Author: Jackie Schanz

While making our way into the Gulf, we find our departure wake creates some playful swimming opportunities! We make our way to Egmont Key State Park. Egmont Key State Park is a secluded island at the mouth of Tampa Bay. During the 19th century, the island served as a camp for captured Seminoles at the…

We wake up to fog…again. As the Clearwater Municipal Beach Marina is still closed from hurricane damage, we will dock at the Clearwater Harbor Marina, which is in the city of Clearwater, across the bay from Clearwater Beach. Clearwater Harbor Marina is adjacent to the newly built (2023) Coachman Park. The park is very nice!…

As the Catholic Church, for once this Sunday, is within walking distance, we will attend mass in person. Our departure will be after the 10 AM service is over. Around noon, we “start her up” and begin our relatively short trip to Carrabelle. We enter the Apalachicola Bay and follow the St. George Island Channel…

Again we see the abandoned derelict boats. Some trees though are still sturdy and strong, supporting some impressive inhabitants! As we near Apalachicola, we turn off the ICW and into Scipio Creek. One huge sandbar stands directly in our path to our dock, so we must navigate past our destination and then make the turn…

We will cruise in the Intracoastal Waterway the entire way. While the large ships are gone, the barges are still hanging around. Unfortunately, there are quite a few derelict boats. According to their website, “Latitude Margaritaville is a new portfolio of active adult communities developed by the global lifestyle brand Margaritaville and master developer Minto…

The first order of business, before our travels begin, is to fix our malfunctioning autopilot. The fault in the system, we theorize, is the result of a power failure which wiped its memory clean. Captain Tom hopes that restarting and recalibrating the electronics, the auto pilot capability will resume and operate correctly. While it is…

Mobile, Alabama, is situated on the Mobile River at the head of Mobile Bay. Its location, and the fact of it being the only deep saltwater port in Alabama, makes it a very important port in the U.S. for shipping and cargo transportation. As we navigate the Mobile River through the port area on a…

We leave bright and early at 8am. The lines and the boat are still frozen. Ugh! We will pass through our final two locks of the “dirty dozen” today. Hooray! The first one is the Demopolis Lock. We call ahead and arrive to a green light and an open chamber. We are solo for the…

We stayed 4 nights in Columbus, Mississippi. Each day was in the teens, with Tuesday being exceptionally bitter cold with wind chills below zero. It is so cold during our stay that the marina water starts to freeze and the marina’s water lines DO freeze. Therefore, no additional water for our tanks during our stay;…

We stay several days at Grand Harbor Marina to prepare for our journey south. As the boat was winterized, we need to de winterize, fill the water tanks, and top off with diesel fuel. The water at our dock is turned off, as, like everywhere in the south, it is COLD and water lines are…