Day 27 - Mobile to Orange Beach - Things that go thump, and bump, and rattle.......

Windy, windy, windy!  It blew all night and most of the day today, and the temps dropped into the high 30’s.  At least the sun was out.  We borrowed the courtesy van from the marina so Captain Randy could go get a better look at the waves on Mobile Bay.  We drove out by the Mobile Yacht Club.  The Bay was rough and choppy with a lot of white caps but the wave height did not appear to be more than 2-3 feet.  Those we can handle, so we figured we would leave in the early afternoon after the wind and waves laid down a little and the tide was coming back in.  We have to think about tides now – a new point of consideration when planning our cruising days.

 

Since it was nice and bright, I took some pictures of Dog River Marina after breakfast on the boat.  We started to get ready to leave when we heard a strange noise.  While the house could literally fall down around us before Randy would notice, he is close to psychic when it comes to the boat.  He heard a strange noise and determined that it was the freshwater pump.  After a little trouble shooting, he determined that the pump had lost it prime and would not pump.  So he was off to the West Marine Express on site to see if he could find a rebuild kit for it.  No such luck.  He returned with an inline water filter to attach to the “city water” intake.  We will now use city water rather than the water in our tank when we are at a dock until we can get a rebuild kit

 

We pulled out of the slip at 1:30 pm and crossed Mobile Bay.  It was rough, but no waves over 3 feet and not a big deal compared to what we have experienced on Lake Michigan.  There was less whitewater than earlier too.  We could see the City of Mobile in the distance.  As we neared the eastern shore we saw single family homes and what appeared to be beach houses with multiple rooms/apartments, with covered docks in front.  To the south there were some high rise condominiums.

At 3 pm we entered the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway system at Bon Secour Bay and about ½ hour later entered the Intracoastal “canal.”  There was a dockominium complex on the north shore, Sailboat Bay, and a sole sailboat coming at us.  The water was very calm now as we were sheltered from the wind.  There were more dockominiums and homes on the north shore and then some stilt homes along the south shore.  I almost felt like I was back on the river system!

 

 

As we approached Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, our destination for today, we passed a trailer park on the north shore.  Next came LuLu’s, a bar and restaurant owned by Lucy Buffett, Jimmy Buffett’s sister.  You know we will be visiting LuLu’s!  Rumor has it that Jimmy visits from time to time.  Across from Lulu’s, on the south shore is another bar/restaurant named Tacky Jack’s.  A short time later we saw a tug with a barge moored on the shore – I thought we had left these bad boys in the river, but no, here they are again.

Continuing down the waterway, there are more homes and a road next to us to the south.  We also passed a couple of small fishing boats (doesn’t this remind you of the rivers!).  We pass under a bridge and arrive at The Wharf Marina at 4:10pm.  We tie up and soon hear another strange noise – this one is easily solved as it is simply engine noise since the keys are still in the on position even though the engines are turned off.  However, a few minutes later we turn on the heat in the cabin and hear yet another strange noise!  It seems to be related to the heat/a/c unit in the main cabin, so we turn it off.  We will have plenty of heat with the stateroom and upper helm heating units until we can figure out what this problem is.  Two projects for tomorrow – the water pump and the heating unit.

In addition to the marina, The Wharf There is a large hotel and retail complex with lots of stores and restaurants.  After getting settled, we walk up to what looks like an outdoor mall and walk into a shop.  Suddenly there is an announcement and music – I ask the shopkeeper if there is going to be a parade.  No, it is the nightly dancing light show.  There is a double line of palm trees and a Christmas tree that are lit up and change colors to the tunes of holiday songs.  We watch for a few minutes and then choose a place for dinner.

We eat at the Compleat Angler, a seafood restaurant and grill named after a hotel in Bimini, Bahamas, that was frequented by Jimmy Buffett, Earnest Hemingway and other somewhat famous Americans.  The food is good and we are happy to be on our way to Florida where, hopefully, it will be warmer!