Exploring both sides of Mobile Bay and Mobile Downtown

Saturday was a beautiful day on the east side of Mobile Bay at Dog River Marina. We took the dingy out for a ride on the Dog River and into the bay. The area next to the marina is called Alligator Bayou but thankfully we did not see any of those, but we did see lots of pelicans. We ate lunch across from our marina at Grand Mariner Marina's restaurant called The Dock. It was tricky finding a spot to tie up the dinghy as there were a number of looper boats staying at that marina. We found one but then had the new challenge of climbing out onto the dock since the tide was low. We watched football and listened to live music and enjoyed a beautiful sunset later on.

Sunday after church we rented a car for two reasons. One reason is we wanted to explore downtown Mobile. The second was we found a place to celebrate the Marine Corps Birthday. While looking for a place to reserve a slip in Fairhope later in the week, we discovered that Fairhope Yacht Club was having a Marine Corps Birthday event Sunday evening! We called the members who were hosting it, Gene and Carolyn Boothe, and they graciously invited us to attend. We started out visiting Mobile for breakfast at Bob's Downtown Restaurant. I had to order the item "Mrs. Ann's Breakfast" (grilled fish, eggs, bacon, tomatoes and avocado). Then we walked around to see the historic sites downtown as well as the convention center and some tall buildings. We also went to the 34th floor restaurant called Dauphin's as recommended by Marian (recently moved to Mobile) and her sister Paula (visiting from Indiana). We met them the day before at Grand Mariner. The views from the restaurant were amazing! Next we drove to Fairhope on the other side of the bay (about a 30 minute drive) to Fairhope Yacht Club. We met Gene Boothe and several other Marines who are members there and had dinner and Marine Corps Birthday cake for the 250th birthday. Tim was glad to celebrate with other Marines and they all talked about their experiences while on active duty.

Monday we stayed put due to strong winds. Tuesday we set out for the other side of the bay to Fairhope Yacht Club where we were for the Marine Corps birthday, but by boat this time. We were able to rent a slip there for Tuesday and Wednesday. It took less than 2 hours to cross the bay. The chart plotter was great at taking us through the right channels across the bay which is not as deep as we thought. There are a lot of sections called "spoils" where the dredging is dumped so the chart plotter helped us to avoid those. We loved the town of Fairhope and enjoyed the 2 days there. We also enjoyed Gene and Carolyn's hospitality as they were so willing to drive us places and show us the best spots. Tuesday we found an ottoman that worked well for the salon on our boat at a local consignment shop, Fairhope Furniture and the owner David gave us a Veteran's discount and delivered it the next day to our boat. We had great sushi at Master Joe's. We walked to the beautiful Municipal Park and Pier and met Rick who runs the restaurant on the pier called The Blind Tiger. He was interested in the needs of loopers and hopes to even add some transient slips. Gene picked us up and showed us the newly renovated American Legion nearby. We then showed Gene and Carolyn, along with another Marine and his wife that we had met the other night (Bill and Pat) our boat back at the yacht club. Wednesday Carolyn picked us up and took us to see The Grand Hotel at Point Clear since it is a bit far for a walk. It is a historic hotel that has been there since 1847. Then she dropped us off at downtown Fairhope since we wanted to have lunch and do some shopping. Later we met them again at the yacht club for happy hour before Tim and I enjoyed dinner there. Fairhope has definitely been one of the highlights of our trip!! Next blog will be about entering the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GICW) and attending the America's Great Loop Cruisers Association Rendezvous before heading home for Thanksgiving!