Day 51 – 11/23/23

Starting location: Fairhope Docks Marina, AL

Weather: 46 am. Partly sunny. Mid 60s pm. Mostly cloudy.

Ending location: Anchored in Ingram Bayou, AL, GICW MM 164 EHL (see below explanation)

Statute miles: Approximately 26

General summary: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 🦃 Tom got the new anchor and rode installed in the morning and we motored out of the marina back into East Mobile Bay, headed South, then East into the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway. (GICW). The GICW is protected on both sides by land, either a channel in the mainland or by long offshore island stretches in the Gulf. Winds had calmed nicely and it was nearly flat water.

All the guide books recommend stopping at LuLu’s Restaurant in Gulf Shores for lunch or dinner and to consider staying there at the Homeport Marina. Part of this is for the good food, but the other part is it is owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister. It was closed for the holiday, though, and we have had 4 nights at a marina, so looked for a nice anchorage instead.

Anchored in 8 feet in Ingram Bayou in a cove with no wake disturbance. Close to shore and a small sandy beach. No more mud! Saw remnants of a sunken sailboat nearby. Whatever challenges we’ve had this week pale in comparison.

Mile marker 0 on the GICW is just past Harvey Lock in New Orleans. The waterway continues West to Brownsville, TX and those mile markers are WEST of Harvey Lock (WHL) or East to Carabelle, FL which are EAST of Harvey Lock (EHL). Our mile markers, then, indicate miles EHL from now until Carabelle, FL

Made chicken pot pie for Thanksgiving meal in the Omnia. There is no oven on our boat, so we are trying this Swedish camping oven out.

What was fixed: Anchor and rode!

Boater information: Get motoring recommendations from Fairhope Docks to get to the Gulf ICW. Not on usual charts and very helpful.