Florida at Last!

Thursday and Friday, November 19 and November 20 - We left Turner Marine Service with a repaired LeeLoo!  Unfortunately, once we were out on Mobile Bay, the water was very rough again.  Before we left Turner, we "battened down the hatches" so to speak, so we were in pretty good shape even in rough conditions.  It was not an easy cruise across Mobile Bay because we had to stay in the channel.  But once we entered the ICW (Intercoastal Waterway), conditions settled down and it felt like we were back on the rivers!  A highlight of the cruise was stopping at LuLu's, a well-known restaurant that is owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister, LuLu.  There was a courtesy dock along the ICW, so we docked LeeLoo and enjoyed the ambiance of LuLu's!  

                                        

                                  LeeLoo docked at courtesy dock alongside LuLu's.

After a great lunch at LuLu's, we cruised to The Wharf Marina in Orange Beach, Alabama.  Now this was a marina!  There was shopping and even a movie theater!  We treated ourselves to a movie - a luxury we haven't had in the last couple of months!

Saturday-Monday, November 21-23 - We left Orange Beach on Saturday, continuing down the ICW.  We were very excited to see a Bald Eagle fishing for his breakfast.  It was a beautiful Bald Eagle and he came very close to our boat.  But, what thrilled us more was seeing lots of Dolphins!  We have been told that we will continue to see Dolphins, but seeing them for the first time was really awesome!

The scenery along the ICW really looks like the "South"!  We started seeing sandy banks and palm trees.  Then we saw the sign welcoming us to Florida! 

                                          Welcome to Florida Sign.

                                            Sandy Beaches along the Shoreline.

                             Even the homes along the ICW look like Florida homes!

As we neared Pensacola, we passed a several tows pushing barges.  We did pass a tow boat that was not pushing a load - it was such a pretty tow boat, so we are including pictures of it.

                                             Tow boat along the ICW.

We arrived in Pensacola and stayed at Palifox Pier Marina which is in downtown Pensacola.  Finally, we were at a marina where we could walk to restaurants and shopping.  We even found a grocery store that was similar to Whole Foods that was about 1.25 miles away. 

                                          LeeLoo docked at Palifox Marina.

The temperature was a high of 72 on Saturday!  On Sunday, a big weather front moved in and the temperature dropped in the low 50's - and it was in the 30's Sunday night!  Brrr . . . we aren't used to cold weather!  By Monday, the wind had died down and we were back in the low 60's.  The weather forecast will continue to get warmer every day.  We heard about all the snow in the midwest and are glad we aren't there!

                                        Sunset from Palifox Pier Marina - beautiful!

A highlight of our visit to Pensacola was meeting up with Nancy's brother and sister-in-law, Charles and Carol.  Charles and Carol live in the nearby town of Milton.  They picked us up for breakfast at a local restaurant, then took us on a driving tour of Pensacola.  It was great to see them!
 
On Monday, Carey took a taxi to the National Naval Aviation Museum and Nancy stayed behind and took a walking tour of Historic Pensacola.  Unfortunately, Historic Pensacola is closed on Monday so it was not possible to go inside all the old homes.  But, it was a beautiful day to walk around.

                                        Old church in Historic Pensacola.

Tomorrow we plan to cruise to Fort Walton Beach where we will try to tie up to a free dock. After that we head to Panama City for Thanksgiving.   We will once again be traveling with Mazel Tug.