Great Loop Granny

An old fishing town. C-Quarters ship store is like going back in time. Fisherman's wife is great for dinner. Some site seeing is available if you have time like the world's smallest police station and a WWII museum. It's a neat place. We have a big group of boats staged here to cross over to Tarpon Springs area tonight and that's the big deal right now. But Granny ain't scared of nothin'.

Each boat is following the weather wag and getting everything squared away to make the crossing to Tarpon Springs. The next good opportunity still appears to be Thursday night. Strap yourselves in and hold on!

Longer day today. Lots of open water. And more dolphins. Protected water was nice. Learned to watch the dolphins off the bow when you see them nearing on a perpendicular angle. Tied up at the city marina and it appears to be close to town so we are looking into exploring since the next crossing window won't be for another week or so.

It was only about 20 miles to get to Destin but it's worth the stop. A neat town with beautiful sand and a cool water cove area where you can choose a marina or anchor in the middle of. Plenty of food and shops around and dolphins are all over.

The Warf is said to be one of the finest facilities of the GICW and it didn't disappoint. Upon departure we begin traversing the GICW. The seaway pass in front of Pensacola proved to get a bit rough with 4-6 foot rollers. This only lasted for a half hour. The Blue Angels were practicing and so we were able to marvel at them for a good while. We continue to see multiple dolphins here and there. The camp for last night was at mile 212 in the Santa Rosa Sound. It was as good as we were going to find and it was delightful. Great views of the setting sun and even caught a big catfish at night. Oh yea, and the Cubbies won the World Series. Off to Destin.

Once in the channel it was much more entertaining. We passed LuLu’s, which looked like a neat place and docked at the Warf Marina. The Warf is very nice. Big and clean. Hooked up, salt washed and ready to party!

Tensas anchorage to Dog River Marina. No new scenery but the last leg of the river systems was nice. All the industrial ports and even the Military ship building sites were incredible coming into the bay. Once out of the river there was an abundance of fishing vessels that draw the attention of dolphins with their wakes. Embrace the salt and daily hull washing! Dog River is a cool place. Make the turn into the narrow channel after green 65. Multiple marinas right after you pass under the bridge. The Mobile Yacht Club is open Thursday trough Sunday and has been know to have great eats.

Third anchorage in three days. Consistently beautiful scenery. No alligators today. Went forty some miles from Leroy 1 to the Tensas River split. It’s another great anchorage with plenty of space and depth. Consistent eighteen to twenty foot depths for at least a mile in and reports say that the tows never use the river so no need to drop anchor with concessions to that. This is a great spot to get your friends together for a raft party. Enjoy the calm water and nature noises for the last night before you hit the open ocean!

Smooth travels all the way to Leroy 1. Coffeeville lock in the middle. Lots of space here with about 10ft water consistently off the channel. Take the dingding back upriver to marvel the cliffs. Relax and enjoy.

The water level is supposed to be a few feat low right now and it is advised not to cut corners. The middle of the channel had plenty of depth all the way. Easy rolling. Bashi was pretty neat. Some people didn’t like how narrow it was but there is plenty of depth and it reminds you of the jungle book. Take your dingding as far up the creek as you dare… If Bashi is full there is plenty of space to anchor in the channel right across from the Bashi entrance.

Wonderful marina with a delight of a dock master, clean facilities and a courtesy car they loan out in two hour windows. Every night at 5pm loopers and locals gather above the washrooms for snacks, cornhole and docktales. Worth staying a couple nights. Check out the beautiful old homes downtown and the Red Barn for southern cookin’. The roads are nice and cycle friendly.

My name is Granny. I’ll tell y’all what I see up here so you can better plan and attack your travels.