The Emerald Coast – it is beautiful

We spent two days at Fairhope and had time to walk around town and have beignets in their French Quarter.  A very pretty town like Carmel or Los Gatos.  Beautiful details like speakers with “our music” and flowers everywhere along the sidewalks.

We left on another beautiful day on the bay with all the birds out and the shrimp boats.  We turned into the canal and boated into Lulus for lunch and met some new friends (and maybe blog followers).

We are definitely in waters we remember now, very “Florida-lite” here in Alabama.

We anchored at the public library dock which was beautiful (bypassing the very busy Wharf Marina with its mall and movie theater) then headed over to Perdido Key.  The Pensacola lighthouse and maritime museum is in sight and we dinked to a beach with only terns and seagulls for miles.  Incredible.

We left Perdido to go to a sweet little anchorage that was empty.  There was a tall sand dune on one side and a quick walk to an empty beach on the other side that also had the ruins of Ft. McCree.  Had some time alone on the beach until the boats started showing up!  Weekends DO make a difference.  It was a beautiful spot!

We went just across the bay (watching some “blue angel” types practice over us) it was a bit bumpy due to the wind but not bad.  Palafox Pier turned into a great place to stop.  Met some nice folks almost as soon as we arrived.  We walked right into the downtown farmers market and had some coffee as it was still overcast.  Had Linner at Jaco’s (the build your own bruschetta appetizer is not to be missed, you’re welcome).  We walked into town and all the trees were lit with twinkle lights.  We had a great time having pizza and watching a football game on Jumbotron outside a bar featuring the Fl Seminoles vs Fl Hurricanes.  A lively night.

We then went to another isolated beach for two nights at anchor.  We love to watch the birds on the beach that are so used to people they just ignore us.  It was strange to be in such a remote place with the sounds of the sonic jets and night exercises on the base.

We then went to Destin for some “wharf time”.  Anchored in the harbor, we took the dink in for lunch, more bird watching, and shopping.  Back on the boat later on we watched the tiki boats at sunset.  This harbor feels like Hawaii years ago with older condos on the beach on one side and Disneyland on the other.

We had a planned stop for a couple of days at a boatyard so Brian could change the oil.  We found a boatyard that was also a really nice marina.  We did chores (oil change, garbage, vacuum, paying bills, and downloading pictures) then got a ride to grocery shop.  We met a few other loopers including the area Harbor Host who came to our boat to welcome us to Shalimar.  Harbor Hosts are members of America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) who live near local marinas.  These hosts may have completed a loop or are planning a trip but they self identify to be a local resource if needed.  The next day was relaxing (after a quick walk to the post office, then a trip to the local West Marine, we even got haircuts).