Dog River to Ft. McRee Cove: Dolphins!

After spending 22 days at the Dog River Marina, we were read to get moving. Well, WE had been moving, but the boat had not. We spent the time traveling to Texas and Wisconsin for some college reunion fun and Thanksgiving with the family. We drove over 3,000 miles, but the boat moved about 200 yards to be hauled out and put back. It was time to get some water moving under our keel.

The weather was a little uncertain. The forecast showed 50 degrees with NW wind at 10-15 kts and 1-2 foot waves. That would make it following seas, so not great, but doable. We only planned to to go about 65 miles to anchor in Fort McRee Cove, so we decided to wait for plenty of light and set out at 0800.

The trip out the Dog River channel was MUCH nicer than the way in. It was a smooth trip to the main shipping channel. Because we had plenty of time and it was low tide, we decided to just take the shipping channel instead of cutting across the bay. That way, we didn’t have to worry about depth.

“Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried.”

The seas were decent, but the waves picked up a bit as we got to the southern part of the bay. When we turned east to head into the ICW, those following seas became beam seas and it was much. less. pleasant.

As if someone knew that we needed a break distraction from the bumpy ride, we saw dolphins! It seems to be a rite of passage for loopers to have dolphins play in your wake. It was fantastic to watch them play! While I had the impression that spotting dolphins was a relatively rare occurrence, the day would prove me wrong. They were everywhere, but it never got old seeing them. May that always be the case.

The trip trough the ICW was very pleasant. We passed a tow and the occasional pleasure boater, but otherwise it was pretty quiet. I suppose that the cool weather kept the locals in their warm homes and only workers and tourists were on the water.

When we reached our destination, there were two other boats in Fort McRee Cove. The cove is just on the other side of a small island on the south side of the channel before entering Pensacola Bay. It is between that island and the eastern end of Perdido Key. The ruins of a couple of the later generations of Fort McRee are on the key.

We tucked into the cove and put down our anchor in about 9 feet of water with plenty of swing. The tide is only about 1 foot in this area. Swimming in the cover were several more dolphins just meandering around. Once the engines were turned off, we could hear the dolphins breathe when they surfaced. The local birds rounded out the wild life.

I decided to drop the dinghy an go explore the shore while Wendy stayed on the boat. I didn’t bother with the engine and just rowed to shore. It was about 3:30 PM, which gave me time to explore a bit before sunset. I walked around the ruins, but decided not to enter them until I had better light. Wandering around in the dark in a place with nasty biting things was not my idea of a good time. Judging by the dozens of beer cans littering the area, it seems that the fort is used mostly as a place for teens and young adults to party nowadays.

I walked around to the other side and saw yet more dolphins playing about 100 yards off shore. The birds were relatively tame and I could walk to within 10 feet or so before they got wary.

I finished off the day with a beautiful sunset before rowing back to the boat, eating the delicious ginger shrimp and rice that Wendy whipped up, and calling it an early night.