Gulf Shores, Alabama

April 15, 2009
It was really cold today. I wore a polartec jacket, a wind breaker and a third coat as we came across the Intracoastal Waterway to Gulf Shores. The trip combined lake like stretches with moderate widths and soft ripple covered water with river like stretches with woods and at times a roadway alongside. It took about four or five hours to get to Gulf Shores from Pensacola. Linda was surprised at the peacefulness.
Once in, Chris from Blue Water Ship Stores came to check on my depth finder. We called him about 20 minutes prior to docking at Homeport Marina. Just as we hung up from that call, the depth finder started working. Anyway, he checked it over thoroughly and believed the transducer and the DSM have problems. The irony is the depth sounder is working just fine now.
We ate at Lulu’s. Lulu’s is owned by Lulu Buffet, Jimmy Buffet’s sister. This place had a forty five minute wait unless we wanted to eat in the bar. We ate in the bar. We had the cheeseburger in paradise.
It took about three hours to get the depthfinder checked and eat. I backed the boat off the dock like I knew what I was doing. Motored easily to the intracoastal waterway, then headed west. About fifteen minutes later it occurred to me that we had to cross Mobile Bay–about thirty miles–before we could get to anchorable waters or a dock. That’s a long trip in good conditions but we had fifteen knot winds coming toward us and it would take much longer. Not a trip you start at 3:30 to 4:00 pm. So, around we went and headed back to Homestead Marina and Lulu’s.
Post again tomorrow
Royal Crescent.