Captain's Choice Dock, Aqua Yacht Harbor

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 178 - September 25, 2017

When I took Baxter to shore at our Sulfur Creek anchorage by Pickwick Landing State Park on the shore opposite the marina at about 7:00 a.m., we followed the trail back from the water's edge, and came to a fork in the trail - one direction said "Campground" and the other direction said "Cabins. So the State Park must wrap completely around Sulfur Creek. We were anchored directly out from the cabins, which are right above the marina, so I followed the trail to the campground. There were a couple of RVs there, and a number of empty sites with power and water. It looks like a nice place to camp! 

I paddled Baxter back to the boat and unloaded him, and then paddled out by myself and took a few shots of The Good Life, Angel Louise and Daydream at anchor in Sulfur Creek at Pickwick Landing State Park. The sun was just just barely over the tops of the trees and the water was very calm!  Ed and Sue on Angel Louise have lived aboard for 11 years.  They have taken the boat across the Atlantic and done a European Loop similar to this one.  They are they only boat to have done both loops.

Daydream at Sulfur Creek at Pickwick Landing State Park

Daydream at Sulfur Creek at Pickwick Landing State Park - nice reflection of bow!

T

The Good Life at Sulfur Creek at Pickwick Landing State Park

Angel Louise at Sulfur Creek at Pickwick Landing State Park

The Good Life and Angel Louise both weighed anchor and motored over to the Pickwick Landing State Park for fuel and pump out, and we are not sure when or if we will see them again, because we are heading down the Tenn-Tom Waterway in two days, and they are headed for the AGLCA Rendevous at Joe Wheeler State Park at Wheeler Lake on the Tennessee River. 

We had a leisurely morning, since all we have to do is motor to Aqua Yacht Harbor maybe 11 miles away from Pickwick Landing State Park. We had tried to call Dr. Bob's friend Spencer, who lives on Pickwick Lake, but only got to his answering machine. We left a message on Spencer's answering machine but did not hear back, so we left around 11:00 a.m. We got to the fuel dock at Aqua Yacht Harbor, fueled up, and motored past the Aqua Yacht Harbor Slips to the Captain's Choice dock, where Capt. Sam had told us we could tie up, and Matt from Captain's Choice would be bringing us our new Group 31 12 volt battery so we would have a second battery to go with the Group 31 we had purchased at Green Turtle Bay. The two batteries will be connected in parallel doubling our amp hour capacity, as the single Group 31 was discharging a little more than we liked in the mornings we anchored out. 

We got tied up at what we thought was the Captain's Choice dock, but it turned out it was the part of the dock that belongs to Aqua Yacht Harbor, and the Captain's Choice slips, while on the same dock, were on the part farther out! So we had to move about four slips to be where we were supposed to be! 

Soon after we were tied up, we met Robbie Robinson from Pensacola, who had just crossed his wake on the Loop in a Carver 440, which he purchased through Captain's Choice, and which Captain's Choice had just sold for him. The contract is all signed,so he and his friend Sam are in the process of moving Robbie's belongings out of the Carver to his pickup truck, and they invited us to join them for dinner.

While we were passing time, I wandered up to the Aqua Yacht Harbor Ship Store and Service Center to inquire about possibly using their TraveLift for a haul out so I could do my own outboard service. The service manager said that would be fine tomorrow afternoon, and his price was fine with us, so this will be my fourth and final outboard service on the Loop. I have done two of them myself, one in North Carolina (thanks to Benton Blalock!) and one in Kingston, N.Y, while Irish Boat Shop in Harbor Springs did the third service which involved replacing the internal filters. I will change the oil, oil filter, lower unit lube and fuel filter, and I feel pretty good about being able to do this service myself!

We had our sundowners and pretty soon Robbie and Sam knocked on our door, and they took us up to a little BBQ place called The Rib Cage just up the road from Aqua Yacht Harbor. The ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender, with a rub not quite as good as my own "Wild Willie's Rub" from the book Smoke and Spice by Cheryl and Bill Jamison, our go-to book for Q, but very good nonetheless!

Robbie got a call during dinner that the buyer had just informed the broker that he could not come up with the 10% payment due tomorrow. Not sure how this is going to end, but Robbie and the broker are going to be dealing with it tonight for sure!

After dinner I went to bed early, and Patty read for a bit! Tomorrow morning I will get everything ready for Matt from Captain's Choice, who will be bringing our new battery down and installing it! Tomorrow afternoon, after Matt installs the new battery, I will do the outboard service, we will stay here one more night, and then we start a new leg of our Loop as we head down the Tenn-Tom Waterway!