Hi Folks,

It has been almost two years since I have updated our blog and I am often asked "what's up"?

Well, the short version is LOTS of things have happened in the last couple of years.... but all those updates will come in due time however right now this is just a quicky notice that the blog will be live once again.

Thanks for everyone's patience and stay tuned!!

All the best,

Rusty and Kris

Hello,

We had a nice cruise whilst passing some very nice homes overlooking the Tennessee River. The weather was perfect and the boat performed great.

As we passed Grandharbor Marina, several other "Looper" boats joined our procession up the Tennessee until we approached the Florence Harbor Marina.

The marina in Florence isn't a very large marina and although the entrance is well marked, it is pretty narrow coming into the harbor. We contacted the harbormaster and they gave us directions to our temporary home for the next several days.

Kris, coffee and email!!

Like any small neighborhood, the residents are what truly make any place a "home". Marina life is no different. Once tied up for the weekend, some of the local residents dropped by to welcome us to the "neighborhood". One neighbor was from Fairbanks, Alaska and had purchased a home near Florence, Alabama after he and his wife had completed the Loop. They still maintain a residence and business in Alaska but spend most of their time in the "lower 48". He is a 5th generation Alaskan and can trace
his roots back to the gold rush days.

There was one particular boat near us that was interesting and would catch the eye of any boating enthusiast. The boat is a late 1950's Berger 58 and was meticulously restored by the country western singer, Alan Jackson.The name "Lady J" was aptly given to a very pretty boat.

Lady J

On Friday, Kris and I rented a car to drive up to Nashville. We had purchased tickets to the "Bolder and Fresher" tour and were excited to see Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller at the Ryman Auditorium (home of the "Grand Ole Opry"). The show was great and certainly didn't disappoint.  When it ended promptly at 10pm, we managed to get our car from valet parking and were on the road at 10:05pm. Wow!!

The rest of the weekend we spent exploring our new area on our bikes. Currently our plan is to leave some time Sunday morning to make the short 22 mile trip to Joe Wheeler State Park. There are two locks to transit, so you never know how long that will take.

Thanks for checking in on us.

All the best,

Rusty

Hi Folks,

Well, you can't cram 8 pounds of "stuff" into a 5 pound bag. I proved it yesterday as I attempted to get all things done before our scheduled departure.

Since we haven't spent a lot of time on our boat this summer, there were many items that needed to be boarded and lots of "before departure" maintenance items attended to. My self imposed departure time of 2pm was rapidly approaching and I still had tons of "stuff" to do. Finally I gave up and decided the best option was to depart early the next morning.

I mean really early... like just as there was a "hint" of day light glimmering over the horizon. After all we have about 65ish miles to cover and two locks to transit. The mileage really isn't an issue, but the locks can be problematic, especially if you are competing with commercial tows wanting to transit. They get first dibs!!

The alarm rudely interrupts my peaceful slumber and I begin to search for my clothes that had been spread about the master stateroom. I get off the boat with Nyla and we proceed to her "restroom area" and I begin to notice how dim the lights are of the nearby shoreline. By the time I get to the entrance of the dock, visibility is about 100 yards! Dang and double dang.... FOG!!

Well, it really didn't come as a surprise. The previous night I had checked several different weather sources... all saying basically the same thing (no clouds and good visibility). But one particular source was providing an hourly forecast temperature and dew point as the night progressed. Somewhere around 5am the temperature and dew point would meet. Combine that with calm winds and warm water temps, you have the perfect recipe for FOG!

The fog lasted until 9am and by then, the visibility was enough where I felt comfortable navigating "BLISS". We entered the Tennessee River officially and exactly at 10am.

The trip was "uneventful" as we decided to stay at the Florence Harbor Marina instead of making it to Joe Wheeler State Park. When we arrived at the marina, it was apparent we were the first of several boats to find refuge here.

Thanks for checking in on us. Tomorrow we have a car rented from our favorite rental company (Enterprise) which we will keep for the weekend as we explore our new surroundings. Of course we are making a side trip Friday night to watch Bill O'reilly and Dennis Miller perform at the Ryman Auditorium (the home of The Grand Ole Opry)

All the best,

Rusty

Hi Folks,

Well, obviously we made it back to West Tennessee last spring.  Since we started off from Orange Beach Marina with our good friends from "Our Turn" and "Always Our Summer Place", the trip to Demopolis was a blast!! Good anchorages, good weather, good food and best of all, good friends. We left the boat in Demopolis for a few days before finishing our return trip to Aqua Yacht Harbor located in Iuka, Mississippi.

Now it is time for us to begin the trek back to Orange Beach Marina and tomorrow we start with a trip up the Tennessee River to attend our first "Looper Rendezvous". The Rendezvous is at the Joe Wheeler State Park but really doesn't start until October 14th.  Kris and I are wanting to get there early to get settled in and do some exploring. We will also be making a side trip to Nashville, TN to attend the "Bolder and Fresher Tour" on Friday night.

Thanks for following along with us as we begin our latest adventure. I promise to be a better "blogger" as we make our trip south.

All the best,

Rusty

Hello All,

Well, we have been here almost 5 wonderful months and it is now time to bring the boat back to Tennessee.

A whole lot of stuff has happened since we first arrived, both parents have been here, in laws have stayed for a month and of course our oldest daughter brought her children here for their Spring Break. What a wonderful time.

Tonight our departing group all met at Happy Harbor for a last night of pizza, beer and fellowship. We will once again be traveling with "Always R Summer Place" and "Our Turn" as we begin the trek up the Tombigbee River.

I will do my best to update this blog on a regular basis and hopefully provide some interesting comments.

Until then..... watch for us as we cast off our lines at 0600 with a destination of Briar Creek.

Rusty

Orange Beach Marina

Hello All,

Kris and I had a wonderful night at "The Wharf". There are some really nice restaurants and a first class movie theater nearby, so we decided to partake in the local entertainments. The next day our group left under a cloudy and windy sky for our short three hour trip to Orange Beach Marina.

The approach into the marina is challenging even for the experienced yachtsman. There are numerous opportunities to veer off course and find yourself grounded on a sand bar. We were fortunate to be number 2 in line while we followed Our Turn (Al and JoAnn Barr).

We found our new home for the next several months (Slip L-10) and got all tied up with electrical, water and cable TV connected. Just in time for me to repack and head for the airport.

Kris has now returned to Somerville while I went back to work. We will return to Orange Beach after the Holiday and stay until mid April.

Thanks for keeping up with us as we made our trek Southward. I hope it was enjoyable following along as it was for us to experience such a wonderful trip. Thanks to good weather, good boat and of course GREAT friends, this trip was amazingly fun!

Please keep in touch.

All the best,

Rusty

Tensas River Cutoff

Hello,

We left the Alabama Cutoff right on time and began our trek Southward. The commercial traffic has increased quite abit and our AIS has really been handy! The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is much like the transponders on the airplane I fly. It identifies your vessel name, course and speed and sends this information out to others. If there is a conflict with another ship, it will notify you and give you an estimated time before your paths would cross. Really a MUST HAVE on the river with all of the hair pin twists and turns.

When Kris and I first brought our boat to Tennessee, there was a massive construction project going on along the river just miles north of Mobile. They were building a steel plant and as you can see, the plant is now in full operation. I don't know much about the plant or it's owners, but I am sure it has provided many good jobs to the area.

Kris driving with Nayla trying to keep her nose warm.

The southbound trip was pretty much uneventful, meaning peaceful and relaxing. The weather was beginning to warm up a bit thus making the trip even more enjoyable. Kris and I have anchored at the Tensas River cut before, but never at Briar Creek. Briar Creek is just a few hundreds yards further downstream and actually a better anchorage. However, Briar Creek is a little more open than any of the previous nights anchorages and doesn't provide nearly the wind protection of our previously narrow anchorages. Fortunately, the winds remained calm and our anchorage was peaceful except for an occasionally boater going by.

Wonder dog retriever

I really need some sunglasses Dad!!

Our three boats rafted up together once again and we are getting pretty proficient coming together is such a tight spot. Fortunately this anchorage was near a huge area of sand from dredging the river. It must have been almost a mile long and 500 yards wide. We drove our dingy right up to the beach and let Nayla out to do her business and romp in the sand. She loves to chase her ball and swimming seems second nature to her

Our plan was to leave early the next morning so we can make our new winter destination of Orange Beach. The forecast for the Mobile Bay was a "light chop" which is certainly comfortable for our boats. The stars were lining up for a successful completion of our trip.

When we woke up to prepare our boats for departure, a thick fog began to roll in and covered up the boats like a heavy blanket.

Since we would be transitioning one of the busiest ports in the Southeast, we decided to hang tight until we had better visibility. This was a good decision since at one time, I counted 68 different AIS targets in a two mile radius. Talk about a "traffic jam", it would have been exciting trying to avoid all that commercial traffic in the fog.

As we entered Mobile Bay, we reconfigured our communication radios to monitor both channels 16 and 13. Channel 13 is used primarily between ships in the harbor while channel 16 is more of common ship to ship frequency. Al Barr took the lead, Bob was next with his Skipperliner and I was tail end charlie. The harbor is the home of several ship building yards and repair facilities. The Navy has contracted a firm to build some new boats for them, and if you recall, we crossed one of these earlier in our travels.

This boat is completely out of the water having some scheduled maintenance done. As you can see, the design is for the "dock" to sink while the boat is secured to the edges. Then the water is removed from the entire dock and it begins to rise leaving the boat free and clear to complete the necessary maintenance.There were several boats on "dry dock" having their hulls repainted.

The weather crossing the Bay was very mild and the winds from the North provided us with a "following sea" which is very comfortable. Fortunately our boat is equipped with Niaid Stabilizers which provide protection to the rolling capabilities of a trawler but they weren't needed today. Once we turned them off in rough seas just to see if we could tell the difference.... yep, yes sir, it was very noticeable!

 Even Nayla was bored with the three hour crossing of Mobile Bay. She misses her beach and is looking forward to getting back into the water.

Because we were delayed in fog this morning, we will not beable to reach our final destination. We had to chose between Homeport Marina or The Wharf. Both are within two miles as the crow flies to Orange Beach, but via the Waterway, it was another 3 hours.

The crew opted for The Wharf, so we arrived just as the sun was setting and spent our first night in a marina in 4 days.

Having never been into this marina, I was a little apprehensive while Kris drove the boat into our slip. It was "tight"... only enough room between the piers for Kris to spin the boat around to drive into our slip. She did a marvelous job, even wisely ignoring my "barking" directions from the aft deck.

Thanks for checking in on us. Tomorrow we travel the short three hours to Orange Beach Marina and settle in for the winter.

Rusty and Kris
m/v "BLISS"

P.S. Here are some extra pictures.

They began their passage just after passed them.

A catamaran style Navy ship

Following the crew ahead

A great picture of the Admiral of "Bliss"

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