Our Great Loop Adventure: 11-30-09 Marina on the Wharf

[Rick] With the threat of rainy weather the next few days and the lack of a phone signal and wifi, we abandoned our plans to stay in Eastern Shore Harbor for a couple of days of R&R. Rain and being held captive on the boat, with no communication conveniences is an unbearable event. So, we left and headed for our next destination, Orange Beach, AL. Orange Beach is on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. We felt back at home seeing the familiar waterway markers on the Aids to Navigation. Then, we knew all was right with the world as we saw our first dolphins since leaving the east coast. They were spectacular, even jumping completely out of the water and surfing in our wake. Too bad they are so fast that we were unable to take any pictures.

Along the way, we stopped at Homeport Marina to eat at the famous LuLu’s Restaurant. LuLu’s is a Key West style eatery with a sandy beach, volleyball court, tiki bar, outdoor concert dance floor. But, the main reason the LuLu is famous is that Lulu is the sister of Jimmy Buffet of Margaritaville fame. Jimmy is said to ‘show up’ on occasion and sing a few tunes at the restaurant. Too bad for us, LuLu’s was closed today through Thursday while some renovations and maintenance was being done, but the gift shop was open…we’d hate to miss a gift shop.

Betsy took some pictures of the houses on both sides of the waterway. These houses are directly opposite each other with the waterway between them.

We proceeded 5 more miles to Marina on the Wharf. This is a very nice modern marina with floating docks and an Oyster Bar/restaurant on site. They have great Wifi and cable TV. On the down side, there is no courtesy car and no SHOWERS. Yet, they still charge $2.00 per foot plus 11% transient tax for a total of $57.72 per night for our little 26 ft boat. This is just a little steep, and by far the most we’ve paid since leaving the east coast. The marina is within walking distance of mall full of specialty shops and a convention center. They even have a Ferris wheel in the parking lot. The total distance covered today was 34 miles.

We had just gotten tied up when the rain began to fall. Later.

Here are some pictures from LuLu's Restaurant...