Michigan Escape- (Two weeks in May)

 

We had a wonderful opportunity in May to join our friends Scott and Pam on their fabulous boat, MI Escape (pronounced My Escape) in Destin, Florida.  After enjoying Destin for a few days, we began the journey to MI Escape’s home port in Mississippi.  We were able to preview  the Ten-Tom portion of the loop with an experienced captain.  

The weather was balmy and the company was great.  The beach had the most beautiful white sand and the ocean water was so clear we could see fish in the water.

The mode of transportation in the Baytowne Resort was a golf cart.  The resort was huge and the ride from the marina to the shore was about 5 minutes. There are lots of condos and in this view from the top of  the hotel you can see the marina.

This is MI Escape.  A beautiful vessel giving me a little bit of boat envy, very comfortable for the four of us for the entire trip. There was even room for more.

This is The Wharf at Baytowne.  A cute, Disneyesque (is that a word?) village with lots of restaurants, a zip line, outdoor trampoline park, and  other play opportunities for adults and kids alike.  The village green is a venue for movie night and concerts.  We were treated to a Journey cover-band and concert that was so authentic.  We had a blast!

It was a little breezy on the bow but I still enjoyed the sunshine with our early morning departure.

The best part of the day was when the dolphins joined us.  I was only able to upload a short segment of this video.  They really liked us and stayed with us for about 10 minutes.

We stopped at Safe Harbor in Orange Beach for a couple of days where there was no shortage of great restaurants.

There were several islands between us and the ocean barrier island where we could go and have some beach fun.

Mike and I paddle boarded and of course Mike also was able to go kiteboarding.  Scot took Mike and an instructor to the island (the only way Mike could get gear) and Pam and I watched from the boat.

Another great spot in Orange Beach is called the Wharf; not as quaint as Baytowne but still lots of fun. They have shops, restaurants, a ferris wheel and ax throwing!!

After discovering this “sport” in New Bern, We just had to talk our reluctant friends into trying it.  We all had so much fun!

Our next stop was a Marina on the Dogfish River.  Not a lot going on here so we make our own fun going for a dingy ride up the river.

Scott got us up early again for a long run up the Tenn-Tom.

The harbor at Mobile Alabama was quite busy.  Out captain Scot really had to stay on his toes.

These are just some of the ships we saw. The top right ship is the newest in the Navy’s fleet and had just been commissioned.

The views along the river were beautiful and I was pleasantly surprised.

We even saw some strange things. Yes this is a phone booth marking the border of Alabama and Mississippi.

Never saw any alligators but we did see lots of birds,

We were itching to help out.  They gave us our own headsets for locking through the locks.  Mike loves to clean and fix things so he kept busy on the way.

I mainly relaxed although they did give me a boat hook to push off the walls.  I just didn’t get to use it much.

Pam did most of the work, deploying the fenders and securing the bollard in each lock.  See, I’m holding a boat hook.

This is just one of many locks we passed through. The water fall to the left is not only beautiful but exhibits the needed elevation change the lock provides to proceed up the waterway.

This was leaving the last lock of the trip.  We stopped at 3 marinas on the way up, went out for dinner, went bike riding and played cards. Mike and I learned a lot of valuable lessons and information for our upcoming loop trip down the rivers.

This is the view of Pickwick Lake from Scot and Pams Slip at Safe Harbor Aqua Marina.

They showed us a waterfall via a short dinghy ride.

A very interesting although somber day was spent visiting Shiloh National Park.  The battles here were a turning point in the Civil War. I never realized how close Grant came to being captured.

Fortunately for him reinforcements arrive via the Tennessee River.  This was before the Army Corp of Engineers “fixed up” the river for transportation.  What an amazing feat.

One last dingy ride took us to “Goat Island.” These are wild goats that the locals go and feed.  They have even been known to board vessels so you don’t want to get too close.

I love the little baby goat the best.

All in all this was a fantastic trip.  Thanks a lot Scott and Pam!