Alabama!

Blog #15: September 21, 2018:

We got up early and moved our trailer across the state line into Alabama! On the south side of Mobile is a wonderful RV campground called Shady Acres. Their monthly rates are about $200 less than Avalon, so we decided to check out the sailboats around Mobile. The city is located on Mobile Bay, part of the Gulf of Mexico!

Shady Acres Campground in Mobile, Alabama!

After we got our trailer all set up, we drove over to Turner Marine to look at their boats for sale. We don't know much about boats yet, other than we should be looking for something that looks more like the top photo than the one below it, but I saw one there that I liked. It was an Island Packet 35 named Dragonfly. It was too late in the day to look at her interior though.

September 22, 2018:

It's the first day of Autumn. John walked the dogs early this morning and saw five tortoises. Good thing he took pictures because I never saw any.

We went back to Turner Marina and looked at four sailboats, three of them 40-44 feet long. Several sailing blogs suggested buying over 40 feet as that is a better living space and they span the wave crests. One had a beautiful hand-crafted mahogany interior, but it was still a 1983, older than we want. The second one looked okay on the outside, but was very old and used on the inside. The third felt very cramped. Then we looked at Dragonfly, and although she is only 35 feet long, she felt spacious! However, the owners have been having problems with the head (toilet), and she doesn't smell very good. They're asking $125,000 for her, but maybe they'll take less? (Sorry, I never took a picture of Dragonfly!)

John went online and looked for Island Packets 35-40 feet, and there is a 37 footer in Gulf Breeze, Florida. John called the broker, and we'll see Credo on Monday.

September 23, 2018 (Sunday):

We went to Jim and Ronda's in Fairhope for a wonderful fellowship meeting. Just eleven of us were there. It was nice to meet Desiree, Reagan, Hartlyn, David, Greg, Carolyn and Aaron also. David was a Navy SEALS, and when we told him that we planned to buy a sailboat and sail to the Bahamas for the winter, he asked how much we'd sailed. When I replied that we'd just finished our 6-day live aboard sailing class in June, he didn't say anything, but I'm quite sure he was thinking something along the lines of "Dear God, please watch over these poor idiots!" 😂

For lunch we all went out to the TexarBama BBQ: delicious! I wanted to try everything on their menu after my first few bites! (I just Googled them, and they're permanently closed in 2022. Sigh. Since they had a food trailer out front, I hope they are still making their delicious BBQ somewhere).

After lunch John and I walked down to the North Beach Park in Fairhope: beautiful! And their drinking fountains are dog-friendly, something all parks should have.

A Bottlebrush flower above, and huge Elephant Ears below

John and I almost ran into our first Golden Silk Orb Weaver (or Banana Spider for short). The females are huge! This female was being courted by a much smaller male. If the males aren't careful, they can end up as lunch. This female's body was about 3 inches long! Thankfully they aren't dangerous to humans.

September 24, 2018:

We drove to Gulf Breeze, Florida and saw Credo: WOW! She is a 1996 Island Packet 35, and she is immaculate. (She's also much better set up for blue water sailing than Dragonfly!) Chuck, the owner, has a sweet parking spot for her in his backyard: very convenient! The asking price is $137K. We will definitely be making an offer!

After seeing Credo, we stopped at the beach. I found a very tiny shell: turns out that it had a tiny inhabitant!

We discussed what our offer should be all afternoon. Should we buy Credo or Dragonfly? Could we get the smell out of Dragonfly? We thought that $100K would be our limit, but after seeing several boats, we have to raise that. (If we wanted to stay and work on our boat for half a year, we could go much cheaper, but we'd rather pay more and be able to get to the Bahamas this winter). We still need to add more solar, a water maker and a wind generator to Credo. And our broker Bill says that it could take 60 days to close; ugh.

September 25, 2018:

We made an offer of $120K on Credo, they countered at $130K, and we countered at $125K. Now we're waiting to hear back.

Last night was a terrible thunderstorm. Penelope meowed and meowed! I made sushi for the first time, thanks to YouTube videos. I learned that you have to roll it really tight! (The plates show my first and second batches).

I've been really nervous about taking out the kayaks here because of alligators, but I finally broke down and agreed to kayak with John. We saw some lovely sights, and the only alligator we saw was a concrete lawn ornament. Whew!

We drove out to Bayfront Park, which is almost to Dauphin Island. I saw a stray cat jump into the tall grass at the edge of the park, so I went to look for it. As I got close, I heard a rustling noise. I stopped and looked closer, and there was a black snake nearly as thick as John's arm, and at least four feet long! I took a picture, and I'm pretty sure it was a big water moccasin (aka cottonmouth). Yikes!

September 26, 2018:

We went for a walk with the dogs and cat in the neighborhood near Shady Acres. I love how the southern states will make a road go around a big Live Oak rather than cut it down. They are such amazing trees! We saw a Gulf Fritillary butterfly and Surprise Lilies.

For catching the mailman? I give kudos to the owners of this fun mailbox!

Our pets aren't used to this hot, muggy climate yet either: this is them when we got back to the trailer!

Our broker called: WE GOT CREDO!!!

Okay, so just our offer of $125K has been accepted. We still have to have her surveyed, and then wait for all the paperwork to go through. But we're still very pleased that she's going to be ours!

September 27, 2018:

We made our first visit to Bass Pro Shop's Outdoor World in Spanish Fort, Alabama: Wow! I've never been to a Cabela's, so I don't know how to compare them, but I was completely flabbergasted by how huge and decorated this store is.

Another first for me: alligator tacos! And they were scrumptious! I'd come here again just for the food. The aquarium in the restaurant is massive too.

The taxidermy in this place is incredible, covering a variety of land and water habitats. I'm sure the military tank on the wall isn't real, but the ones in the Alabama Artificial Reef Project are: very cool!

I bought a pair of Swiftwater Crocs. (I absolutely love these shoes, and wear them 95% of the time in the Bahamas).

I got all set up to go fishing off of Shady Acres' dock. I bought a fishing license a few days ago, but I haven't been having any luck. Now that I have some new lures and bait, hopefully we can have a fish supper soon.

September 28, 2018:

We walked the dogs, and then I tried fishing. I had one strike, but then it started raining. Now we have a full-on lightning and thunderstorm, so we're spending a pretty boring day inside our trailer. We're looking for a new campsite that is closer to our friends in Fairhope that has lots of places to walk our pets, as we may be here awhile.

September 29, 2018:

I tried fishing and got skunked again. One of the trailers in the park had a sign that read "An Old Fisherman & his Wife live here". They were sitting outside, so I asked him for advice. He told me that the river runs very deep here--20+ feet!--so I have to let out more line. I tried again: success! I cleaned the catfish and John cooked them for supper. Yum!

October 1, 2018:

Yesterday after our fellowship meeting we all went to Cactus Cantina in Fairhope. Their cactus grits were wonderful! Carolyn suggested we check out Historic Blakeley State Park as a place to stay, as it would be closer.

Today we mailed our pet information to the Bahamas. Pets must be pre-approved to enter the islands, so we wanted to start the process early. We still need to have them checked by a veterinarian just prior to leaving the States.

October 2, 2018:

We went to the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park and toured the battleship and the USS Drum submarine! These pictures are just a small portion of what we saw. The 2022 prices for an Adult are $18 or lower, and it's well worth it.