Dog Island

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

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 213 - October 30, 2017

Our plan for the day was to take off for Dog Island right after lunch, so we had a little time in the morning to work some more trying to figure out how to get Patty's new iPhone working. I could not believe T-Mobile's purported iPhone guru who told us that WiFi calling would not work on a non-T-Mobile supplied iPhone. An unlocked iPhone is an iPhone is an iPhone, and the only thing that distinguishes one from another is what carrier's SIM you put in it.

Not sure how the idea hit me, but my generic refurbished iPhone works fine, and so the test of whether Patty's phone was really the problem would be to put my SIM in her iPhone. We did that, and, what do you know, it worked perfectly, WiFi calling and all. So the issue was definitely not her phone, but something with her SIM or something else, So we called T-Mobile Customer Service yet again, and this time, we got a person who knew what she was talking about. After we explained what we had been told, and how the iPhone worked great with my SIM card, she checked her computer, and quickly came back and told us that the SIM for Patty's iPhone with phone number ending in 7020 had never been activated. She went ahead and activated it. What do you know,? Now Patty's iPhone works as it is supposed to! Bad on the prior two T-Mobile customer service reps. Funny thing, after every customer service call, they send us a survey asking, "How likely are you to recommend T-Mobile?" Well, actually not at all! But I don't bother answering the survey.

Then I returned Marc's golf cart to his house and walked back to the marina. The walk made me appreciate the golf cart all the more! While we were having lunch, Marc stopped by and brought us some boudin sausage, which Patty says is "like a rice casserole in a casing"! We thanked Marc profusely for everything, said our goodbyes, and cast off our lines for Dog Island!

Dog Island is about 24 miles from Apalachicola, and since we left about 1:30 p.m., we just ran at our usual trawler speed of ~7 smph.  We passed the east end of St. George Island and the St. George Sound inlet, and curled around the west end of Dog Island into Shipping Cove. We anchored initially where the first anchor symbol is, but when Patty got out the binoculars, there were signs all along the beach that said "No Trespassing." One Active Captain review mentioned that landing was permitted by the old pier, and that it turns out is where the second anchor symbol is, which is called Cannonball Point. Sure enough, this was well past the end of the "No Trespassing" signs, and since it was not anybody's front yard and was not posted, we anchored there, I got the Sea Eagle down, and Baxter got to go to shore!

 

After sundowners and dinner, we did a final weather check, and all still seems scumpo for a crossing of the Big Bend tomorrow! I had marked the R26 buoy that is at the end of the shoal south of Carrabelle, and then created a route on Garmin Blue Chart Mobile to Steinhatchee. This allows us to stay on the route line while zoomed in tightly enough to see any hazards. Although I don't  think there ARE any hazards after passing R26, if there were, I want to be able to see them!

Dog Island to Steinhatchee route

We think we will be ready to scoot across, but we will find out tomorrow morning for sure!