11/10/2014 - Monday - Palafox Marina to Orange Beach Marina

Al and Kay returned the rent car, Jerry and Susan headed out to go back to the Wharf Marina until our return trip back to Texas and we filled our water tanks and put our bikes away for the trip to Ft. McRee Cove anchorage.  The weather is going to be in the low 70'S for the next couple of days before getting cold so we want to take advantage of it by playing outside.  It was time for something new!!!!!  When we did this same trip two years ago, I wanted to anchor out at this cove and now we were going to do it.  Beautiful white sand beach and I get to play on my paddleboard!!!!!  NOT!  Susan sent me a text message and said that it looked like 8 to 10 boats were anchored when they went by on their way to the Wharf.  Not Good!  We forgot that it was a holiday weekend and a lot of people would be taking advantage of the beautiful weather.

After discussing the situation with Al and Kay, we decided to call Orange Beach Marina to make sure they could take us.  Orange Beach Marina here we come!  Josh printed the directions off their website and as we were heading in it was clearly marked with plenty of water depth.  As we turned a corner the sun was directly on our nose and we could barely see the markers, let alone the color of them.  The depth was getting shallower and the instructions were getting confusing.  Yes - we ran aground but it was soft sand and we were able to back off.  A small boater was nice and pointed us to the deeper water.  Other boaters just stared!  Around 3:30 we called the harbor master to tell him that we were close and would be there shortly but were told that he had left for the day and his helper would also be leaving soon because they close at 4 PM.  I said "he left for the day knowing that we were on our way?????"  His helper said that another boat was coming in and he would wait for us.  Things are not looking so good!!!!  We couldn't see the channel because the sun was in our eyes, the instructions were not clear, we ran aground several times, the depths were skinny, we may not have a slip and it is getting dark.......  Great!

We finally make it in and they wanted to put us in slips with really short finger piers. Not going to work!  We told the harbor master when we visited by car and on the phone that we were trawlers and need to be able to get off midship.  Either way we pulled in we would not be able to get off our boats.  Boats in this marina (mostly sportfish) do not have aft stern platforms and can back up right to the dock and step off.  We have one and would need a ladder to climb up to the dock.  They finally put us in covered slips and said because they were now closed to come into the office in the morning to fill out paperwork.

Note to self - take off list of stopping places! Will not recommend to other boaters.

Susan and Jerry leaving Palafox

Josh "sliming" his bike tire!  

 Bye bye Palafox - Last Trade heading out

 Kay and Al leaving Palafox

A great day on the water

Pensacola Lighthouse

Ft. McRee Cove anchorage where we were planning to go. 

 

Docked at Orange Beach Marina

This is the slip with short finger pier that they wanted us in!

11/5/2014 to 11/9/2014 - Pensacola Palafox Marina

We had several looper's stopping at the Palafox Marina this week.  There were some large boats (much bigger than ours) traveling on their own and several smaller boats (our size and smaller) stopping as a group.  This marina has lots of turnover, it's a great stopping place with much to do.

Al and Kay decided to rent a cheap weekend car to check out some marinas around the Fort Walton Beach and Destin area.  They plan to stick around this area untill next year before doing the crossing to the west coast of Florida. 

Fort Walton Beach Marina big jellyfish

Niceville Marina

We have never seen a boat our size in a dry stack!

This is good!  Check out the hatches!

Had to take a picture of this for our friend Ernie!

Sunday around 1:00 PM, we all hopped on Last Trade to give her a test run to make sure everything was working.  The Blue Angels show was going on so we got a little better view being out on the water than at the marina.

It looks like the boat is fixed.  Yay!!!!!  It was purring like a kitten.  We are ready to cruise!  Tomorrow we are planning to go anchor out at Ft. McRee Cove.  The wind is predicted to be low and the temperature still warm during the day.  We even may stay an extra day before moving on.

This is Henry!  He is the marina watch Heron.  Teak and Henry get along, always eyeing each other.  Sometimes Henry would walk down our finger pier to try to peek into the boat to check out Teak.

After our boat ride we decided to take our bikes to the Annual Gulf Coast Art Festival that was going on this weekend.  This festival was so large it was overwhelming!   Downtown Pensacola always has something going on.  If it's not a pub run, it's a festival!

 

After strolling through the festival, we headed to Joe Patti's for steamed shrimp, fresh salmon to grill and some of Joe Patti's clam chowder for the last time before heading out tomorrow to anchor at Ft. McRee Cove.

10/23/2014 to 11/4/2014 - Pensacola Palafox Marina

Josh has been spending more and more time in his "engine room man cave" than in his TV room man cave.  He has replaced parts that he ordered and removed parts to take home to be worked on.

Al and Kay decided to head back to Seabrook for Halloween and asked us if we would like to ride along.  Josh has tools at home to clean out the heat exchanger so we said yes.  Back to the engine room Josh went checking everything out again to see if there was anything else he could take off for repair or cleaning while we were home. 

Tuesday, October 28th, Road tripping with the Waghorne's back to Seabrook, TX. When we left Pensacola we detoured to Orange Beach to check out the Orange Beach Marina.  Thank goodness we did because this will definitely be a stopover on our way back.  This is going to be a great place to dinghy around!

The Waghorne's are interesting people and we really enjoyed our road trip.  Thanks to the Waghornes, we now have two songs embedded in our brains (Pants on the Ground and I'm Gonna Whip Somebody's Ass).  If there was any lull in our conversation they would start singing one of these songs.  We are now doing it while riding our bikes around town!

The trip home was rushed. Josh cleaned the heat exchanger several times, took care of our mail, visited with the family, made several trips to West Marine and Home Depot and attended the Celebration of Life for Lorna Glasscock.  

November 2nd, we headed back to the boat.  Teak did really well during this road trip.  She did not get sick, but she sure did make herself very comfortable between Josh and me in the back seat.  We were both pushed or kicked close to the doors so she could stretch out.

Monday the 3rd, Josh got up early and started putting all the parts back on the engine and filled it with new antifreeze.  Everything was in and engine ready to be started by lunch time.  I made Josh a sandwich and after lunch we said "lets start her up and hope it solves the problem".  Josh pushed the start button and it went rrr...  rrr... rrr... and we went "Oh No - not the batteries".  This is not turning into a good day. Our boat was trying to tell us it did not want to leave!  Josh checked when we last replaced the batteries and it was almost five years ago. Now we need to see where we can get new ones and how to get them back to the boat.  Randy and Beth, a really nice couple who had a sailboat at the marina told Josh they would take him for the batteries.  Off they went and they came back with six new batteries, just in time for happy hour.  We all decided to go out for dinner and when Josh got on his bike - guess what?  Yup!!!  He had a flat tire.  This was definitely not Josh's day! I was hoping nothing else was going to happen.

Tuesday the 4th, we installed the new batteries and took out the old.  These batteries weight about 65 pounds each. I could barely lift them.  We should have done this before we left on this trip so we could have used "Daniel power".  My poor hubby is going to be a bit sore for a few days!  When everything was ready we pushed the start button and the engine came alive. Whoo Hoo!!!!  Josh started checking for leaks and (of course...) guess what. The heat exchanger gaskets that he made were leaking and the belt tensioner was jumping and squealing.  More parts ordered from Cummins and will be delivered on Monday.  The good thing is that Josh will recover by then and will be able to bend, stoop, crawl, lift and do all that stuff you need to do when crawling around in the engine room.