Salt Water At Last

It’s been 18 months since Selkie last saw Salt Water, and I have an observation to make:.

The Gulf of Mexico is certainly much different than the river system.

That’s a silly statement because it’s so obvious.

But having lived the river system for the past five weeks, with the push to get down it, dealing with the mud, the lack of ability to really stop and take a rest in places, dealing with the mud, the varying degrees of boat traffic, dealing with the mud, the tow boats and their barges, dealing with the mud, as well as other boats heading south…

The Gulf of Mexico is a more laid back vibe.

I think it’s the dolphins.

As we were entering Mobile Bay, a pair of dolphins greeted us and seeing them made my spirit soar.

I was on the radio talking to another boat about which marina we were planning on going to when I saw them.

The conversation went something like: “…yeah, we thought about that place but it HEY DOLPHINS!!! DOLPHINS RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!!”.

It was fantastic to see two large mammals bobbing and dipping their way towards us as we crossed the Bay over to Fairhope, Alabama.

They greeted us, and then disappeared as fantastic creatures tend to do.

We got into Fairhope and then tied up for a two night stay as the weather was going to be getting bad for a day at least.

The forecast proved to be true, but we were in good shape and were able to enjoy Fairhope quite a bit.

Fairhope is a really fun town, with a nice downtown area with shops and nighttime activities that are very enjoyable. They features some good restaurants which we enjoyed.

It was nice to be at a restaurant after being on the river system, where we did not have the best opportunities to dine out. The seafood certainly was much fresher.

After Fairhope, we proceeded out onto Mobile Bay and down to the intercoastal waterway. It was a quiet morning so we had the pilot house doors open.

After a while, I heard a rhythmic splashing outside the boat. Libbie yelled out, “Dolphins!”

I looked out to see some dolphins riding the wake of Selkie. There were probably a total of 6 to 8 of them. It was hard to count them as they moved so much, but they stayed with us for probably a half hour.

It was thrilling to see them go along with us.

It seemed like they were turning over and looking at us with interest. We both waved at them, and they seemed to wave back.

At least it seemed that way even though it sounds silly.

We turned east down the intercoastal and found some really nice anchorages.

I’ve spoken before about how it’s not a good idea to have a schedule.

But we had made a commitment with some friends to be with them for a three nights in a house by Seaside, Florida.

That dictated that we move pretty regularly until we reached our destination, Emerald Marina in Niceville, Florida (sounds nice, doesn’t it?).

We found a couple of anchorages that were idyllic.

One was Ingram Bayou.

This was a narrow bay that was surrounded by trees, and it proved to be a popular anchorage for loopers.

We wound up counting six loopers that had anchored in that same bay as they were transiting through.

We realize we had an extra day so we went to the next anchorage, which was by a national seashore on Santa Rosa Island by Pensacola Beach.

That proved to be a fantastic anchorage for us.

We got the dinghy down and motored over to the beach nearby.

Libbie and I went over to the island and took a walk before dinner. There was no one on the beach.

We took in the gulf at sunset with the clear waters, the sandy beaches, the shorebirds, the pelicans and seagulls.

The next day we got up, dingied back over the island and took a 2 1/2 mile walk along the beach. We only saw one other person during our walk.

It was unbelievable with a populous state like Florida that we would see only a few people.

We went back to Selkie, made lunch and got the bikes out. We loaded the bikes on the dinghy and motored over to the beach again.

We had discovered a bike path that it ended right where we got off.

We rode those bikes 7 miles into town and found a pub, had a pint and then turned around and went back to Selke.

The next morning, we proceeded to Niceville, where we parked Selkie for a few days while we played with some friends. It was good to take a break.

Our time on the Gulf of Mexico was just beginning. It was going to entail much different cruising than what we had done in the Great Lakes and in the rivers.

It was something we were looking forward to.