Hello Florida

A little recap....left New Orleans, a little bumpy, arrived in Gulfport MS (and it is pronounced guff-port, like the guff o’ Mexico). Next day we travelled to Gulf Shores, AL (pronounced gulf) it was a beautiful marina and we got to go to LuLu’s for dinner (Jimmy Buffet’s sister’s place). It was more of a destination than just a restaurant. They had beautiful white sand everywhere for the kids to dig in and throw at each other, a hair braiding station, gift shop, a rope climbing structure, not to mention the scenic outdoor eating area.  The nachos looked Godlike and Captain Bernie’s BBQ sandwich with onion rings looked pretty darn amazing too.  They had live music, a gal “singing” and we anxiously awaited her break time.  There was no impromptu concert by big brother Jimmy, darn, it’s been know to happen. Today we left early again, I’ve seen more sunrises in the last week than I’ve seen in the last 5years, ha. Seas were smooth all the way here to Shalimar, FL. David is getting quite talented in docking.  Today he was able to slip the boat into a spot that we were actually kissing the pilings on not one but both sides of the boat. We did get a reassignment of slips that was much bigger and again, David nailed the docking.  We saw so many dolphins playing in our wake.  I actually got some good video, I will try to attach it.  As the day ends, we are all stress tired, learning how to navigate both big water and parts of the ICW with its day beacons, buoys, red ones, green ones, oh my. There’s a lot to see, figure out, stay close to, stay away from and you better not get it mixed up as most of the water today was only 9’ between the bottom of the boat and the sandy bottom in the channel, get outside the channel and you might find an unwanted rock or some other surprise.  At one point we saw a lot of the devastation left over from the many hurricanes they had last season, there was even some unlucky boat that sank and the only part you could see was the very bow. Fun day in Boatland, tomorrow we’re up early again, heading for Panama City, FL
The ICW


ICW

Hurricane damage


Another navigation challenge



2 boats washed ashore


Ellie helping 


Birds


Ellie sleeping on my bed pillow.



Sunrise


Capt Bernie &David at Lulu’s

More ICW


Capt Bernies BBQ


Random kids playing in the sand .  More pics tomorrow, including the dolphin video, I Hope anyway


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