Our Great Loop Adventure

Since leaving Aqua Yacht Harbor, we have slowed way down to enjoy Pickwick Lake. Our first anchorage was Panther Bay. The shoreline was beautiful. We took a dinghy ride around the bay in the early afternoon. Bass fishermen are everywhere. They scoot in and out of the bays all day and evening long causing wake. We were entertained by the fish jumping out of the water trying to catch insects. In the late afternoon we took the dinghy to shore and walked along a road into the forest. Wednesday, we decided to stay at our anchorage. We declared it a make and mend day which means we did a lot of little projects. The only negative to this anchorage was no cell phone coverage. Thursday, we took the boat to Coleman State Park Marina. Our first sign that this might not be a wise choice should have been we were the only transient boat in a 40 slip covered pier. Our only neighbors were the huge ugly spiders who covered our boat with their excrement. After registering, we were told the showers were 3/4 of a mile away, but someone could pick us up. However, the surroundings were beautiful. Tony and I both discovered we had somehow acquired several mosquito bites on our calves and ankles. Because I had a miserable night, we decided to stay one more day. It was $39 per night and we were out of the sun. On Saturday, we backtracked about six miles to stay at Grand Harbor Marina. There were several looper boats there. While we were waiting for our slip we witnessed for the first time a boat crossing her wake (finishing the loop). It was the sailboat, Carina. There was water balloons and champagne and of the course hoisting the coveted gold burgee. When we got back from shopping in Savannah, Tennessee, we were delighted to see Jim and Deb on Sea Fever had arrived also. We had a great docktail party followed by dinner at Freddy T's. The rains came Saturday night and continued all day Sunday. We had facetime with Tony, Nichola, the girls and Dominic. We wished Elianna a happy fourth birthday. Monday we felt a welcome change in the weather. It was cool and it now feels more like fall. On Monday we continued to Florence Harbor which is just before the Wilson Lock. Again several looper boats were there and we of course had docktails. Today we discovered why the office at Florence Harbor was closed when we arrived. All the employees were at a funeral of a coworker. We took the van into Florence, AL for shopping. While reading about the town, we learned that Florence is the birth place of Helen Keller. Tonight we are going to town for an Italian dinner at Ricatoni's. Tomorrow it's on to the looper rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park. We will be there until October 17th.