Sunday, October 18, 2009

It was a lovely, sunny morning, but somewhat chilly with temperatures in the 40’s. We were anchored between Grand Harbor Marina and Aqua Yacht Harbor Marina about one mile from each, and weren’t sure which one we were going to go to. It was early when Gale phoned the marinas but he was able to connect with someone who provided information on slips, fees and amenities at each. The one thing he couldn’t find out was whether or not the café at Aqua Yacht was open yet so he lowered the dinghy and spun over there to learn that it was, indeed, open, but we should get there soon before it really got busy.

We had made the decision to take a slip at Grand Harbor Marina but to go for breakfast at the other marina’s café. Even though we both could have used showers before going out in public, Gale came back to pick up Maureen for breakfast. We dinghied back to Café St. Clair and enjoyed the best blueberry pancakes we’d had since February and our stay at the resort in Mexico. We were very glad we didn’t wait for another day to try out the restaurant as they had recently begun their off season schedule and were only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. After breakfast we walked around the docks at Aqua Yacht and checked out the boats they had for sale. We met Captain Sam Evans, a yacht broker, who had lots of information to offer about the Florida coast and good anchorages there.

Back aboard Blue Heron, we pulled up the anchor shortly before noon and motored the one mile to Grand Harbor Marina. Our slip was next to the marina store and fuel dock with a wonderful view looking out over the water and the bluff across the river. Moored in the slip on our port side was Final Decision, with her crew Terry and Sue, the British couple we first met at Green Turtle Bay, Lake Barkley. We finally did get our hot showers and then snatched up one of the courtesy vehicles to visit Shiloh National Park. The Battle of Shiloh was a famous two-day Civil War battle that took place in 1862. It was named after the Shiloh Methodist Church, a small log church near Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee, which used to stand on this site.

On our way back to the marina we stopped at the grocery store we had seen on our way to the park and did some major reprovisioning. It didn’t have everything we desired, but it did cover all the basics quite well. Back at the boat, we spent some time putting groceries away before enjoying a nice baked chicken dinner and settling in for the evening.