A beautiful day for boating!

We didn’t make any special plans for Labor Day weekend, but on Friday night I got a facebook message from our friends Nancy and Andy, inviting us to go boating with them on Sunday.  It promised to be a beautiful day, and we had been wanting to catch up with them while we were in town, so of course we said yes.  Nancy runs a daycare in her home, and provided the best care I could ever have found for my two boys, and her husband, Andy, is a retired “Ford guy” – even after the boys left Nancy’s daycare to go to school, we remained friends and have kept in touch over the years. 

We made plans to meet at the marina in Detroit where they keep their boat, at 11am on Sunday.  Their boat had been taken out of indoor storage and placed in the water before we got there.

 

We loaded up and headed out into the Detroit River.  Andy started out by taking us on the tour of the Detroit riverfront.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We passed under the bridge to Belle Isle State Park, an island in the middle of the river.  When I was in college, we used to come to Belle Isle to ride bikes and have picnics.  In our last summer of classes, a bunch of us engineering students took a photography class, and we all came to Belle Isle to photograph some of the great old architecture!  It’s a beautiful park, especially now that the state has taken it over and it maintaining it.

 

 

As we made our way south on the river, we passed by the Manoogian Mansion – home of the Mayor of Detroit,

 

and other stately homes along the river.

This one is rumored to belong to Kid Rock.

 

As we got closer to downtown, we could see the Detroit skyline.

 

It looks pretty impressive from the water!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Across the river is Windsor, Ontario,

 

and the bridge across the river is the Ambassador Bridge.

 

We turned around and started heading north towards Lake St. Clair, leaving Detroit and Windsor behind us.

 

We passed the Coast Guard Station, and entered the lake.

 

There are lots of beautiful estates on the lake,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

including the Edsel & Eleanor Ford Estate.

 

There were a lot of really nice boats out on the lake, too.

 

We floated around for awhile while we ate our lunches and enjoyed the warm summer sun.

It was a perfectly beautiful day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we took a cruise through Jefferson Beach Marina,

 

where there was a wedding going on in the gazebo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their reception venue was parked alongside the dock, and we could see the guests lining up to pick up a glass of champagne as they entered the boat.

 

There were lots of beautiful boats in the marina, including this original cigarette boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the marina, we made our way back down the river.

 

Andy pulled the boat up alongside the dock, and got it ready to go back into storage until the next time he takes it out.  That’s a pretty good way to go – the boat stays nice and clean, stored inside out of the elements, and all he has to do is call ahead and they put in in the water for him!

We visited for a little while longer in the “Tiki Bar” before we all headed for home.  It was a beautiful day on the water, and we’re glad that Andy and Nancy invited us to spend the day with them!  Thanks guys!!

Exploring the Choctawhatchee Bay and the Gulf of Mexico

Bryce wanted to do some fishing, so with perfect weather predicted for Friday, we made plans with Tim & Denise to spend the day on their boat.  We went online the night before and bought Bryce a 3-day saltwater fishing license, packed lunches, and got ready for a 7am start.

When we arrived over at Eden Gardens, Denise was just finishing cleaning up the boat, and getting stuff packed into it.

We spent about an hour getting everything ready to go, and then we drove the short distance to the boat launch.

This boat launch is in the Choctawhatchee Bay, which is the large body of water to the north of Destin and all of the other coastal resort towns.

The water of the Bay was as smooth as glass, and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day!

We got on the water around 10am, and it was about a 45-minute ride across the Bay to the inlet to the Gulf of Mexico at Destin.         

 

We crossed under the big bridge that brings travellers down to Destin,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and as we got closer to the resort towns, we began seeing some really nice houses overlooking the Bay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The area in the Bay, right before the inlet opens into the Gulf, is referred to by the locals as Crab Island.  It’s not really an island, but just a sand bar where boats gather and the locals hang out.  There are several floating restaurants, and some play areas for the kids.

There’s lots of activity around Destin, and lots of sights to see.

 

This pirate ship gives tours of Destin Harbor, and there are other tour boats, as well.  Dolphin tours, glass-bottom boat tours, snorkeling tours, and lots and lots of parasailing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were here for fish, though, so we continued on into the Gulf, where Tim met up with “ the bait guy” to get some bait.

As we passed by the jetty,

and the beaches along the waterfront,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we were amazed by the crystal-clear bluegreen water!  This is what people flock to Destin for!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grouper and Red Snapper are in season right now, so we continued about a mile out into the Gulf, where Tim knows a good spot for catching both.

 

Bryce did his part as co-captain.

 

 

 

 

 

We weren’t alone out there.

Tom and I were just along for the ride, and the sunshine, so we relaxed in the front of the boat, away from the fishing poles, and the hooks, and the bait!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I realized, when I started putting this blog post together, that I didn’t get a single picture of Bryce fishing!  I guess I kept waiting for him to get something on his hook, but that hardly ever happened!

We stayed at this spot for about a half hour, and something was stealing their bait, but they never managed to snag anything.  We were all getting a little hungry, and Denise was feeling seasick, so we headed back towards Crab Island where we could eat our lunches and walk around for a bit.

On the way, Tim drove us through the small harbor on Destin’s waterfront.         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a busy place – with lots of hotels and restaurants!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But there are also a few small stretches of beach.

We crossed back under the bridge and anchored at the edge of the Crab Island area.

Tim said that the best time to come to Crab Island is just before high tide, when the tide is coming in.  The water is really clear, and it has the most beautiful blue-green color at that time.

We were a little later than that, so although the water was still clear, it was a little more yellow-green in color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ate our lunches, and took a walk around the area, where the water was never more than thigh deep.  We did have to watch out for anchor ropes, though, and anchors . . . I don’t think I’d want to be there on a day when it was REALLY crowded!

After lunch, they tried a little more fishing, over in front of the Coast Guard Station, on the Bay side of the bridge.

 

No luck there, either!!

Bryce’s “Good Luck” fishing shirt wasn’t even helping!!

 

They decided to try one one spot out in the Gulf before giving up for the day.  This one was about 2 miles out, and the water had gotten slightly rougher in the afternoon.  Bryce and I rode up front, and we were bouncing around quite a bit, and got sprayed a few times.

 

Bryce didn’t mind too much – me either, it cooled us off!

Out there, they managed to hook a few fish – pretty big ones, too, but didn’t keep them on the hook long enough to get them into the boat!  I still didn’t get any pictures!

I did manage to get a picture of one of the fighter jets flying over us.  I’m not sure if it was from the Air Show rehearsal going on over in Pensacola Beach, or just from Eglin Air Force Base, which is close by Destin.

 

 

At 4pm, captain Tim decided to call it a day, even though they had had any success in the fishing department, and hadn’t even used up all their bait!

We made our way back to the Bay, and picked up the pirate ship again on the way back! lol

 

 

 

 

The water in the inlet between the Gulf and the Bay gets REALLY rough between the jetty and the bridge – it was really throwing us around!

We made it through the inlet without anybody falling out of the boat, and back to the quieter waters of the Bay for our 45 minute ride back to the boat launch.

Along the way, we passed a barge carrying concrete beams for the US-331 bridge expansion project.

We made it back to the quiet inlet, past this sunken boat (we think they leave it there as a marker, or maybe a fish habitat),

and had the boat out of the water by 5pm.

It may not have been a successful fishing day, but it was still an enjoyable day on the water!