Sarasota bound

Well, we are headed to Sarasota for the winter.  We said goodbye to The Wharf marina today, and are headed south.  The Wharf has been a great place to stay, with nice restaurants, a movie theater, and a great staff. Our plan is to spend the night on the hook at Ft. McRee, and stop at Destin tomorrow.  We plan to meet Sid and Susie Sundbery there for dinner.  There is a cold front approaching, and we will wait for it to pass, and hopefully we will have a good weather window to cross the Gulf on Wednesday or Thursday.  The  boat is running well! 

Chandeleur Islands

Monday, September 24, 2012-go figure, the weatherman was wrong!  The predicted 20 knot winds did not come.  We awoke at Gulfport to a gorgeous day.  The forecast is for light east winds, so we slipped the lines and headed for the Chandeleur Islands.  1:30 PM-we arrived at Redfish Point.  The island chain is severely eroded, and cuts are numerous.  We did find some surviving grass flats, and drifted in the dinghy.  Saw lots of sharks and rays, but few reds.  I did catch five nice trout!  Alexis went to the beach, and it is in bad shape, and covered in basketball size tar balls.  It still is a beautiful setting, and we were treated to a great sunset.  Will fish tomorrow.  We have no cell or internet service-so no office calls!!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012-I caught 25 trout and one red this morning!!  Light east winds, made for a pleasant night.  The water is as pretty as Perdio Key, and we swam off the Moondance.  Also, there are numerous shorebirds, and big white pelicans on the beach.  Last night, the stargazing was wonderful.    There are four charter boats here, loaded with small runabouts.  It is a popular spot, but not too crowded.  We will head toward Orange Beach in the morning.

Boarded!

Sundown

Conundrum

Sunrise

Trout

Great wade fishing

 

Gulfport day two

Gulfport is slowly coming back from Katrina.  The marina is a state of the art fixed pier place.  There are towers on every dock that hold the electrical and power equipment, to put them above the storm surge.  Isaac’s surge covered the docks, but did not do harm.  There are several nice restaurants within walking distance, and we ate at the Half Shell last night.  Good meal!  We are directly across from the Coast Guard station, and there are two 80 foot cutters docked, with machine guns at the ready.  Is there something I don’t k now??  We will stay here one more night, and head to Orange Beach. 

Gulfport small craft harbor

Knights in Gulfport?

USCG at the ready

 

Gulfport

I caught a few more trout this morning, and we then headed for Gulfport. The marina here is new, post Katrina. It is very nice, and we will explore this evening.

We survived Isaac!

Ready for Isaac!

Rabbit bayou

Trout dinner!

Well, we are going back to Orange beach.  Isaac followed us to Houma, and we are no worse off!  We took the opportunity to have some work done at Seabrook Marine in New Orleans.  The work is complete, and we set sail around noon today.  We are anchored in Rabbit Bayou now.  It is calm, and a beautiful evening.  We arrived around 4:00, and splashed the dinghy.  I caught five trout and one red.  After a great meal, with both white and red wine, we are off to visit the sandman!  A cold front is scheduled to move in, so we will make tracks in the AM. 

 

Chased home!

Iaasac is now headed to Gulfport, and appears to be moving west.   Discretion being the better part of valor, we are headed home.

Hurricane Issac

Due to the uncertainty about the path of the hurricane, we decided to bug out. We are anchored at Cat Island, and will head for Seabrook Marina tomorrow. Too bad as we had planned to spend labor day week cruising the area.  We had our last meal ( for a while) at Villagio's last night.  It was great, and then listened to good live music at the boat bar.  Oh well.  We have a few matianence items to do at Seabrook.   It is beautiful at anchor- no indication a storm is brewing!