FairHope Yacht Club on Mobile Bay to Orange Beach Florida

November 30th: We returned to Fairhope Yacht Club marina from our trip home for Thanksgiving and Baby G's birthday/baptism celebration.  We drove from Indiana to Tampa Florida, picked up coach and his friend, then headed for the boat.  Coach stayed with us at Fairhope for two days. The weather turned cold again. We woke up Friday morning with ice on the deck!  Whats up with that ! We prepared to leave for Orange Beach and Coach and his friend loaded our car for the ride back to Tampa. We were on our way by 8am, excited and nervous about crossing the bay 20 miles to the GICW.  Thank goodness we took the navigation course last fall. No longer did our chartplotter show the sailing line for us to follow. We had to calculate direction and put in waypoints to create our own line across the bay. The bay was a little choppy but nothing that made it uncomfortable.  We started out a little shaky because Tom had some difficulty calculating our exact direction, and with my math skills, we did NOT want me double checking his calculations, but soon the light bulb went on so to speak, and our anxiousness subsided.  The trip across was beautiful and we never completely lost sight of land. Our calculations took us right to the GICW, gulf intracoastal waterway.  The waterway entrance was narrow, somewhat like the ditch we boated on to Lake Michigan at home and not very wide. In fact I learned that the GICW is referred to as the ditch.  Soon dolphins began to appear near the boat.  They came right up to the boat, then pass underneath which really surprised me. We saw these beautiful creatures glide effortlessly in the water on a off throughout the day. I don't think I will ever tire of watching them and trying to capture them on camera.  Near lunch time we passed Lulu's, Jimmy Buffet's sisters restaurant.  Our day on the water ended up at The Marina at the Wharf, which was three miles beyond Lulu's.  The marina was very nice, with condominium's and a shopping complex with restaurants and bars.  Once settled in the gal from the marina dropped us off at Lulu's for appetisers.  We were joined at our table by a couple who pulled their boat up to the dock in front of the restaurant. Our visit with them was fun.  Once back at the marina I walked the shops while Tom fished.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset, which was totally unexpected for our location.