaurant.  

On our way we has some "Waker's" but not as many as yesterday. We were invited to come back tomorrow for the Lucy Buffett Cookbook Launch Party and Book Signing from 3pm to 8pm but we decided to pass.

April 26 - Curtis, Diane, Al and Kay rented a car to go home for a few days.  Cristol, Jeff, Josh and I took our dinghies over to Orange Beach to explore and play.  It was about 8 miles away and it was kind of choppy but we were up to the challenge.  We had lunch at Tacky Jack's and it was really good!  When it was time to head back to The Wharf it was even more choppy than coming.  My body hurts from all the bouncing.  Maybe I bounced some fat off!  LOL!!

Orange Beach is my favorite area because you have so many boating options.  You are close to the Mississippi Islands, Dauphin Island, Mobile, Orange Beach, Pensacola, Destin and Panama City.  You can anchor out or go to marinas.  What a life!




April 27 - Whoo hoo, laundry day!   We are running into lots of Texas cruisers on this trip.  Everywhere we go we meet more.  This morning we ran into an old friend, Tim Sneider, from Clear Lake Shores.  They came into the marina yesterday evening.

After lunch S/V Longhawk came in from anchoring at the islands for the past several days and joined us at The Wharf.  The original group is all together again!

The Wharf now has bikes you can use to ride around the area so after S/V Longhawk was all tied up we used The Wharf's bikes to ride to West Marine.

We all gathered at Ginny Lane Bar and Grille for an early drinks and dinner.  This place was great - just like our last trip with $3.00 wine, early dinner specials and one free martini. Life is good!

April 24, 2016 Biloxi to The Wharf Marina, Orange Beach, AL

We left Biloxi at 6:30 AM and once again had a great day on the water.  We couldn't have asked for better weather these past two days.  The only thing missing was lots of dolphins!

Bye bye Biloxi

Ocean Springs bridge

Another great day on the water

Dauphin Island bridge

As we entered the ICW we encountered several small fishing boats so we slowed down so that we would not wake anyone.  This stretch of the ICW is very narrow and enclosed and any wave action bounces off the sides of the banks.  It seems like most boaters around here just don't care about others and just flew by like no one else was around.  These people do not know what No Wake means.  We had more and more waker's all the way to The Wharf.  It was nuts!  They need the police out here because it's an accident waiting to happen.  At one point, as we were coming around a corner we had three boats zooming down the ICW towards us going from one side to the other taking up the whole channel.   All we could think about was M/V Cambria behind us meeting them as they rounded the corner and coming head on with them.   We were so happy to finally make it to The Wharf and dock!

Old cars parked at The Wharf

Ended the evening with music and a meal!

April 23, 2016 New Orleans to Biloxi

S/V Longhawk scheduled a bridge opening at 8:00 am so the plan was to leave the dock at 7:30 am.  I was walking back to the boat with Teak before heading out and I looked to the side of the dock and saw what looked like a log.  I looked again and the log had eyes and they were looking at me (or rather at Teak!).  I grabbed Teak up in my arms real fast, yelled "gator" and got back on the boat as fast as I could.  

This is the bow of our boat and the gator was just on the other side of the dock.

Gator had a good time swimming up and down this thin strip between land and the dock.

Bye bye New Orleans and SeaBrook Marina

Through the bridge by 8:15 am

As we entered the ICW, we told Delayed Gratification that we were going to pick up our speed.  We had a long way to go and wanted to get to Biloxi before dark.  They are slower than us and planned to do some anchoring out.  We will meet up with them at the Wharf on Monday.

11:20 AM, hello Mississippi Sound!

Thank you for giving us a great day to cross!

Very few dolphins sightings

We arrived in Biloxi and were all tied up by 6:00 PM.  While we were settling our bill, they were telling us that we need to check on their pricing on our way back.  It looks like Biloxi thinks their docks are worth the same as Ft. Lauderdale.  They are planning on raising the price to $2.50 a foot.  I guess the plan is to chase everyone away.  It seems that Tillman Fertitta and some new Biloxi officials are playing a political game.  Fertitta still wants to buy the marina.  What a shame!

It was a long day and we were all tired.  We decided just to go to go up to the Golden Nugget for dinner.  Lillies Restaurant (asian cuisine) in the casino was selected and I was not impressed.  I like fried rice and the menu said House Fried Rice was $10.00, Beef, Chicken, Shrimp, Vegetable or Combination.  I ordered Combination and the waitress said that would be $5.00 more. ?????  I ended up with beef and it was so bland it would have been good for an old folks home.  No flavor!

April 20 - 22, 2016 New Orleans

April 20.  After a good night's rest we were ready for a play day.  Al, Kay, Diane, Curtis, Sam, Pat and the two of us took the shuttle bus into the French Quarter for the day.

Started off with beignets at Cafe du Monde

Walked around the French Quarter

You will see all kinds of people in New Orleans.  Yup, I had to blend in!

We had a late lunch, early dinner then walked around some more before taking the shuttle back.

Ended our day with docktails!

April 21.  Chill day!  Did some chores, baked some chicken and relaxed until docktail time.

April 22 - Had to move to another slip because the boat that is normally in the slip that we were in was coming back today.  We took advantage of the moving to get fuel so we would not have to do it in the morning.  Josh filled the water tanks and got the boat ready to move on tomorrow to Biloxi.

April 19, 2016 Lafitte to New Orleans

Today we will do the good ole' Mississippi river!  Kay talked to the locks and they were ready for us.  With the Harvey Lock being down, the tows were waiting 16 hours to lock through the Algiers but Kay was talking to the Algiers Lock and Industrial Lock. We had six pleasure boats traveling together and they wanted to get us through and out of everyone's way as fast as they could.  The Industrial Locks were working on their gates and said that they should have them fixed by the time we arrived.  Great news!

Bye bye Lafitte

Another possible stopping spot in Lafitte?  Looks like they put in another park.

Waiting on the Algiers Lock to open.  They were having problems with their gate and had to retry.

Gate opened and this big boy came out.

Gate is opening for us to go out the other side.

Good ole' Mississippi.  As we entered the Mississippi river, M/V Cambria was in the lead.  When the current hit them they heeled over and we said "Oh no - here we go!"  We rocked and rolled all the way to the other lock.  What a ride!

Out of the Mississippi river waiting for the other boats before entering the Industrial Lock.

We arrived at SeaBrook Harbor Marina around 1 PM.  We were all happy to be docked at a safe harbor.  It was an stressful two days so most of us took naps, some never came out of their boats again until the next day and others just sat around and chilled.  The worst part of the trip is over!  On to blue water and white sand!!!!!!!!