Historical Blakeley State Park and Boat Survey!

Blog #16: October 7, 2018:

Historical Blakeley State Park is awesome! We will be staying here at least a month while we wait for the survey on Credo, and for all of her paperwork to be processed. We shouldn't run out of trails: there are miles and miles of them!

This is the site of the last battle of the Civil War. The war had actually ended a few days before this, but news hadn’t reached Alabama yet.

There are many campsites here, but ours feels private.

October 8: 2018:

We took a long walk early this morning to the once-upon-a-time town of Blakeley. There isn't much left of the buildings: just the floor bricks of the old courthouse. Penelope got to chase a squirrel, so she's happy.

Hurricane Michael is headed this way. Robin, the park ranger, says it should hit east of here, but we're still on the western edge, and people from Florida are coming here to get away from it. Credo's owner assured us that he was getting her tied down snug, so we're hoping for the best.

October 9, 2018:

On our walk we saw a Black Racer curled up about ten feet from the path. We're guessing it was about 5 feet long, and it may have been shedding its skin as its eyes looked cloudy. Then we found a big Banana Spider (Golden Orb Spider) on the side of the bathroom. John fed her a bug, so that was pretty cool.

Then I found this cute little toad, and posed him on a purple "toadstool". :) One critter we don't like here are the chiggers. Insect spray with Deet seems to keep them at bay.

Spanish Fort has a lovely grocery store, Rouse's Market, and next to it is Honeybun Donuts: Donuts and Kolachecs. Fantastic! We'd never had kolachecs before, but we'll be making frequent stops here from now on.😋 They have both sweet and savory choices.

October 10, 2018:

Hurricane Michael is hitting further east than was predicted. Good for us, but scary for anything in its way as it is now a Category 5! We have some wind here in the park, and it's extremely muggy. (We later learned that Mexico Beach was the hardest hit, and parts of Panama City and Port St. Joe also. This monster caused 74 deaths and $25B in damage).

Chuck, Credo's owner, let us know that she was alright. Yay! We're trying to get boat insurance, but it's difficult as we don't know where we'll be in the future.

October 13, 2018 (Saturday):

We heard cannon shots in the park this morning! We followed the noise to see several people in Civil War uniforms around a cannon, and many onlookers. That cannon was extremely loud close up, and it didn't even seem that big!

We had to get some pet food, and these store photos were too cute to pass by.

We heard about Gator Alley Boardwalk in Daphne, so we had to stop there. It's right off I-10, next to the parking lot of the Hampton Inn. We were in luck and saw a few of them.

October 14, 2018:

Penelope tried to run off early this morning, so I chased her in my bathrobe. I caught the naughty kitty and made her walk on her leash after that.

We enjoyed the fellowship meeting at Jim and Ronda’s, and then we all went out to Shux Oyster Bar on the Fairhope Municipal Pier. (I see that Shux is also closed in 2022: curse you, Covid!)

October 15, 2018:

We have our boat survey today! On the way to Gulf Breeze, we saw a fleet of electrical trucks heading to Panama City and beyond to help restore power after Hurricane Michael.

Cecil is surveying the boat, our broker is Bill, and Chuck is the owner (for now). Cecil first inspects all of the interior/exterior that he can see, and then checks the various systems: water, plumbing, electrical. We are motoring/sailing over to Pelican Perch Marina so Credo can be hauled out to inspect her hull.

Credo’s galley, helm and companionway

As we start out, Cecil checks the motor and various instruments. There is just enough wind to have all three sails out on this cutter. Chuck gave John and me each a turn at the helm: she looks good and sails like a dream!

Once we got to Pelican Perch Marina, we docked Credo and informed the harbormaster we were there for our haul-out. Haul-outs have to be scheduled beforehand. The marine travel lift hauled out Credo, Cecil inspected her hull, and then she went back into the water. Everything went smoothly, and Credo was basically given an A+! There were some small areas of corrosion, and the light at the top of the mast needed to be replaced, but that was it. Whew!

It's important to know how tall your mast PLUS the instruments at the top are BEFORE your boat goes under a bridge. Many large, fixed bridges are 65 feet at low tide, but at high tide it could be several feet less. Always check the bridge clearance board before you go under! At 55 feet, Credo easily passed under this bridge with a 67 foot clearance at this time.

On the way back, three dolphins played near the boat! It was so fun!

FYI: Our haul-out cost $300, and the survey was $835.

October 19, 2018:

This past week we ordered a Sea Water Pro water maker for the boat, bought a GoPro Hero 5 for me, and looked for RV storage. We went on long walks every day, and here are some pictures from the walks at Historic Blakeley State Park:

John, Nikki and Teddy in front of a Beautyberry bush

Beautyberry! Thankfully the berries aren’t poisonous, as I’m sure they are irresistible to young children. They are mostly used to make wine and jelly.

Shelf mushrooms (I’m pretty sure these are Chicken of the Woods!)

Magnolia seed pod: I love the brightly colored seeds!

This is the Hiding Tree where some Confederate soldiers hid from the Union Army!

We met with Chuck at 9:30, and went over everything on Credo. Thankfully Chuck was very patient and helpful as I took pages of notes. We didn't leave until 4:30! When buying a boat, don't be afraid to ask questions, and go over every detail. And take notes or video, because there is no way a normal human is going to remember it all. Even with all my notes, we still needed to call Chuck a few times after that. I'm glad we asked "What is YOUR procedure for starting the boat?" (It's different than just starting a car!)

This is continued in "Historical Blakeley State Park, Part 2"!

Historical Blakeley State Park and Boat Survey!

Historical Blakeley State Park, Part 2!

Alabama!