Date: 02 Feb 97 10:03:19 EST
From: Gene Gruender
Subject: Rainbow Chaser's Moving East

We've left Biloxi and are anchored in Ingram's Bayou, Alabama tonight. 30 19N, 87 33W. We had no wind until this afternoon, so it was motor all the way except the last mile or so.

We left Biloxi late on Thursday, about 10:30 am instead of the 8:00 am we wanted. There was pea soup fog and we had no desire to leave in that. It left us, however, getting into our anchorage at Dauphin Island, Alabama after dark.

We anchored, but found that it didn't matter much how we anchored, as we just drifted around our anchor in the calm. Our friends, Randy and Carolyn Adams aboard Money Vac, were there with us and rafted up beside us. They would have preferred a dock with shore power and all, but it wasn't available. Therefore, they tied up to us with a bunch of bumpers between the boats. We moved around until we had the masts quite a ways apart. If we didn't do that and a wake came along, not likely in this little snug harbor, the masts could hit each other as the boats rocked. But it is always better to be safe.

There was a Circle K about 200 yards from us at the dock. Several oil rig service boats came in, some to dock and some to go ashore at the Circle K. They came in very slowly making no wake. But soon, a large boat came blasting in, throwing a large wake everywhere. They went to the Circle K, backing in to let off several people to go in for supplies. Their wake just bashed the hell out of us, and if we hadn't move the boats properly, the masts would have just beat the dickens out of each other. Who were these heathens? The Coast Guard. The very people who were supposed to be enforcing the law were the worst offenders! Soon they had enough soda, beer, cigarettes, or whatever they needed so badly and blasted back out.

The next morning we hoisted anchor and headed east again on a very uneventful trip across Mobile Bay and on to our present anchorage in Ingrams Bayou, Alabama. This is a deep cove about a mile deep and a quarter mile wide. Then it turns and makes a dog leg, then goes on back a ways farther. It's deep enough nearly to the shore all around and has a good bottom. Surrounded by trees and wildlife, you could be miles from anywhere and not know the difference.

It's now Saturday night and we're in Pensacola. We're in a slip for a night and being lazy. We're about 2 blocks from old downtown Pensacola. Earlier Nellie, Zach and I took a walk to see the sights and Nellie, somehow, managed to turn us into an art gallery. The art was so-so, at least in my eyes, but the building was originally a firehouse built in 1873. The displayed pictures of it during it's different uses over it's many years was much more interesting than the paintings and clay pots they had for sale. Nellie did, however, end up with a new pair of earrings.

We expect to move on Sunday afternoon, maybe to anchor out late in the day for a Monday morning leaving. Right now I have to attend to the Statpower inverter, which has, once again, stopped due to bad connectors.

Gene Gruender
aboard Rainbow Chaser