12-06-09 Port St. Joe, FL

[Betsy Speaks] We had heard a lot about Port St. Joe Marina from our friends on Pookie II, as they stayed here for a month last January waiting for a good day to cross the gulf. I must say that if you have to spend a month waiting, this is a great place to do it. They really roll out the red carpet for you. We were met when we arrived yesterday not only by the dock master but by other boaters that are here long term. We immediately met up with some others that were going to church today, and we said we would like to join them at the Methodist Church. We were supplied a car by the local “harbor hosts” Patsy and Ray.

The Harbor Host program is a program encouraged by the AGLCA wherein local members contact boaters as they arrive in town and offer to assist them in various ways. Patsy and Ray immediately offered us the use of their car, as this marina does not have a courtesy car. They also arranged a shrimp boil for this afternoon for all the boaters here. Ray comes around every morning and supplies each boater with a local newspaper. Each Harbor Host offers whatever services they are comfortable with. You will recall that just a few days ago we stayed at the Conrad’s dock for a couple of nights, and they fed us three meals a day while we were there, and invited us to stay in their home rather than on our boat if we wished. That is going above and beyond the duty of a Harbor Host. Rick and I will probably become Harbor Hosts for the Topsail/Sneads Ferry area when we return, offering local assistance, use of our car, transportation to church or restaurants. But those of you that know me know I don’t cook for myself or Rick, I’m sure not going to cook for others!!

Anyway, we are very happy here at Port St. Joe. Last night we had a nice meal at the on-site restaurant. We are in a nice covered slip. The facilities are very nice and clean. There is a nice gift shop. We are only a couple of blocks away from a grocery store and a small strip mall that has lots to offer. The marina provides bicycles, and today I took a 3 wheeler with a large basket on the back to the grocery.

This morning we went with another loop couple to the Methodist Church. It was a beautiful church with a nice choir and all decked out for Christmas with one of the largest trees I’ve ever seen. The minister today was a guest minister who used to be the permanent pastor here. He reminded me of Santa Claus without the red suit, but he gave a wonderful sermon. His sermon ended with him singing a song about the importance of Joseph in the Christ story and it was truly moving. You could have heard a pin drop when it was over.

This afternoon Harbor Hosts Patsy and Ray hosted a shrimp boil for anyone at the marina. As usual, everyone brought a little something…loopers seldom go hungry! It was very cold outside, so we moved into the dry stack storage building and huddled around the grill to keep warm! As we were eating a boat came into the channel, and we looked out to see that it was “Pearl,” the New Zealanders that we had met a couple of days ago in Fort Walton Beach. They quickly docked their boat and joined us. Rick mentioned in the blog a few days ago that their trip is nearing its end and their boat is for sale. We learned today that the asking price is $18,000…anyone out there want to do the loop?!

As we finished eating and headed back to the boat we had to stop and admire another gorgeous sunset. We finally crossed back into the Eastern Time Zone yesterday just before arriving here, so darkness comes a little later in the day which is nice.

12-05-09 Port St Joe Marina, Port St Joe, FL

[Rick] It was a cold night. Temperature got down to about 38 degrees. We slept in (Rick until 0900) as we knew it would be cold and our trip today would not require us getting going very early. Bay Point Marina is very nice and has all of the amenities. It is the marina for a full development including houses, condos, a restaurant, golf course, etc. The grounds are beautiful.

We got underway about 1230 and headed for Port St Joe Marina. The trip was in two distinct parts. The first thirty miles was on the large St Andrews bay. The second part was in a ditch, very narrow and mostly manmade. There are absolutely no navigation markers as the whole ditch is about 100 feet wide.

Since there are some houses built on the ditch, we saw many “No Wake” signs in front of various houses. At one point, I saw what appeared to be a bald eagle on a stump beside the bank. I immediately slowed down to get a better look. It turned out to be a statue of an eagle. This smart landowner had figured out a way to make people slow down without a “No Wake” sign. I am sure that everyone will slow down to see the eagle. We took pictures of the long away eagle and a close-up. Quite ingenious.

This eagle statue sure fooled me

We finally arrived at Port St Joe. This is a very nice place. They have all of the amenities one could hope for except Cable TV. The Wi-fi is very good. We were able to use the Slingbox to catch up on Thursday night’s showing of Survivor.

We have been running quite fast and long days. The boat is a mess. For this reason, we plan to stay here for several days and do some cleaning up and catching our breath. In addition, there are few crossing days for the Gulf of Mexico and we will stay here until the next good weather window to cross.

12-04-09 Panama City, FL

[Rick] I used the Thesaurus to look up a word describing today and all I can find is “Lousy”. The weather was cold, damp, dark. The only thing missing was the rain. We were going to take some pictures but they would not have come out well.

We left Ft Walton Beach and motored 70 miles to Panama City and the Bay Point Marina. Betsy took a picture of a statue of a pelican in the Ft Walton Beach Municipal Park. We think we saw the model for the statue.

Before we left, we chatted more with the New Zealanders and got to tour their boat. It is actually 32 feet long with a steel hull. Pearl, the boat, has a 90hp truck engine. As I reported yesterday, they have only an ice cooler and a 2 burner stove. The family sleeps on 4 mattresses spread on the floor. Then, the next morning, they pile the mattresses under a bench and use the space for home schooling of the two teenage children. The father, John, is a retired teacher. The wife, Phillippa, is a teacher. In New Zealand, a teacher teaches 5 years and then gets a year off. So, this year, they bought the boat and are doing the loop. Obviously, they are very adventurous folks and love to travel, having already motored most of the European waterways.

ps. As an exercise in discovery, just where do you go to find another word for Thesaurus?

12-03-09 Fort Walton Beach, FL

[Rick] After two very nice days visiting Tom and Patsy Conrad, we decided it was time to move on and make some way. We packed all our stuff, released the boat and left the Conrad Dock ‘N Dine about 1100. Our destination was the FREE dock at Fort Walton Beach. We passed through Pensacola Bay and passed several inlets from the Gulf of Mexico. Looking out at the Gulf, we could still see huge waves and we were glad we were not out there today. Again, we passed several dolphins and we never grow tired of seeing and watching them. There is just some attraction to them that makes one watch. Along the way, we entered Florida from Alabama.

After 54 miles, we arrived at Fort Walton Beach and called City Hall to get directions as to the location of the FREE dock. The young lady had no idea how to tell us where it was from the water. She knew it was beside the park with the Christmas tree and the trees that have snowflakes in them. Unfortunately, the snowflakes are not visible in the daytime from any distance. But, we saw the dock and pulled in. The dock has about 10 spots for various sized boats. There is no electricity or services but there is a FREE pump out station.

Another boat tied up about the same time as we did. It is an old steel hulled vessel with 4 New Zealanders aboard. There are two parents and two teenagers. It is about 32 feet long and they are looping. They started in Ft Myers last March, have been to Canada, but we have never seen them before. They bought the boat to do the loop and will sell it when they return to Ft Myers. They fly out to New Zealand on Jan 17. The boat has no generator, refrigerator, hot water, air conditioner, or microwave. It has a cooler to keep stuff cold and a propane stove for cooking. It is basic. The owner told me that go about 9 mph and that they have really enjoyed the loop trip.

We walked around town and visited the park with the Christmas tree. We went to Publix, the grocery store, for the first time. What a nice store and the employees were very helpful. On two occasions, as we stood trying to figure out what aisle to go to, employees actually volunteered to ask us if they could be of assistance. I was stunned, having shopped in many other stores along the way, and getting very little assistance. For supper, we visited our favorite restaurant, Waffle House, and enjoyed a very good meal.

We cannot stay at this FREE city dock more than one night, so tomorrow we leave for Panama City, and the Bay Point Marina. There is not a weather window to cross the Gulf until at least Monday, so we are in no rush.

Addendum to Fairhope!

Our friends that picked us up and took us to church in Fairhope, AL, last Sunday have been kind enough to share some pictures of their beautiful town with us, and we wanted to share them with you. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of their downtown area with its beautiful flowers, so was glad to receive these from Bruce and Janice. The flowers are changed four times a year with different flowers for each season. There is a large rose garden at the city park that I would love to see during the summer when its in full bloom. Thanks Bruce and Janice for the great pictures! (REMEMBER, YOU CAN CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO MAKE IT LARGER!)

12-02-09 At Tom and Patsy Conrad’s Dock & Dine

(Betsy speaks): We spent the day with Tom and Patsy Conrad again in their wonderful home which we have dubbed "Tom and Patsy's Dock & Dine." We did stay on our boat last night and as the night wore on the water got rough. There was a terrific thunder and lightning storm so we’re glad we stayed on the boat because Beamer the Psycho Dog is at her psychotic best during loud storms.

We awoke to a very cold day with high winds which lasted throughout the day. I helped Patsy with some more decorations, so am really starting to get in the Christmas spirit. Mid-afternoon Tom went outside to do something, and then we noticed him running to his boat. As it turns out, the high winds had caused his boat to pull so hard on his finger pier that a piling actually broke and an eight foot section of his finger broke loose. Rick and I immediately ran out to help Tom. Rick and I did our best at holding his boat off the dock while Tom lassoed another piling farther out to hold the bow away from the dock. It was a harrowing 15 minutes or so that seemed much longer. Of course, one reason Rick and I were anxious to help was that if Tom’s boat broke loose it would have rammed right into ours, and then who knows what would have happened!


This evening five other loopers joined us for dinner. We had just met Theresa and Larry off of “Lauren Grace” yesterday when they rode with us to West Marina. Also joining us were Ann and Hank off of “Queen Ann’s Revenge,” who we think we met or at least saw at the rendezvous several weeks ago. The final new person joining us was Tom off of “River Rat.” We had seen his boat at the marina yesterday but had not met him before. He is doing the loop single handedly on a pontoon boat that he has rigged with a very interesting canvas cover. I think he designed and built it all himself. Wish we had gotten a picture of it! He travels with his dog River, and has made it down from Lake Huron. We’re surprised we had not met any of these folks before, but they had just been a few weeks behind us all the way. “Lauren Grace” actually finished the loop last year and this year have been re-touring the Tennessee River system.

We were seated at two tables in the Conrad’s home, with no spouses seated at the same table. Patsy gave us our topics of conversation: how you met your spouse and what made you decide to do the loop. Of course, she said she was just kidding about giving us topics of conversation, but at my table we pretty much talked about just those things…it was fun!

After a marvelous dinner of pork loin, roast veggies and rice, we sang Christmas Carols accompanied by a keyboard and me on the harmonica. Patsy is very musically talented, and in fact is the President of the Pensacola Choral Society. Tom has recently learned to play the autoharp. We had great fun!

By eleven o’clock the winds had finally died down to the point that we could get on and off our boat singlehandedly. All day long any time I wanted something off the boat or needed to get Beamer off for a walk, Rick would have to go out with me to pull the boat closer to the dock and hold it as I got on and off…that’s how strong the winds were. We generally got wet in the process from the waves breaking against the dock, so it was really something and we were glad that it died down before we went to bed!

Weather permitting we will leave here tomorrow and proceed to Fort Walton Beach.

12-01-09 Tom Conrad Dock – Pensacola, FL

[Rick]We left the Marina at the Wharf, smallest boat in the marina again, and headed for the Tom Conrad Dock. The trip was less than 10 miles. Tom and his wife Patsy live in a lovely home on the GICW and offered to let us tie to their dock to wait out the impending rain and wind storm. We arrived and were tied up by 1000.

We all went to West Marine in the afternoon, followed by Wal-Mart. Had we just gone to Walgreen, we would have hit the Big W trifecta.

Tom is the weather guru for the loopers as they prepare to cross the Florida Big Bend to the Florida West Coast. He prepares a daily “weather musings” report and posts it on the AGLCA looper log each day. The musings tell other loopers what he would do on his 28 ft sailboat regarding when to cross the Gulf of Mexico. Between the musings, NOAA, Windfinder, and the other weather sites, a looper makes the decision as to go or not. For his efforts to make the loop journey better for everyone, Tom was awarded the most prestigious “Skipper Bob Award for Making it Better”. He was very deserving.

[Betsy adds] Patsy has already proved herself to be a great hostess and cook. The meatloaf she prepared for our first night here was superb! She has opened her beautiful home to us and made us feel so welcome. With the storm coming she invited us to stay in their guest bedroom instead of on our boat. We declined that offer because Beamer the Psycho Dog becomes her psycho best if there is thunder and lightning and we didn’t want to leave her alone on the boat.
When we arrived Patsy had just started decorating their Christmas tree. I pitched in and helped. This may be our only shot at getting in the true spirit of Christmas this year! Tomorrow we plan to do some more decorating.

We will be here for a couple of days. The weather is to be very bad for tomorrow and we have plans for a dinner with some other loopers at the Conrad’s for Wednesday night.

Tied to the Conrad dock....