Today, 12/30/2018, a week earlier than planned, Makin Memories faithfully returned her captains, Jean and Jerry Coleman, to their home port in Tarpon Springs, FL after having successfully completed 7300 miles of the Great Loop.  We soloed 19 hours and 166 miles of the Crossing from Carabelle to Tarpon Springs.

We suffered no major injuries (a couple of cracked ribs) to person or property, no major illnesses (one case of flu), only minor mechanical challenges and no damage to shafts or props, so common on various parts of the Loop, especially when rivers are flooded and debris is rampant.  We were blessed by so many people, places and events during our Loop experience. Here are just a few for which we will be eternally thankful: (hopefully in the rough order of their occurrence):

Makin Memories at Cabbage Key Inn near Jimmy Buffet and Randy Wayne White’s photos IN OUR OWN BOAT.

Seeing the amazing shades of blue of the waters around the Keys, Marquesas and Dry Tortugas IN OUR OWN BOAT.

Watching our boat pull anchor while we were ashore on Islamorada having a beer at the Lorelei resort and being able to get out to it, get it started and get into a slip there.

Having friends, Tom and Faith stay with us in Key West ON OUR OWN BOAT!

Taking part in the Archbishop’s Blessing of the Fleet in Saint Augustine IN OUR OWN BOAT.

Our friends not forgetting us and letting us Skype into book club from OUR OWN BOAT!

Re-visiting the wild horses and beautifully pristine National Seashore of Cumberland Island for the first time since I was 20 IN OUR OWN BOAT

Waking up to celebrate Easter morning in Savannah, starting with the half dozen donuts that were delivered daily to our boat at Thunderbolt marina!

Reconnecting with Colin in Charleston after hearing the Canterbury Boy Choir sing at Grace Episcopal Church.

Celebrating our anniversary at the Southport Marina in a VERY valuable briefing about weather and conditions from Cape Fear north to Norfolk.

Going up the Potomac on the way to D.C.,  and visiting George Washington’s home Mt. Vernon IN OUR OWN BOAT!

Getting to visit DC on Embassy day and see 5 different embassies with Andrea!

Weaving around the Staten Island Ferries, tugs and barges and freighters, in New York Harbor, to anchor behind the Statue of Liberty, IN OUR OWN BOAT.  And then getting to see Hamilton on Broadway!

Watching Eric Clapton live at the Greenwich Town Party from the back deck of OUR OWN BOAT. (thanks, Tog and Doreen).

Being boarded for the second time by the USCG in New London with our cousins Tog and Doreen aboard, on our way to dock at the US Coast Guard Academy!

Having Leland aboard to ride the Hudson River up the west side of Manhattan and past the Palisades in OUR OWN BOAT!

Getting to do the Ausable Chasm ropes course when we were on Lake Champlain.

Crossing into Canada on Canada day and spending two months in Canada, seeing Quebec City during the Fete d’Ete, whale watching in the Taddousec Bay and then being part of the International Fireworks Competition at La Ronde in Montreal mostly IN OUR OWN BOAT,

Going up the Flight of Eight locks to enter the capitol city of Ottawa and into the amazing Rideau Canal IN OUR OWN BOAT.

Getting to see Niagara Falls and visit Niagara on the Lake.

Getting to swim in the gorgeous, clear water of the Thousand Islands and see Boldt Castle IN OUR OWN BOAT.

Visiting Hans and Keith at the Trenton Rotary Club and then having them and past RI President Wilf Wilkerson join us for drinks aboard OUR OWN BOAT!

The various marine mechanics and electricians who helped teach us more about our boat, especially David and Danielle.

Experiencing the Trent Severn Canal and riding the Big Chute and Peterborough Lifts IN OUR OWN BOAT.

Meeting up with dear Tarpon Friends, Bob and Diane in St Ignace, MI

Having Blake and Zack visit Milwaukee and ride through Chicago with us ON OUR OWN BOAT!

Taking a break from the boat to do the “Western Loop” through the Badlands, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Flaming Gorge (where we saw a pair of moose!) and Dinosaur Park.

Having Annelise explore St Louis and then freeze with us along the FLOODED Mississippi and seeing a pusher with her name on it!

Seeing wild deer and turkeys along the banks of the Cumberland River and then getting to see the Grand Ole Opry and visit my high school roommate Kathy in Nashville,

Having a reunion dinner with Looper friends in Clifton, IL L->R  Bob, Jackie, Nancy, Sean, Jean, Jerry, Laura, Glyn, Cat and Gilles aboard Sadaya 2.

Playing dodge ball with the trees in the FLOODED Mississippi and Ohio Rivers

Enjoying a concert during docktails in Columbus MI where Prof. Tom Sparks played a violin that he had made!

Tying up at Hoppies and Bobby’s Fish Camp and praying for the wind and current to take the debris to the east side of the river – enough said!  Loopers will get the reference here.

Sharing a Looper Thanksgiving dinner with great friends at Turner’s Marina in Mobile (and we have so very much to be thankful for)

Having BJ aboard to explore Pensacola and The Wharf and waking him up to help avert the great barge bash with us!

Getting to reconnect with college buddy, Evelyn and share Christmas Eve together in Panama City!

Making 166 miles of THE CROSSING from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs safely as a solo vessel in zero-zero fog most of the way and coming home!  Now I get to wear the T-shirt!

And Makin Memories gets to wear the Gold!

Photo credit: Sue Thomas who was there as we arrived!

There are so many more memories, but I don’t have enough room or attention span to share them all.  Jerry and I have a lifetime of conversations starters like: “Do you remember the time we (fill in the blank)?  And “Where were we when…(fill in the blank)? ”  It takes a village of Loopers to remember the names of all the places we have been, though maybe not at the same time.  Loopers, we are a little jealous of those of you who are just starting your Loop and to those who we have traveled with along the way, we have enjoyed our folie à plusieurs  (shared delusion)!

Jerry and I thank our family and friends for your support.  We could not have begun to undertake this without your blessing and encouragement.  We thank the 18+ Rotary Clubs we visited, especially Columbus and Trenton, who proved that Rotarians are an awesome group of people no matter where they call home.  Thank you to Coins for Alzheimers Research Trust for appointing us ambassadors on our “Cruise for the Cure.” http://www.cartfund.org/ (We will be the Tarpon Springs Rotary Program 1/31/19 and we hope you will join us then – bring your cons, checks etc!)

We thank the harbor hosts who turned many ports into homes-away-from-home for us.  We thank Kim at the AGLCA for keeping the forums up to date with great advice and information about everything nautical.

Thanks go out to Boat US, for the discounts and fortunately for the fact that we never needed to call them for a tow!

The experienced Loopers who allowed us to make our own mistakes but who were there when we needed help were invaluable and we send all of them a special thank you.  Our new Looper friends from all corners of the world, thank you for sharing this amazing experience with us and friends at home, thank you for bearing with us through 52+ blog entries and I have no idea how many FaceBook posts, you amaze us with your friendship even when we are apart.

We look forward to the next chapter of Makin Memories but for now we…

thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

Jean and Jerry

Aboard Makin Memories

makinmemories.blog

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Leaving Niceville, Florida we cruise eastward in the ICW, which here is a series of connected lakes, and then into a 30 mile man-made canal which connects the lakes to West Bay and into the Panama City region.

The ride is lovely and calm and when we hit West Bay, we were accompanied by the BEST dolphins of the trip.  While we had 11 ride our bow wave as we entered Key West, and have always had dolphins rush to accompany us, these guys act like they want us to play with them.  They jump completely out of the very dark, tannin stained water and smack down on the surface almost like they want us to notice that they are riding along beside us.  Some ride our bow wave, looking a little like this photo

and others leap and surf in the wake waves.

Either way, they roll and make very obvious eye contact with us and we enjoy their company for miles.

Coming into Panama City area is sobering.  Hurricane Michael has left its mark everywhere.

The blue tarps are more evident than are intact rooves and salvaged boats are being lifted by cranes onto the shore.  It is so sad, it reminds us of what we saw in the Keys earlier this year.

As we dock (next to the Sea Dragon pirate ship!) at the Lighthouse Marina (the only functional marina in Panama City) we can see the piles of debris that dwarf what we experienced after Irma last year.

The city has been devastated, losing hospital beds, jobs of all sorts and so many trees.  The Live Oaks still stand but the canopy created by their leaves is gone and the water oaks and pines are scattered everywhere like matchsticks.  We wanted so badly to get here to volunteer but arriving during Christmas week has not offered us that opportunity.

On Christmas eve we get to meet up with my college buddy from Oxford, Evelyn.

We choose a nondenominational church that is pretty close to the marina and attend Christmas eve service there.  Evelyn’s Catholic and we are Episcopalian and this is a much livelier service than we are used to but the spirit is wonderful.  Half of this church campus has been destroyed by Michael and lies in ruins beside the small chapel which will hold 3 Christmas Eve services.

It is an alive service that finishes with all of us raising glowsticks (safer than candles) symbolizing the Light of the World who came to us on Christmas day.

We leave with ears ringing from the decibel level but I think we are all happy that we chose to do this.

From there we try a couple of places on the beach that we frequented as young college students but they are either closed due to damage or for private events.  We end up at Saltwater Grill and have a great dinner while we catch up.

Evelyn shares what it was like to live through the hurricane and how eerie it was afterwards with twelve foot mountains of debris alongside the roadways.  She remarks on how HOT it was after the storm because the shade canopy from the trees is no longer there and how big an adjustment it is to lose all those beautiful old trees.

She has a great perspective though, knowing how fortunate she is to still have a home albeit damaged by the storm and still be able to work and travel when so many have had that choice stripped away from them along with their homes and all their possessions and jobs.  It is a lovely evening which ends too soon and we swear that it won’t be as long between visits as this one was from our last.

The next morning, we celebrate Christmas with small gifts and brownies for breakfast and then we get under way.  The trip today is downright grim.  Coming into Panama City, we traveled through the area that had been merely brushed by the western edge of the hurricane.  Today we travel through the areas that bore the full brunt of its fury and our hearts are heavy.  Buildings are damaged or just plain gone.

The remaining oaks are stripped of their foliage and stand mangled beyond recognition and the pines are either snapped in half or are bent and broken, lying in whichever direction the wind cast them last.

In some areas, not one pine is left, only pencil points of broken trunks reach skyward.  In others, only the slenderest and most supple stand starkly against the sky, with but a token number of needles still intact.

Boats lie scattered along the shores like a child’s broken toys and devastation is everywhere.

By the time we reach our anchorage in Saul Creek, we are mentally exhausted and ready to put the day behind us.

We sit alone in our peaceful creek anchorage, listening to the current gurgle along our hull. We hear a combination of strange swamp sounds and bird calls and give thanks that we have heard (via phone, text or WhatApp) that our loved ones are all safe and have enjoyed their Christmases – even Annelise sends a video of herself boarding down a sand dune in Israel!  As the sun sets on one of the most unusual Christmases we have ever shared, we KNOW that we are truly blessed.

The next morning, we make the short hop past Appalachicola to Carrabelle. It is a little rough but fortunately the wind and waves are all coming at our bow, which is the direction our boat and her crew handle best.and we pull into a slip a C-Quarters around noon, business end away from the dock as the tide is pretty substantial here and it looks as if it might be a little shallow near the dock.

As we are checking in at C Quarters we run into Tom from Destination??? who we first met in Columbus and then again in Panama City.  He invites us to docktails and when we arrive and introduce ourselves to the other couple, it turns out Dan and Lucy were aboard Lulu in Mobile and they watered our Basil plant when Cat and Gilles, who had been caring for it, left for France.

 This plant has made it the whole trip, through customs illegally 4 times, lashed down against waves that wanted to give it a burial at sea a couple of times, provided countless fresh pesto pasta dinners for Jerry and me and has blessed many of our Looping friends with fresh basil along the way.  I think some people even rooted the cuttings we gave them and planted them so they would have fresh basil too! So, we thank Cat and Gilles and then Lucy and Dan for making sure Basil didn’t die while we were gone for 2 1/12 weeks earlier this month.)  I dropped the power cord on it by mistake yesterday and broke half of its branches off and it is still more of a tree than a plant!

Dan and Lucy of Lulu with Basil and us!

The Loop is a funny place where the world collapses into a series of common experiences made up of places and events.  No one really talks about the good times they have had aboard their boats, except in passing. It is always a sharing of disaster stories and learning experiences that always end with “What the hell were we thinking!?!?!”

And so we plan the next phase of our adventure together since we are weathered into Carrabelle for a couple of days.  We had thought that we would trace the western coast of Florida, hop scotching our way home through the little towns along the nature coast.

The local knowledge here says that this is not a good plan because this time of year the predominant wind is from the north and is pulling the water out of the already shallow accesses to these towns. So now we are contemplating doing the Gulf crossing with Lulu and Destination???

It is about 160+ miles from here to Tarpon which will mean a minimum of 20+ hours, some of which will be IN THE DARK, AMONG CRABTRAPS!!!! Pray for us! I have the T-shirt and now we are making final preparations to leave hopefully this afternoon (Saturday 12/29/18)

Preparations are things like:

• Consulting with locals here who know the conditions to call it a “go” or a “stay and wait for the next weather window” which could be a week from now.
• Consulting all weather, wind and conditions websites to make sure we have as safe a predicted crossing as is possible, given the time of year.
• Resting as much as possible last night and this morning.
• Filling fuel and water tanks.
• Making meals ahead so that we will have GOOD food without a lot of prepping during the trip since part of it will likely be rough.
• Making sure the handheld radio has full battery charge.
• Backing up files and photos to an external drive and making sure all essential electronics and valuables are in a waterproof bag on the back deck.
• Getting all foul weather gear, including boots, out and ready should it be needed.
• Preparing a waterproof ditch bag that has food and water, flashlights, hand-held radio, flares, knife to cut dinghy loose and other survival necessities.
• Unloading the dinghy (we’ve been using it as a trunk for extra storage) and making sure we can cut it loose and go on a moment’s notice.
• Checking the engine on the dinghy and making sure the extra gas tank is full and aboard.
• Making sure Kindles have good books loaded and we have enough podcasts to keep us awake for 24 hours!
• Stowing everything below decks that could crash around and get broken. Not sure what I’m going to do with our Christmas tree yet!
• Lashing all movable objects above decks so that nothing will get broken or be a distraction should the seas become rougher than we anticipate.
• Making sure we have a slip in Tarpon to dock the boat upon arrival.
• Consulting with our buddy boats to make sure everybody has accurate cell and radio contact information and that we are all of accord that it is time to go.
• Making sure our Gold AGLCA burgee (pennant) is ready to put on our bow when Makin Memories’ crosses her wake!

I am going to go ahead and post this even though we will not make the final “go” decision until this afternoon and will post on Facebook what time we will depart and our anticipated ETA in Tarpon given our “go” time.  Thanks for staying with us, friends and family – please pray for a safe crossing for us and our friends no matter what time we end up going?

What a busy couple of weeks!  We drove home from Mobile to Tarpon Springs and were immediately enveloped in Herb Seaton’s Looper welcome committee!

We had dinner with several Loopers who had just made the crossing and later in the week were reunited with our friends from Moon Dance and Bella Blue who had also successfully made the Gulf crossing from Appalachicola.  It is heartwarming to see new friends really embrace the town you call home.  Rusty Bellies was a HUGE favorite, as was Dimitri’s and I know a lot of Looper relatives will be getting Tarpon Springs sponges for Christmas this year!

Family kept us busy with the arrival of our beautiful granddaughter, Presley James Coleman.

Her mom and dad are a little sleep deprived but are doing well and big brother, Walker seems to be adjusting to and accepting his new little sister with lots of “Awww’s” and kisses on the head.

I’m pretty sure they will be the dynamic duo in no time, keeping their folks on their toes.

Our nephew Joe married his beloved, Toni and the wedding was lots of fun with reunions with family members who we hadn’t seen in a while.  Joe and Toni are a devoted and beautiful couple and we wish them a long and happy life together.

My kids gave me the best Christmas present a mom could ask for by being all together in the same place for the last time in the foreseeable future.

Kristopher and Rachel will be moving to Pittsburgh at about the same time we return from our Loop (ETA 1/6/19) and Annelise is headed to Israel and then Morrocco and from there no one really knows but she doesn’t plan to be home any time soon.  Leland is now in Miami and seems to love the southeast coast of Florida, for the time being at least.   The photo of all three of them together will be a treasured keepsake for years to come.

We were able to spend time with my mom and reunite with dear friends while home but the time raced by and very quickly it was time to return to the boat.  Jerry’s brother BJ came with us and brought nice weather for almost his whole stay!  The first day back in Mobile was rainy but after that, it was actually sunny and even a bit warm while we were together.

We used that first rainy day and the fact that we still had the rental car to drive to Pensacola to see the National Naval Air Museum.  I had visited it when my kids were very small and the only thing I remembered was the Blue Angel simulator because we were all aboard and lifting off when Annelise panicked and hit the punch-out button which stopped the ride. I thought her brothers just might kill her that day!  The rest of the museum has grown and been drastically updated and is really a marvel to explore.

The guys had a blast playing pilot in the simulators and we spent most of the day there.  Later we found that the Pensacola lighthouse was closed for lens repair but we were able to walk around the keeper’s cottage, which was quite grand compared to some of the ones we have visited.

We returned the rental car and had dinner aboard the boat, turning in early.  The next morning dawned clear and sunny and warmed up quickly as we left Mobile to cross Mobile bay and into the ICW.

We spent the night at Orange Beach at the Wharf Marina which was very reminiscent of the National Harbor Marina outside of Washington DC.  There is a multi-storied time share along the marina which opens in an arch in the middle, leading to a main street that was decorated for Christmas.

There was Christmas music playing and all of the palm trees had lights which pulsed in perfect time with the music.  It was fantastic to see.  We enjoyed a pitcher of beer together and then had some outstanding barbeque.  Strolling the avenue afterwards treated us to more lights and Christmas decorations.

The next day we waited for the wind to die down and left the Wharf around noon.  We only had a little way to go to anchor out at Red Fish Point which is right near Pensacola.

 The anchorage was just off Perdido Key beach and we could see the Pensacola lighthouse from the boat as the sun set.

It was a quiet and calm night until about 4 AM when Jerry began stomping around on the deck.

“Hey, you might want to see this barge out here,” he called to me.  I was incredibly irritated as it was cold and too early to get up and I couldn’t imagine why he wanted me to get out of bed to see a barge in the dark.  He stamped around for another 30 minutes and then came below declaring, “We may need to pull up the anchor and get going! This guy is adrift, moving towards us and I can’t get him to respond on the radio!”

At this point BJ and I both came topside to find all of our Christmas lights and every other light we have brightly lit and sure enough off our starboard side was a barge that was definitely drifting closer and closer to us.  Jerry repeatedly tried to raise the guy on the radio and contacted other ships in the area, to no avail.  He started our engines and just as we were about to pull the anchor, the guy finally came over the radio stating that they had just changed tugs and that he did see us and that he wouldn’t hit us.  SHEESH!  That would have been nice to hear an hour earlier but we were all up, the boat was running and there was a gorgeous sunrise breaking over the beach.

Nobody was going back to bed so we went ahead and got under way.  Again, it was a short run and we pulled into Palafox Marina in Pensacola at 10 AM which was great!  Not only is it a really nice marina but it is situated right in the middle of the Seville area of Pensacola and is central to a lot of nice shopping, quaint neighborhoods and tons of restaurants and bars.   And to make it even better, all of it was decorated for Christmas!  We explored for a while and then returned to let the guys nap and then we had a fabulous dinner at Jaco’s right next to the marina.

Afterwards, BJ found an Irish bar he wanted to explore and Jerry and I went walking.  Pensacola does Christmas up big time for the kids (SO mad I didn’t take my camera along).  We came across a little train that was packed with children and a few parents that did a loop around the city streets and then delivered its occupants back to city hall where there was a HUGE tree and lots of activities for the kids to do and of course Santa was there, in his sleigh, noting Christmas wishes.  There were also tall candy-caned pipes that were spouting a fine mist of snow made out of bubbles and the kids were dancing underneath it trying to catch it as it fell.  It was a really nice evening and so wonderful to be able to stroll, arm-in-arm, without freezing to death!

We said good bye to BJ the next morning and were sorry to see him go but ran into friends and ended up taking a couple of hour walk with them through new neighborhoods up to the Publix to reprovision.  It is a small world, we were coincidentally docked right next to Glyn and Laura on Peregrine, who we have leapfrogged with since they started their journey in Milwaukee from the slip next to ours.

The first night we were in Milwaukee, we returned to the boat, after exploring, to see a HUGE party on the boat next to ours (it turned out to be their going away party) and then fireworks exploded across the sky for a good half hour.

The next morning, Laura and I introduced ourselves and I asked her what the fireworks were for, since it didn’t seem to be a holiday of any kind.  She won a place in my heart when she looked me right in the eye and declared soberly, “Those were for you, to welcome you to Milwaukee!” We have met up again with them in Joliet and Clifton as we came down the wretched river system and we got to catch up by sharing some war stories.  It is always fun to reunite with friends and while it is sad to leave them, we hope that the part they need to make repairs arrives soon and that we will see them when they hit the west coast of Florida.

That evening we went to the old Seville Quarter to Rosie O’Grady’s and attended the Rotary meeting there.  The Seville Rotary is the newest Rotary club in Pensacola, at almost 10 years old and is a nice group of younger professionals.  It was an informative meeting and we got to share our CART mission with them, which garnered a good bit of interest.

The next day we were under way early, headed eastward to find a hidey hole that would protect us from a predicted, gale-force storm bringing yet another cold front with it.  We decided to by-pass the Ft. Walton town dock as it was too early to stop and conditions were good to continue.

We made our way to Bluewater Bay Marina in Niceville, FL.  The marina was tucked away and so enjoys perfect protection from wind and waves.  We bowed in so we could clean some of the river stains off the bow, giving ourselves a back deck that faced out into the Choctawatchee Bay.

 There was a family of loons fishing the waters behind the boat and every once in a while a dolphin would blow pfffft  as he corraled fish into the weeds, creating feasting opportunities for the vigilant pelicans who surveyed his progress and then splashed down to share in his success.

Bluewater Bay Marina is a terrifically friendly spot.  We were greeted at the fuel dock by Eddie, who we haven’t seen since Savannah.  He is kind of a Looper legend.  As a retired Air Force pilot, he now provides a weather service for boaters, which is relied upon as boats prepare to make the Gulf crossing from the Panhandle to Pinellas County.

Once we pulled into our slip, we were immediately invited to docktails with new friends, Patty and Jack on Nearly Perfect.  They are the harbor hosts here and we had a great time sharing experiences and snacks.  There is a Christmas decorating contest going on so many of the boats are done up for the festivities.  If we could, we would vote for Nearly Perfect and hope their snowman will withstand the coming winds!  It was hard for me to get this picture, he was doing so much ducking and weaving!

There are a lot of live-aboards here and I can definitely see why.  The restaurant and oyster bar have something going on almost every night and the food is excellent.  We tried the roasted oysters and they were amazing!  I can still taste the garlic though!

It must be a really fun place when the weather is nice (how many places have I made that same remark about over the last year?)  There are picnic tables under ancient live oak trees right next to a little sandy beach.  Pelicans dive for fish just feet away from where the kids play on the beach.   We had to duck to avoid being hit by an incoming pelican yesterday.  Fortunately, he chose to dive just short of hitting us!

We were on our way to do laundry which is always interesting at marinas.  We have had fancy marble laundry counters, outdoor laundries where the cats stay warm on top of the dryers, and everything in between.  Sometimes they are outrageously expensive and other times they are free (a boater’s favorite thing because then you can do a load of beach towels and boat rags).

According to our waitress, the laundry in this marina was built around the owner’s favorite oak tree and sure enough when we went in, there was a hole in the floor and the roof through which a giant live oak grew.  This is all very charming until you are doing laundry in the rain and there is no dry place to put your clean clothes!

We are on the home stretch now, waiting for weather to allow us to move towards Panama City.  From there, we plan to trace the panhandle and the west coast of Florida to arrive home on Epiphany.  We know better than to believe this is cast in stone but that’s what we will be shooting for.