Gulf Shores to Gulf Port

April 16, 2009
Today was beautiful. Low winds, smooth waters. The waterway crosses bay areas here. Not like bays in Texas which are guarded by a solid bank of barrier islands, but mile after mile of small islands dotting the coast.
The winds were behind us all the way and, after a while, picked up to about fifteen knots. We let out the sails and were flying along at 7.5 knots. We traveled seventy two miles in just about twelve hours! It was a great sail.
Linda stayed at the helm and let me sleep. This was her longest time at the helm. This was an easy and pleasant day.
We passed Biloxi because Gulport was about twelve miles further west and we could easily make that before dark. As we approached, I called the Gulfport Yacht Club for a transient slip.
Cat Island is a small island just outside Gulfport. It is L shaped and looked like a good anchorage, we would have the east and south winds blocked. As we neared the channel to Gulport I started looking at the weather for the night. Southeast winds were predicted with some as high as 20 to 25 knots. We were tempted to go to Cat Island and anchor but were concerned about the winds so we went into the Gulfport Yacht Club.
It was getting dark as we came in and no one was tending the docks so I eased into the harbor. The depth was about 8 to 9 feet until I turned toward the docks when it went down in some spots to 7 feet. I was worried I might run aground so I pulled in to a south facing slip with piers on either side. I realized the southeast winds would be hitting the port side of my boat but I wasn’t concerned because there was a seawall near me and I knew it would prevent heavy waves from hitting our boat.
We tied up and went to bed. I was concerned about how difficult it was going to be to get off the dock in the morning with a wind hitting our side but I thought I could rig a way to get off. We slept well.
Post again tomorrow
Royal Crescent.