Palm Trees, pelicans, white sand beaches - now this is the cruise!

So we are saying goodbye to the river systems and hello to the intercostal waterways.  The next body of water after that will be the area known as the big bend.  That will require some weather windows to cross the Gulf of Mexico.

Here is one of the shrimp boats at Mobile Bay returning from his day of work.  He was at Dog River where we were staying.

We left Mobile Bay which by the way is a very large and very shallow body of water.  We followed all of the markers until we entered the Gulf Inland Water Way or the GIWW.  That is were we knew we were getting much closer to Florida.  Here is one of the first white sand beaches we saw.

Some of the trees looked like sticks, one of the locals explained that those were the trees damaged in the hurricanes.

We were enjoying the change in the waterway and the change in the scenery.  We were starting to see more houses, cottages, condos, and resort places along the way.  Then we entered into an area on the waterway called  the "Grand Canyon of Florida".  It was interesting seeing all of the rock formations this far south which was quite unexpected.

Looking back at the wake from our boat.

We traveled to a town called Fort Walton Beach.  The City maintains a free dock for boaters like us.  You have water and electric and can walk into town.  Very nice and handy.  One of the local folks even gave Erwin a lesson in casting a bait net.  This was exciting for us as he has a fishing license for Florida and we would be very happy to learn more about this salt water fishing.  Here is the sunrise at Fort Walton Beach.  It looks like those post cards that you used to get from your grandparents in far away places.

We traveled to the town of Apalachicola which is at the mouth of the Apalachicola River.  This is primarily a fishing town.  One of the main industries is the oyster and shrimping.  Here is a picture of an oyster man.  Check out the pile (yes the brown heap next to him) of oysters.  They have huge rakes that they rake the oysters or harvest them with.  This particular area had a least 30 plus oyster boats in one area.

I don't think I would want to be in very rough water with a full load of oysters.

Here are some of the oyster man working close to each other.

Here is a picture of a tow and barge going up the Apalachicola River at sunrise.

Then we traveled on to Carabelle which is a charming Old Florida area.  Not all the condos and high rises that you see in a lot of areas.  This town is known for the shrimping and of course fishing.

This is one of the many birds nests that you see along the waterway.  This is one of the day markers in the water.  This could be for an osprey or other large birds.  These are not twigs, but branches of trees.

When you live in the north and you start to see these beautiful palm trees you actually feel warmer just looking at them.














And now for the wildlife portion of the trip.  I was walking along the marina and saw this group of birds sitting on this cement pier.  What do you think?

It looks to me like the little guy is tricking the pelicans into thinking there might be something down in the water to eat.  He knows he is much quicker and faster, but those pelicans are pretty big to tangle with.

This large, long legged, long beak, is an Ibis.  He is a very good fisherman.

Hey, do you see anything up there?  Huh, huh, I think there might be something over there, look, look.  I would sit up there, but it is tough with these long legs.  I don't have those webbed feet like you.

Hey, I remember you, do you remember me? 

Don't even think about it, this is my piling and don't you forget it!