Friday, October 15, 2010 Still at Bay Hill

Met some new Loppers this week at docktail's.   "The Old Grouch" is from Canada-a 37' Nordic Tug and "The Lady in Red" is from North Carolina-an American Tug.  "Old Grumpy" a Chris Craft from Alabama came in last night.  We haven't met them them yet but they have a gold burgee so they have already completed the loop.

The last couple of weeks we have had pounding or thumping noises coming from the bottom of our boat.  We just though it was small fish feeding off the bottom.  We had experienced the same at Bill's Bay in Red Wing but the last few nights the thumping noise got worse.  It was very loud and almost constant.  I did some research and found out that it was the Gar pike (pictured).  It is a member of the Lepisosteidae family and there are 7 living species found in Eastern North America, Central America, and the Caribbean Islands.  Their fossils have been found  from the late Cretaceous Age to the present.  They pray on little fish (obviously the little ones feeding off the bottom of our boat and every one else in the marina).  They are voracious predators catching their pray with needle-like teeth. They obtain the fish with a sideways strike of the head.  They run about 2 feet in length.  They were so loud last night it was hard to hear the TV.  Keith started stomping on the floor of the boat and they stopped for a while but as soon as he stopped they started in again.  They woke me up several times during the night.

Hair cut day

CO's comments:  For all my boating friends out there, we all know that the cost of  boating accessories is 3 times what what it should be.  Therefore, before you purchase anything like anchors, rode, horns, etc., it would be wise to consult with several other boaters to be sure that what you are purchasing will work as advertised and do you really need it.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Happy ??th Birthday

Roy, Elvie, Joy, Dave, Keith, and Me



Another week gone and we are still preparing for the Tenn-Tom and for the Gulf.

We celebrated Roy's birthday to night  with Mexican food at Rosie's in Florence, AL.  It was a good night with good food and good friends.  It was also nice to get away from the marina.  We did not know that Florence was so big; about 70,000 people and they have a Marina with about 167 slips.

CO's comments:  Roy and Elvie's boat is the Roy El (pictured at the bottom of blog) and it is a 44' Gulfstar and they did the Loop in 2004-2005.

Friday, October 8, 2010

We have been at Bay Hill for a little over 2 weeks now and we are getting anxious to get back on the river.  We did take the boat out on Wednesday for a short ride up the Tennessee River.  It felt good to be out on the water again. We past a nuclear facility; it had many guard posts and lots of warning signs. 

Keith has been busy washing, waxing, and buffing the boat and I have been busy printing off NOAA charts for the Gulf Intarcoastal Waterway (GIWW).  This job is very time consuming and slowly but surely I am getting it done.  This job has helped me become more familiar with the Gulf.  There are so many Sounds, Bays, Towns, etc. that I have read about but was not sure exactly where they were and in what order they came in so it's been a learning process.

Pictured is "Bella" our neighbors dog.  She is still a puppy and is so cute and very energetic; loves to chase balls and water.  Her Mom and Dad own the Columbia. 

CO's comments:  After we left the Minnesota/Wisconsin area we have not had to be concerned with ethanol in our fuel.  All the marinas sell clear fuel and most of the marinas sell valvtect marine fuel.  This fuel has stabilizing additives added at the refinery.  They also make a marine diesel fuel that is sold at most of the marinas.  The majority of boaters that we have come across plan their fuel stops for marinas with this fuel.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

We are getting to know the area better. 
On our daily walks we see beautiful wild flowers along the road side.  The one pictured here we see a lot.  I've asked several people what the name is & no one we have asked so far knows the name.  I googled Alabama Wild Flowers and found out there are 432 different species in the state.  I think it is the Common Morning Glory (Ipomoea Purpurea).  I don't know my flowers very well so I could be wrong.

The fall colors are starting on the river.  Hopefully by the end of the month we will see full color.  We have been exploring all the little coves around our marina in our dinghy.  Today was a beautiful day and a lot of boats were out.

Pictured is our neighbors paddle wheel tow.  The interior is luxurious.  It is for sale and we think it would make a good boat for Nora and Andy.

I have been checking the stats for our blog and it is really interesting to see how many different countries have logged on to our site; as of today there have been 11 countries with 2,754 log ins.

CO's comments:  We still have to contend with spiders while in port.  At this marina we have a new nuisance; ants.  We have been told that they are sugar ants and they are so small it takes 50 of them in one spot before you can see them.  They are driving Bobbie crazy.  I am constantly spraying and washing so that the XO doesn't chew on me. 

The XO has been taking some stats of her own and to date we have travelled 1,363.4 miles on 5 different rivers.