Salty Podcast: Sailing

Salty Podcast #23 | ⛵🌊 Gulf Coast Sailing: Orange Beach to Crystal River on Island Packet 29! 🌴🏝️

• Captain Tinsley / Bill Bollinger & Mike Wack • Season 1 • Episode 23

Share episode

Send us a text

Cap'n Tinsley talks to two sailors about their recent sailing adventure along the Gulf Coast from Orange Beach, AL, to Crystal River, FL, roundtrip on an Island Packet 29 sailboat. Find about the marinas, anchorages, and the Gulf crossing along the way as well as swimming with the manatees! Audio taken from LIVESTREAM 5/22/24: https://tinyurl.com/SaltyPodcast23


#saltyabandon #podcast #sailing #orangebeach #ftWalton #PanamaCity #apalachicola #crystalriver #saillife #sailboat #cruising #manatees

Support the show

SALTY ABANDON: Cap'n Tinsley, Orange Beach, AL:
Oct 2020 to Present - 1998 Island Packet 320;
Nov 2015-Oct 2020; 1988 Island Packet 27
Feb-Oct 2015 - 1982 Catalina 25

PODCAST TOOLS:
Livestream: Https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5430067749060608
Create AI Clips: https://klap.app/?via=SaltyAbandon

Tinsley:

Good evening, everybody. This is Captain Tinsley Salty Abandoned with another Salty Podcast where it's always a great day to talk about sailing and this is episode 23. Unbelievable. Just started this a few months ago. We're already at 23. And on this episode, we got a couple of local characters. Uh, they're, they're You're about to meet them and they just recently made a trip from Orange Beach, Alabama to Crystal Springs. And I wanted to do some local stuff, you know, about local marinas, local anchorages. So I'm going to bring these two guys out now and introduce you to them. Hey, Hey, Hey, Bill and Mike Wack. How are you tonight? We're good.

Bill Bollinger:

Good. How are you? It's a little bit bouncy out here, though, today, two to fours at the minimum. Two to four. I think that's fake. What do you think do you got told I said in the introduction you guys are a couple of local characters So tell us where you're from Billy starting with you. Where do you where are you right now? I'm in Orange Beach, Alabama right down here Creek waterway system on a 30 foot pole cat fishing boat at the wheel and two to four foot seas in the canal right now.

Tinsley:

Seriously? He's faking it.

Mike Wack:

Not a word of that was true.

Tinsley:

Yeah, it's kind of hard to hear him. He's breaking up, but hey, uh, Mike. Not a word of what

Mike Wack:

Bill Bollinger said was true. He's sitting somewhere in a bar having a rum.

Tinsley:

By Captain

Mike Wack:

Morgan, actually.

Tinsley:

He's on a boat. He's freezing up, but we're gonna try to catch some words from him.

Tinsley (2):

But, um, Mike, otherwise known as Wacky, tell us where you are.

Mike Wack:

I'm sending all my second island packets, Cajun Beauty 3. Cajun Beauty 2 is actually in a landfill, thanks to Hurricane Sally. And me and Bill Bollinger just returned in this boat, oh, About two weeks ago from a quick 720 mile round trip. It was crystal river, not crystal Springs. Crystal river. So

Tinsley:

sorry.

Mike Wack:

Cause the mayor just called me and said, you got it wrong.

Tinsley (2):

Oh, right. Really? Oh my God. I'll try to correct that in all the social media, by the way, don't get nervous, but we're on one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight social media profiles live coming to you from Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. So let's get right into it. Where did you start? Where was the, you started from Orange Beach?

Bill Bollinger:

Oh, no Island.

Tinsley (2):

Oh, no Island in Orange Beach. And, um, Well, it was just a little bit. We'll come back to it. A little of your prep work. How long did you prepare for this trip?

Mike Wack:

I prepared long enough to get Bill Bollinger to agree to go with me so I would not die at sea.

Tinsley (2):

Okay.

Bill Bollinger:

This is

Mike Wack:

pretty much

Bill Bollinger:

most of his life.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. So

Bill Bollinger:

preparing for this all his life.

Tinsley (2):

Right. Right. He's been a sailor all his life. But I think the reason you really wanted someone with you is because of that gulf crossing, right?

Mike Wack:

Yes. I've been coastal sailing my entire life. This is my fourth sailboat, but my nicest one. But I, I've, I've gone from port to port and I've gone from island to island, but I've never done an overnight sail. But thanks to Bill Bollinger, I did three in the past couple of weeks, one night on the way there from Apalachicola to Crystal River, and two nights on the way back because we were trying to beat some really bad weather back.

Tinsley (2):

Right, right. And we'll get into that. So, um, any other prep work? Did you service a boat? Um, how did you provision? What was going on there with your prep work?

Mike Wack:

I overprepped. I packed for way more than what we had. And the, the single biggest mistake I made is I don't have a refrigerator. I just have an ice box and we knew we'd have some, um, stops on the way where we may not even be able to buy ice. So I, the day before I left, I put ice in my ice box, let it melt. Then I put 10 pounds of dry ice in my ice box and two bags of ice on top of it. And all of my stuff, And it worked perfectly except it froze my engine and it was hard to start my engine when it was time to leave. What?

Tinsley (2):

Okay, just for um, reference here, uh, Mike was a banker and he's an over prepper I would say. Wouldn't you say Bill?

Bill Bollinger:

I'd say that's probably.

Tinsley (2):

He's not a fly by the seat of your pants kind of guy, right?

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah, yeah. He, he called, he called everybody before I left to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything.

Speaker 4:

He has

Bill Bollinger:

a thing that goes, you know who I sent that to you? I said, who? Everybody.

Tinsley (2):

It was like a, it's like a float plan, right? It was like a float plan.

Bill Bollinger:

Everybody.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah, I think I got it by text. So

Bill Bollinger:

that was and then and then he started sending my I've got the inReach Mini 2, which uh, shameless advertising pitch for the inReach Mini 2. Awesome little tiny unit, but every everybody got the inReach Mini 2. Two progress map from him to at the same time.

Tinsley (2):

That's right. Right. Right. Like if something was going down and there was problems, you were sinking or something, people are going to be able to find you. Right.

Bill Bollinger:

That's right.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. And also quickly how I met the two of you, how I met bill was at bear point Marina. I have my first, I guess I, when I met you, did I have the second boat, the Island Pack at 27,

Bill Bollinger:

you were on the, on the cockpit, the laptop in your lap with this boat that you just put it in the water, like, Days before that and you hadn't even sailed it yet, but you were busy selling a condo and you Asked me if I was gonna be available to go sailing ones because you've never put the sail up before or something along

Tinsley (2):

I'm not sure that's okay bill. All right All right. And then Mike Wacky, uh, for those that don't, this, it says wacky right there. So people might not know. Mike Wack is your name. Uh, you contacted me because you were following me on Salty Abandoned, Salty Abandoned, right?

Mike Wack:

Yes. I was looking for an Island Packet and I had looked at a bunch of Island Packet 27s online, but the first one I saw in person was yours. You're 27 parked at Bear Point Marina and you are nice enough to let me go there three or four times to look at it myself and one time with my wife because I figured if I bought a boat she didn't like that would be a really bad idea.

Tinsley (2):

Yes, absolutely. And yeah, you came out several times. You took measurements because you were trying to make sure it fit at the, the little dock behind your house on Ono Island. So that's how we met. And we've all stayed, I haven't seen Bill in a while, but um, you helped me out a lot with different repairs. So I appreciate that. And you're always available for advice. Yeah. There was a lot of advice asking. Um, so, okay. So tell me, You guys left early in the morning and where'd you go?

Mike Wack:

Wait, you have to ask each question and point your finger at me or Bill. I would prefer you pointed at Bill because he's much smarter than me, but ask your questions to a particular person.

Tinsley (2):

Okay, well, I was looking at you, but I can look at Bill. Okay, Bill, Bill, tell us where you start. What you left in the morning, where'd you go?

Bill Bollinger:

We started off at sunrise headed straight east into a breeze, so we decided to stay in the canal for a while and we actually worked our way all the way across Pensacola Bay and Back into the Intercoastal, uh, and, and stuck with that. I think it was Fort, uh, Fort Fort Walton Beach. Fort Walton. Fort Walton when we first stopped. Yeah. So we just got inside the, the bridge there and the, and, and, uh, the Waxahatchee Bay, uh, bridge and found a nice little marina there the first night. And we were blessed with right head on the nose winds the first three days, so. It was kind of some limited, uh, sailing, a little bit of motor sailing when we were lucky, you know,

Tinsley (2):

yeah, and I, I can't go through there anymore because of my, my, my, my mask is too tall now to go under that, um, what's it called, Mike, that bridge, uh, bridge, what? At Fort Walton.

Mike Wack:

Brooks

Tinsley (2):

Bridge. Brooks Bridge. Yeah. You can fit.

Mike Wack:

It's 50 feet. I've checked. Right. I measured it with a tape measure and a laser and three local carpenters. You can fit. You have one foot to spare.

Tinsley (2):

I would be very scared to do that, but um. You can fit. The narrows there, I remember the narrows. You're like, you're having to turn, do a lot of turning, right? Right there before you get to that bridge. But it is, it's cool. There's like a restaurant across there. Did you guys eat or anything? Cause that's what

Speaker 4:

people

Tinsley (2):

love that stuff. Did you go across the street to that little oyster house or whatever?

Mike Wack:

One of my friends, um, until recently owned all the dolphin boats and destined, including the big pirate ship. And his favorite restaurant was right across the street from Brooks Bridge Marina.

Speaker 4:

So we went

Mike Wack:

over there and it was great. Well, I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but the food was terrific.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah. It was kind of a hole in the

Bill Bollinger:

wall. The crab stuffed flounder was incredible. Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

Cool. And we can't remember the name of it, but if you're staying at Brooks, Brooks Bridge Marina, you just go right across the little highway there and it's right there. And I remember they had really good bathrooms.

Mike Wack:

Yes. The only place that

Bill Bollinger:

did. They had a hit first thing going on. Yeah, it was a tricky signage. I can't remember what they called it. Yes, but they had some tricky signage on the bathroom doors.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. Were you confused about which bathroom to go into bill?

Bill Bollinger:

Something like along those lines.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. All right. And, uh, and I, if I remember, they had a little store and there wasn't a lot in the store. I don't know if it's changed. It's been a couple of years. There was some, you could get snacks and maybe some oil or something. Is that, is that right?

Mike Wack:

We got ice and we moved on.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. They also

Bill Bollinger:

had an incessant pounding of a pile driver that will be going nonstop, I think already for six months and probably for the next year and a half, putting a new bridge, uh, lane up there. So it's not really a good place to stop right now because you'll have to listen to the pile driver. But they quit at dark.

Tinsley (2):

Okay, but yeah, that can be kind of nerve wracking. You heard it here, right here on the Salty Podcast about the pile driving that's going on over there at Brooks Bridge. Okay, and so then what happened? You moved on the next day.

Mike Wack:

Bill,

Tinsley (2):

where'd you get?

Mike Wack:

We went to Panama City, but we went too slow because of a headwind to make it before the marina we were supposed to go to closed. So we went to A marina that was a week from reopening from Hurricane Michael, and I had the phone number and I think I got it from you. His name was Christopher Gay, and it was Sun something Marina Sunbridge or Sun something, but we were the first actual boat ever parked there. That wasn't working on the new docks.

Tinsley (2):

Was this after you, um, did you continue up the intercoastal after Panama city?

Mike Wack:

Yes.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah. Was it right before a bridge?

Mike Wack:

Yes. Yes. Right after a bridge.

Bill Bollinger:

Right after.

Mike Wack:

Under a bridge.

Bill Bollinger:

Something, wasn't it South point or

Mike Wack:

I can't, I can't look it up now. Cause I'm using my only technology at my senior citizen's age is my iPhone. I have my itinerary on the iPhone. But I'd have to look at it. It was called son, something sun bridge or son, something Marine. Yes. But it was not Christopher gay

Bill Bollinger:

restaurant with a deck that had just closed down because somebody else had bought it and it will be reopening soon.

Tinsley (2):

Yes. So there was, and because the Marina

Mike Wack:

was brand new, we had no electricity, no water, no bathrooms, no showers. So we jumped in the swimming pool of a condo that was right there. Okay.

Tinsley (2):

Okay.

Mike Wack:

Bill.

Tinsley (2):

All right. Yeah. We lost

Bill Bollinger:

Bill.

Tinsley (2):

He's looking on his phone. I think.

Bill Bollinger:

Marina.

Mike Wack:

And it's going to be, and the guy let me stay there. We sent him pictures and he says he's going to post it on his website. We were the first, I guess, non paying customers because he did not charge us.

Speaker 4:

Wow.

Mike Wack:

It was a 400 split Marina and we were the only. Boat there.

Bill Bollinger:

First one to ever tie up.

Tinsley (2):

Okay, I gotta, oh, I, I don't think I've ever been to that one. Okay, well, well, maybe, maybe he follows the channel or something. Who knows? But I don't, yeah, I just looked it up. I don't, I don't, I don't think so. Anyway. Yeah, it's in the

Bill Bollinger:

perfect corner because if you, if you're coming around the corner from, from Panama City, coming through the canal, in order to get out to the Gulf or to the next leg of the canal, you have to go right past his corner. So.

Tinsley (2):

Right, right, right. And that's another, is that another 50 foot bridge right there or is that one 62?

Speaker 4:

Big bridge.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. All right, so cool. So, um, I, um, my last couple of stays were at Treasure Island Marina. Um, so you didn't make that one. You could have because you, I remember, I know, but remember I said that you could just stay on the T doc and it's easy for you just to pull up and it's on the end of the, you know,

Bill Bollinger:

but you didn't want to put the inside. It was an extra hour and a half to get in and out. Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah. Yeah. You're right. It is out of the way. Okay. All right. So was that a good experience? Cause I like to include information and I've never stayed there. So was that bathrooms, uh, food, uh, how was all that stuff?

Mike Wack:

Nothing there.

Tinsley (2):

There's

Bill Bollinger:

a swimming pool and bathrooms at the swimming pool that we kind of pirated our way into, uh, off the dock. But when he opened

Mike Wack:

his facility, it looks like it has An entire building with eight or 10 showers for men, eight or 10 showers for women and upstairs clubhouse, a ship store. They just weren't open yet. And the guy was incredibly nice. He called me twice to make sure we were, Okay, and and found a good spot in his marina. His name was Christopher Gay. Okay, well shut up.

Tinsley (2):

Christopher at Sun Harbor Marina in Panama City. And the best part about it was the price. You didn't have to pay anything.

Mike Wack:

Because the next night we slept in the marina with none of this stuff, but they charged us.

Tinsley (2):

Oh, they did?

Mike Wack:

Yes.

Tinsley (2):

Uh oh.

Mike Wack:

Your friend George. George.

Tinsley (2):

Oh, George did.

Mike Wack:

Yeah, George had no bathrooms, no showers, no toilet. I told him

Tinsley (2):

that Bill, just for the record, I told him that. Okay.

Mike Wack:

Okay.

Speaker 4:

But we wanted that.

Tinsley (2):

Uh, yeah, I didn't know. I mean, you know. Okay, so you go through the intercoastal and your next stop was Port St. Joe or what? Apalachicola. Oh, you didn't stop till Apalachicola.

Mike Wack:

Correct. Okay. We stayed there two days waiting for good weather.

Tinsley (2):

Okay, and you stayed at the dock at George's dock, which is a dock. Yeah, at the ice house and just, um, Apalachicola Marina used to be open until Hurricane Michael, I used to stay there and then the owner, George decided not to reopen it. And they've since sold all that. Some big Marine is coming in with hotels or condos or something. They bought a bunch of that waterfront property there. Um, so, um, I found the doc by he's in all like the waterway, waterway guide or whatever. And I showed up and I was like, Oh, okay, there's nothing here, but you got, you got water and you got power. Right. Um, and so I was grateful for it cause I didn't want to go any further.

Mike Wack:

Yes.

Tinsley (2):

But

Mike Wack:

he always, wait, stop. And it was right in the middle of downtown Apalachicola. And here's a commercial for Apalachicola. I've never been there and it is a time capsule of old Florida. It was lovely. It's a, it's half of the buildings are historically significant. The, um, there were lots of bars for my, uh, co captain. And there were lots of bars for my co captain. Good food at multiple restaurants.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. Yeah. Lots of good oysters there too, right? That's the, it's the I got my, I got my Palettes Cola shirt on. In your honor. Oh, look.

Mike Wack:

Wait. Pirate's Cove. Local stuff.

Tinsley (2):

Riff Raff. Okay. Yeah. Pirate's

Bill Bollinger:

Cove. Shout out to the No Good Grilling Cafe, too. Bar and Grill. The No Good Bar and Grill.

Tinsley (2):

The No Good Bar and Grill. You heard it here. It was darn good.

Mike Wack:

Captain Tinsley, you and I talked before I left. I had fun in Apalachicola and your guidance helped me a lot. It's a pretty little town. Everybody's friendly. And we did the straight shot out and on the way back through government cut that nobody wanted to do, we were the first boat I think that went through after they finished the dredging. But there were no, no channel markers.

Tinsley (2):

That would be me, that went through that

Mike Wack:

There were no channel markers,

Bill Bollinger:

sailboats, since they re they, they re dredged it and they had all the, they had all the markers up and so they hadn't got a chance to put'em down yet when we went out. And, uh, when we came back in, we just used our, our, our track from going out so that we could make sure we found that same channel again, and then we got closer and they had gotten the marks back out. But, yeah, so

Tinsley (2):

I came through it after my 30 hour fiasco going across the gulf and I couldn't get in to, to, um, um, caribou that pass right there. Thanks I guess it's called the East pass. I could not my, but I was not running on full power and I couldn't turn back into the waves. So I ended up going down and I had Scott, I was on my in reach explore, um, in reach, in reach explore. Yeah. I had Scott called George and I said, can I get in government cut? Cause I'd always been, everybody said, no, no, no, no, no. But he said, they just dredged it. You can come in. I always, man, I went sailing through that thing. So apparently it used to be like. You had to have local knowledge because it would go like you had to go in and out of all this. You

Mike Wack:

have to turn Yeah, you have to you had to have

Tinsley (2):

well, it was a lot worse before I didn't I don't remember having to turn but um I was so happy that thing was there. I was so thrilled Um, but that has really added to the experience of getting across there I

Bill Bollinger:

think I felt a couple of crab backs Scrape under the keel on our way through there in one spot What was our shallowest water going through there, Bill? Huh?

Mike Wack:

What was our shallowest water going through the government cut? I

Bill Bollinger:

think we had six inches under the keel, maybe, for a little bit.

Mike Wack:

Yes. Six inches? I think the channel is there, but I don't think the new channel is marked, because we followed the old channel going out and coming back. We had less than a foot of water under my keel. For about 100 yards. Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

Wow. It may have filled back in, you know, cause we've had some storms here since I've gotten back, like, you know, six months. Uh, I hope, I hope it doesn't continue to do that. Cause. I love that that government cut is awesome. I was real happy that that George said, Oh, it's great. Come on through. And what I like about George, we got to give a shout out to George. He I'm by myself usually. Yeah, he'll come out and help me, you know, tie up and he brought me food last time. Like he bought me a whole plate, like covered with different dishes and everything. And, uh, I had not been hungry because 30 hours I was, I didn't want to eat anything with the waves I was in. And by the time I came in and got into Apalachicola Bay, I was ready to eat.

Mike Wack:

He was our landlord for two nights. He came out to the dock. He talked to Bill. He talked to me. He was a nice man. I

Tinsley (2):

don't

Mike Wack:

know George's last name.

Tinsley (2):

I have it somewhere. It's just George.

Mike Wack:

Myself, my, my, my itinerary says Apalachicola Doc George.

Bill Bollinger:

So speaking of food, Tinsley, a little, a little factoid, you know, I've been a fan of the Apalachicola oyster for quite a while because they even have them up in Wicksburg at our hunting camp at the hot dog joint up there. So anyway, when I asked about them. They got wiped out in the hurricane. And so now all their, uh, their oysters. The best ones come from the Indian Pass or yeah, Canoe Pass is it called? What's that? Yeah, what's that? Where's that? It's the West Pass. The West Pass, there's a little, there's a little pass on the West Beach and you can't get through it. Oh yeah, further

Tinsley (2):

west in Apalachicola Bay right over in there. Yeah, I've looked at that one too. If you can't go out that

Bill Bollinger:

way, it's too shallow. Yeah, you can't get through it. Hey, but a canoe, that's why it's called Canoe Pass. I think it's called Canoe Pass. Anyway, that's where all the farmed oyster beds are now. And you

Tinsley (2):

can

Bill Bollinger:

catch a oyster. It's a wild oyster and it'll cost you about ten thousand dollars to eat one of those because it's illegal to pick them. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, go down the canoe pass and uh, and get you some farm raised oysters down there. They're really good. The oysters were fantastic.

Tinsley (2):

And it'll cost you ten thousand dollars. I love it. And you, you heard it here on the Salty Podcast. Okay. All right, two days. You had a good time. I'll have to let you call it. You drank a few beers, but you ate some oysters Um, hopefully you bought a t shirt or something then what happened?

Bill Bollinger:

I was gonna, but they were having a private party in the t-shirt, little, uh, uh, sales area of the store. So I couldn't get my, my t-shirt.

Tinsley (2):

I know. Okay. It's always a goal of mine. I Oh, what

Bill Bollinger:

about, what about the,

Tinsley (2):

what about the what, Mike? What was

Bill Bollinger:

the restaurant at, at with the dock? Uh

Tinsley (2):

oh, at the dock. What, what,

Bill Bollinger:

what was the restaurant called? The first one we went to with the couple that took us in their golf cart. We got a nice golf cart ride to the, oh, they roll up. Beware, they roll up the sidewalks on Sunday in Apalachicola, and Monday as well. So if you're looking for a place to eat, you'll have two choices, on Sunday and Monday. And we ran into a couple on the street in a golf cart, and they drove us about a mile to the, uh, uh, really good pecorino restaurant. Half Shell. Half Shell. Half Shell. Is it on the water? On the water, the marina up from the ice house.

Mike Wack:

Tippio Creek Marina. Half Shell Restaurant.

Tinsley (2):

Right, right. Okay, yeah. Um, that one was closed too on certain days.

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah. Well, they're open on Sunday and Monday this time, because I think they're the only ones there. Oyster Rockefeller was really good.

Tinsley (2):

All right. Okay.

Mike Wack:

And they were the only place there with diesel fuel. And I walked there. With my five gallon yellow can and a nice guy there jumped me in a golf cart and broke, brought me back twice.

Tinsley (2):

All right. Uh, uh, what's that, marina, what is that called? cco? Pacifico? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I stay, I kept my boat there for about a, a couple weeks. That's, that's a great place to stay, by the way. That's a, that's a great place. Um, okay, so.

Bill Bollinger:

That's in cheese curds too. Oh, by the way, I'm a, I'm a cheese head. We forgot to tell the fans out there that I'm a cheese

Tinsley (2):

head.

Bill Bollinger:

Well,

Tinsley (2):

he's from Wisconsin. Bill wants to tell everybody he's from Wisconsin.

Bill Bollinger:

Cheese curds and apalachicola satisfy my cheese head.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. And, and Mike's a coon ass. So, right.

Mike Wack:

He doesn't even have a football team.

Tinsley (2):

We're going to really get into that. Uh oh. Now move on,

Mike Wack:

move on to crystal river. It was my first overnight sale. And Bill Bollinger told me it would be a good idea If I took the 10 PM to 4 AM shift.

Tinsley (2):

Oh, wait a minute. I didn't, you didn't say 4 AM. 10 PM

Mike Wack:

to 4 AM.

Tinsley (2):

Why not? Like he

Bill Bollinger:

won't do a four hour shift. Besides we're overlapping too, because, uh, making them longer so that we could get a little combined, uh, you know, interface going, uh, because we were 50 miles offshore all night long. So. It was

Mike Wack:

fun. We downloaded movies and had fun because the weather was very calm. You're not supposed to

Bill Bollinger:

tell them that part, Mike. You're not supposed to be watching the movie. You're supposed to be watching the water in front of the boat, not the movie. So we're not supposed to talk about the movies and the texting and all that. Oops. Are we live?

Mike Wack:

Yeah, we're live. Coast Guard's watching. But I didn't run into anything all night long.

Tinsley (2):

There you go. Well, um, so it was calm. That's awesome. Cause I've gone calm and I've gone not calm. It's a little more fun when it's calm. And we did

Bill Bollinger:

have a little fun when the dolphins, the bottlenose dolphins came around phosphorescence kicking up, uh, uh, which was really nice cause I'm not used to seeing it that far North, but Mike got to see his first phosphorescence when the dolphins were swimming around. It was pitch black because there was no moon. The moon was coming up, uh, at like four in the morning. So we got the stars in the Milky way were like, like a highway in the sky. The Milky way. It was awesome. Our viewing that I've ever seen out in the Gulf because of the fact that the moon didn't even rise till five in the morning, you know, and it was a meteor shower all night long. That's right. It was just, this was the, I think it was called the Eclid meteor shower or something like that. It was a big one that night. It went

Mike Wack:

all night long.

Bill Bollinger:

That

Mike Wack:

was my first Gulf crossing

Tinsley (2):

overnight.

Mike Wack:

My first overnight.

Tinsley (2):

Right, right. Yeah. It's not too bad. Is it? No, it's okay. It was fun. We didn't think Right. That's, that's important.

Bill Bollinger:

Um. That's actually my favorite time out there. If you're offshore, you might as well be at night because you don't see anything in the daytime. At night you see all the entire universe. You know. Yeah. And you can't do that in the daytime.

Tinsley (2):

That's cool. So, um, you woke up, um, Bill woke up and you went to sleep. And at what point did you get, did you arrive at crystal

Mike Wack:

river?

Tinsley (2):

Crystal river

Mike Wack:

is, is a great sailing destination for anybody because it's marked by two nuclear power plant towers. They, they're bigger than turquoise condo in orange beach by a lot. So you can see them a long way away and you line up them with all the navigation things on your boat. And so, uh, it was easy to find our way in. And here's my advice. First of all, Crystal river was a beautiful town for a four day stay, but the When you go from the Gulf. into the river for several hundred yards. Everybody said, be careful, be careful, be careful. We hit

Tinsley (2):

rhino ground

Mike Wack:

one foot of water in the middle of the channel under our keel for a few hundred yards but we never hit bottom.

Tinsley (2):

And you came in at high tide?

Mike Wack:

What's high tide?

Tinsley (2):

Huh?

Mike Wack:

What's high tide?

Tinsley (2):

I don't know. Is there more than one tide? I'm sure, I'm sure you looked that up before because you're a prepper.

Mike Wack:

We ended at low tide coming and going because it's just the way the math works out. But on low tide, we had about half a foot for a few hundred yards from the entrance to the path into the middle of Crystal River. And we didn't hit bottom.

Tinsley (2):

But the theory

Mike Wack:

was it was soft.

Tinsley (2):

Okay, so for the folks listening or watching, what's your draft?

Mike Wack:

Four feet, four inches.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. Alright, and I noticed that you got a comment somewhere on social media saying, How did you get in there? How did you get in there? Which is what people asked me when I went to the Everglades. But I did local knowledge. I did. I called the marina. I mean, I, I, I prepared and I went to Bollinger.

Mike Wack:

We follow the chart, but I think we want to ask bill about our end of the river.

Bill Bollinger:

I'd say the best idea would be to just take it on a rising tide and don't worry too much about because, you know, what? I tied it off 5 feet. You're going to get through. So, uh, Yeah, as long as you're on a rising tide, you'll get through eventually. That's, that's the good news. And the, the river, the river. Eventually. The river was great. There is some, there is some issues with deadheads and, and uh, you know, they're stuck into the bottom. And so you're not really sure which way branches might go off or see why you probably want to give those deadheads a little extra room as you're coming up the river.

Tinsley (2):

Deadheads define deadheads.

Bill Bollinger:

That's a log. It looks like somebody's head floating on the top of the water. And underneath is a tree going and God knows

Mike Wack:

Lake Wilcox approaching.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Mike Wack:

Appalachia Cola Lake. What, what was it called? Lake Wilcox or Will something, uh, close enough? Yeah,

Tinsley (2):

yeah, yeah, yeah. I, there were reports. Someone actually was talking about it on the radio. I had to go through there. That was

Mike Wack:

us.

Tinsley (2):

No, no, no.

Mike Wack:

That was us. Different time they had floating logs. We reported. To the boats in front of us and behind us on a yeah,

Tinsley (2):

that's good. That's good. Um, all right. So how many hours did it take you to go from Georgia's Apalachicola dock to

Mike Wack:

Crystal's

Tinsley (2):

Crystal River?

Mike Wack:

25 hours, roughly 25 hours, 37 minutes and 12 seconds. There you go.

Tinsley (2):

All right. Okay. And you decided to bypass Carrabelle?

Bill Bollinger:

Yes.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. And that's a great place. You just wanted, you want to get there?

Bill Bollinger:

Well, we had, we had, we have women waiting in some ports and not in others. And there was some going to be waiting for us at Crystal River, namely Mike's wife. And so, uh, obviously we, we had to keep, uh, um, but we need to stay focused. Let's just say

Tinsley (2):

women, women just ruin everything. Don't they?

Bill Bollinger:

No, that's the reason

Mike Wack:

we go.

Tinsley (2):

That's what, that's the reason men are alive. Okay. Now they keep on going, making that money and everything. Okay. So you got the

Mike Wack:

river was beautiful. Captain. Okay. Where

Tinsley (2):

did you stay?

Mike Wack:

There's only one marina in Crystal River. There is only one. It's called Pete's Pier. It's owned by a guy named Pete. And it's a big marina with about 10 transient slips. And most of the people there are liveaboards. And, uh, they've got ice, you know, it's a, it's a normal Marina, good showers, lots of amenities, but a really far walk to the restaurants and the. grocery stores.

Bill Bollinger:

How far? About three times bear point.

Tinsley (2):

Oh, okay. Like if you're on the other, where you're, where your boat was or where my boat. Yeah. Okay.

Bill Bollinger:

It was like doing, doing a three times scaled up three times version of that same walk. Yeah. Okay. That's the big horseshoe walk all the way around. Okay, so,

Tinsley (2):

let me just say this, if Mike is going to do this solo ever, you need to get one of those old fold up bikes. Really helps.

Mike Wack:

Yeah. Tiny

Tinsley (2):

ones. I don't have

Mike Wack:

a yacht. I don't have a 3 2 0 like you. I have the tiny little 2 9 0 and I don't know if I have room to put a bicycle on my sailboat.

Tinsley (2):

It folds up this little tiny thing. It folds up. Uh, tell us about your bike.

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah, they even have a bag.

Tinsley (2):

What? You have a bathroom? What'd you say, bill? No,

Bill Bollinger:

they have a bag. They even have a bag for the mic. You can fold the bike up and just goes in a bag and you drop it right down underneath the seat and it got put. Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

There you, oh, you put it on the bow or something. You know what? Um, so, uh, your boat Island packet 29. What year?

Mike Wack:

Yes. I have a 1992 Island Packet 25. My last boat was a 25 29.

Tinsley (2):

Okay.

Mike Wack:

My last boat was a 27, which got destroyed in Hurricane Sally.

Tinsley (2):

Not 2020,

Mike Wack:

but this boat is a whole 37 out of 50. They only made 50 29s because I think Island Packet Yachts figured out that they could make. 32s and sell them for a lot more money, a lot more practical, but my boat and a 32, I think are almost identical except the size of the forward cabin, almost identical, but I have a 1992, uh, 29, and it was in Pensacola shipyard for about a year and a half being refitted, and I think it's in good shape right now.

Tinsley (2):

Year and a half. Did you say year now

Mike Wack:

a year and a half? Oh,

Tinsley (2):

I don't remember that. That's incredible

Bill Bollinger:

Everything knew it did everything.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. So, um, tell me about what? What you did in Crystal River

Mike Wack:

Bill Bollinger, you answered that. It was fun.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah.

Bill Bollinger:

There's another guy named Pete, Petey, Petey, who runs his own little, uh, manatee, uh, service. So we took the ladies for a day of manatee, uh, swimming and that was awesome. It was, uh, Uh, Petey and um, uh, Lindsay, I forgot her name. Lindsay, Lindsay, my cracker doll. Yeah, that's right.

Mike Wack:

Lindsay.

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, they did a great job of introducing us to everything we needed to know so we could take the Zodiac. ourselves the next day and we had a fantastic manatee day just with the two of us. Once we had that local knowledge from them, it was, it was fantastic. So, uh, that would be highly recommended. That's right at Pete's Marina. They, they go out of there and it was called Go Local is the

Mike Wack:

name of it. Peter, the guy's name is Peter and his boat is Go Local.

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah, P. S. O. S. P. D. out there. Uh, yes.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. Um, so the, for people who don't know the, um, I think from, um, Port St. Joe over to, I don't know, Tarpon Springs, it's all known as the Forgotten Coast. And it is like stepping back in time, all those areas. Um, but there's plenty of boat, plenty of marinas and kind of a small town feel. Carrabelle, Apalachicola, Port St. Joe, um, Tarpon Springs, big Greek community. And then, you know, I've not been to Crystal River, but there's also Steen Hatchy. All those places are really cool. If you just want to hang out and kind of experience old Florida, wouldn't you say?

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah, that was, that was the really differentiated it from any other coastal cruising trip because you're not pulling into, into, you know, banks of condos and uh Yeah,

Tinsley (2):

and big yachts

Bill Bollinger:

It was actually kinda refreshing. Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

Right. Because if you go down to Clearwater, it all changes.

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah. And when you're sailing back, uh, if you're, if you're even 15 miles offshore, all the way from Panama city to, uh, to Pensacola, it's not even nighttime anymore. It's like there's a sunrise coming on the North, you know, North all night long. Yeah. Oh yeah. So that was nice.

Tinsley (2):

A lot of light pollution. Okay, so

Bill Bollinger:

it went 30 miles. You can see those, uh, you can see those nuclear towers at Crystal River from 30 miles out still.

Tinsley (2):

Wow. You found those on the chart. Um, so, okay, so how long were you there?

Bill Bollinger:

I don't remember. Four, five days. Four

Mike Wack:

days. Look, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4 days.

Tinsley (2):

Bill was chill. He doesn't even remember how long. Captain Tinsley,

Mike Wack:

just to clarify, there's only one marina you can park in right now. There's another marina, but it's kind of not in operation. But the one marina that's there is Pete's Pier and it's okay. It's got good facilities. Crystal River only has, but it's a tiny little town. You can walk the whole town if you had to. Um, but the one facility there, I thought they were, you know, pretty nice compared to the other places I've been.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. You'd recommend it.

Mike Wack:

Yes.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. Pete Spear. Okay. And so you were there about four or five days. What else did you do? You were there a long time.

Mike Wack:

Four days. We went, uh, the day after we got there, the girl showed up. We went on the guided trip for manatees and, uh, some of the girls with us had never had a mass snorkel fin wet suit. And that was fun. And, and the Crystal River is the manatee capital of the entire universe. There are thousands of them in the winter and only hundreds of them. Once it warms up, there's about 20 Springs in Crystal River where the manatees, uh, go to, uh, stay warm in the winter months and drink fresh water. And then they go out in the bays and eat grass in the summer. They spread out in. all over Florida, but a lot of them stay in that area and the professional guides know where they are. And, uh, Bill and I use, uh, the Peter from, uh, local knowledge to show us around this tiny little bay. Then we went back the next day and did it ourselves out of our dinghy, which was much more fun. There are five big springs there you can snorkel in and the water is Is stunning. Absolutely. Crystal clear. It was three Sister Springs, which is a National Park, hunter Spring, which is the other big one, house Spring, and then Kings Bay Spring Are, is that all of them, bill?

Bill Bollinger:

That was the main ones. Yep. I think that's the ones that are worth seeing for sure.

Tinsley (2):

Wow. So, um, what did you, any restaurants you went out to?

Mike Wack:

Cellar seafood.

Tinsley (2):

Huh? Cellar

Mike Wack:

seafood.

Tinsley (2):

Cellar seafood.

Mike Wack:

There's a, there's a seafood, uh, it's not a restaurant. It's a seafood processing plant that sells apparently 50 percent of the stone crabs in America. They catch their own stone crab. They catch their own oysters. They catch their own fish and their restaurant is a tiny little part of the seafood plant, but it was very well recommended. We went there.

Bill Bollinger:

Okay. We had

Mike Wack:

a

Bill Bollinger:

great, uh, uh, grouper Reuben.

Tinsley (2):

Oh yeah. Yeah. I've had that before. That's, that sounds perfect right now.

Bill Bollinger:

I could eat one right now too.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, um, Anything else you did there? Anything else you recommend or want?

Mike Wack:

Well, the, uh, there's one hotel on the water. It's called Port, what's it called, Bill? Port something? I can't remember either. It's called the Port Marina. Port, Port something Marina. And it's a hotel. From almost a hundred years ago, made out of concrete and cinder blocks. But it is in a beautiful place and they have a nice restaurant call social hour or social club or something like that. And it was lovely. We went there. Um, it's, um, but there's one nice hotel on the water, uh, port something. And, and they have a great restaurant. And

Bill Bollinger:

gazebo bar was great. We watched the Kentucky Derby from their gazebo bar, which is like a little peninsula out into the water and the manatees are swimming right out there in front too, at the same time. But yeah, that was.

Tinsley (2):

And that's when your, your wife came and that's when you stayed in the hotel, right, Mike?

Mike Wack:

Oh, no, the, the girl stayed in the hotel. We were, we were, um, banished back to the boat. Um, banished back to the boat, but it worked out just fine.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah. The guys on the boat, the girls, the gals and the, okay. Um,

Mike Wack:

The B O R T. The Port Hotel. Nice. Hotel on the water. And I think it's the only hotel in crystal river on the water.

Tinsley (2):

Okay.

Mike Wack:

Oh, yeah, I'm sure it is.

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

So, so what did you do? Is there anything else you want people to know about, about crystal river and we're leaving something out shopping bars. If you can know, if

Mike Wack:

you can go with your own stuff to the, to the three or four big Springs and swim around, it is stunning. Beautiful. And local knowledge will tell you where to go to find the manatees.

Tinsley (2):

Local knowledge is important. Tip of the day. Local knowledge. And

Mike Wack:

there's a lot of

Tinsley (2):

them. Manatees are local knowledge. Yes. They're local knowledge.

Bill Bollinger:

Back some of the local knowledge even use drones to spot the manatees before they go fun You know, they don't have to hunt for them. They just use the drones and they see him with that's pretty

Tinsley (2):

smart So so a lot of the manatees that would see down further on down, you know Central Florida and southwest Florida the man do you think they came from up there?

Bill Bollinger:

Oh all During the cold months, and then by the time we got there, the peak was over, and there's about 30 of them that are actually residential manatees that, that's, yeah.

Tinsley (2):

They hold down the fort. Okay. All right. So you guys had to come back. Bill had some engagement to make him with Chicago of all places, right?

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah, I was catching a flight to Chicago and then I drove back down with my dog two days later. So

Tinsley (2):

I had Is this the dog that your ex had for all this time, or, oh no,

Bill Bollinger:

this is Reva now. She's a new one. That one I got dog napped and never got it back. So now I have Reva and Reva's. Reva works the art center, so a shameless plug for the Orange Beach Coast. Orange Beach Coastal Art Center, and you'll meet Reva. She's the greeter plug there. And, uh, and, and, uh, enjoy that, uh, nice little, something different in Orange Beach, the Coastal Arts Center. Ass blowing clay and art all over the place that you can take part in. Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah, that's good. Before. Well, I want to say one thing before you start the trip back. I have to, do you have to do one thing? We have to introduce tonight's sponsor, which is me. So. Uh huh. I got I got to pay the bills, right? Okay. So I am in case you didn't know, I'm a real estate agent in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. And I'm with, uh, my name is Tinsley Myrick, Remax of Orange Beach. And I solve Gulffront Condos, Gulffront. Houses, even non waterfront houses. And if you enjoy this podcast on Thursday nights, live is the getting beachy real estate slash lifestyle podcast that I do with a colleague of mine. Her name is Dana Tapia. We have a good time. And if you want to learn about the area and a little bit of real estate and a little bit of lifestyle stuff, come on and check us out on Thursday night. Six o'clock. There we go. Thank you for allowing me to do that. That's a little shameless plug for me tonight's sponsor. Okay. So, um, I do want to let you finish on, uh, arts, the arts center. Um, did you leave anything out? Because that is important to tell.

Bill Bollinger:

I left out one. There's also, uh, it's also a phenomenal wedding venue as well. Now on. You can rent the art center and the whole beach front property on the canal front, I should say, uh, for weddings and, and it's great. We have weddings there almost every weekend.

Tinsley (2):

A little bit of trivia. That building is the original orange beach hotel. That is where orange beach started. It wasn't on the beach. It was over in that area and it's very historical. You knew that didn't you Bill?

Bill Bollinger:

Fisherman's Bunkhouse Hotel. It wasn't even like a hotel hotel. It was basically a bunkhouse, yeah.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah, that was like, that whole area down Canal Road right there was the original, um, uh, settlement, and you had to come by boat. Like same with Gulf Shores, you had to come by boat. There was some little bitty trail that you could maybe ride a horse down, which is the backcountry trail now, in case you didn't know that. That was the only way to get there and even when they had cars, cars wouldn't make it down there. Did you know that, Mike?

Speaker 4:

No.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah, so both people travel by boat. A little bit of trivia about Orange Beach, Gulf Shores. Okay, and that, that building is a historical building down there. You see old pictures of people swimming in the bay over there.

Bill Bollinger:

I want to say that that building went up in 1920, which is really, really long, but I remember when we tore it down to rebuild the new one, we used a lot of the pieces and tried to assimilate the architecture and such, and It was a hundred. I swear it was a hundred years old.

Tinsley (2):

That sounds about right.

Bill Bollinger:

Oh yeah.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah. Go towards large beach. We're settled around the turn of the century.

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

So, okay. So the trip back

Mike Wack:

was The first favorable wind we had in 12 days.

Tinsley (2):

First favorable wind. Okay, how was the water conditions, the waves?

Bill Bollinger:

Perfect.

Tinsley (2):

Oh man, did you have a north wind?

Bill Bollinger:

No, we had a south, we had a southeasterly, and so we had quartering swells most of the time off of the, off of the, uh, uh, Port Stern, yeah.

Tinsley (2):

Not my favorite.

Bill Bollinger:

Especially when it got, it came up to about the four to two to four, a couple of sixes here or there. It was great for Mike to get his hands on the wheel because the autopilot doesn't really like that kind of swell. It deals with it, but it works so hard and it takes so much efficiency out of the boat. That, um, Mike really saw, I think the biggest thing that he saw about steering was when the autopilot isn't nearly as efficient as hand steering and it's a lot more fun and stable when you're hand steering too, right? Yes. And yes. And having a master

Mike Wack:

Coast Guard captain to teach me how to do that was a plus.

Tinsley (2):

So both of you. Our Coast Guard captains, all three of us here.

Mike Wack:

But I'm a Cub Scout. He's an Eagle Scout.

Tinsley (2):

That's right. Lifelong sailor.

Bill Bollinger:

Retired too. I have, I still have my certificate, but because, uh, I like to follow rules. Um, I've, I've been traveling the world so much off of boats that I would probably have to retest because I don't have hours to, you know, to And you're an honest guy. Yeah, so I'm one of those guys. And then that way, nobody can put me to work either. Because I have a, I'm trying not to work as much as possible, so.

Mike Wack:

But

Bill Bollinger:

we made the

Mike Wack:

370 miles back much faster than the 370 miles going down there. Because we were going into the wind most of the way down there. And on the way back, we probably averaged 7, 7. 5.

Tinsley (2):

Wow. So you went to, you went to Apalachicola first?

Mike Wack:

We went to Apalachicola, spent one night, uh, at Fipio Creek Marina, got a bed, got a good shower. I actually washed his dirty clothes. And then we, Uh, went out of government.

Tinsley (2):

Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's free, isn't it? No, we didn't go to a government

Mike Wack:

cut. We went

Tinsley (2):

up the river. Whoa, whoa. Now go back to Scipio. The laundry's free.

Mike Wack:

Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah. He was acting like you paid for your laundry.

Mike Wack:

No, but I did the work.

Bill Bollinger:

Did the laundry. He didn't pay for

Mike Wack:

it. Oh, okay. I did the work. But listen, coming back, heading north up the Appalachian River. Well, hold on, Scipio.

Tinsley (2):

Let's go back to Scipio. That's an awesome place. Yeah. They got the restaurant. They got the store there. The people there are real nice. Forgot the girl's name at the desk. They have the river keepers there. Did you go in and talk to those guys?

Mike Wack:

We went on the boardwalk.

Tinsley (2):

I mean, did you talk to the river keepers there? They got fuel. No,

Mike Wack:

there's a boardwalk there. Oh, okay. That takes you into old time when they cut down cypress and all they had there was cypress scallops and Shrimping and there's a boardwalk there. It's a national park bill and I walked to the end of it

Tinsley (2):

I didn't know about that boardwalk. I wish I'd know i'll catch it next time

Bill Bollinger:

Keep walking up the street past sipio and it goes up to the university extension and there's a little path off of there that leads to a fantastic boardwalk in the jungle goes out to the To the marsh on the outside that you

Tinsley (2):

know, I have rode my rode my bike all the way to the end of that road And it comes out to a park Is and is it near the boat?

Bill Bollinger:

All the derelict shrimp boats are tied up in that in that basin that little yacht basin. There's a boat yard

Tinsley (2):

there There's a boat, right? Yeah. There's a base in there.

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah. Yeah. There's a yacht base with about 40 decrepit, uh, shrimp boats, maybe a half a dozen really nice ones. Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. And the trail is near there

Bill Bollinger:

right off the corner of that thing, right off the far corner of that thing. You can go in one side of it and come out the backside of it and around.

Tinsley (2):

All right. So you heard it here, right here. On Salty Podcast. That's

Bill Bollinger:

right. Okay.

Tinsley (2):

Look

Bill Bollinger:

for

Tinsley (2):

the University

Bill Bollinger:

of Florida Extension in Apalachicola, and the trailhead is at the beginning of their driveway.

Tinsley (2):

Okay.

Bill Bollinger:

Right side. All

Tinsley (2):

right. Wacky wants to get out of the cut, so let's let him tell about that. So you come out, got fueled up.

Mike Wack:

We sailed straight back, went one night in Apalachicola, sailed straight back to Pensacola Pass. That's right. Made it home in time to have breakfast.

Tinsley (2):

Alright, how long did that take you? To go from Scipio to your I saw the video. Your wife was videoing from your dock and you said, Honey, I'm home! Maybe 29 hours.

Mike Wack:

Yes.

Tinsley (2):

How tired were you?

Bill Bollinger:

Not

Mike Wack:

very. It was fun. We weren't tired. We were ready to do another trip.

Tinsley (2):

We had good sleep. I'll have to tag along on that one. In fact, we're talking

Mike Wack:

about the next one. We're gonna go, Bill and I are gonna follow your boat to Fort Jefferson this fall after hurricane season.

Tinsley (2):

Oh, wow. Yeah, we need to need to make sure our boats aren't gonna get a hurt hurt this hurricane season Okay, maybe um

Bill Bollinger:

We got that extra foot, so we might have to hook on and slow you down a little bit.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah, that sounds awesome. So when do you think about leaving?

Mike Wack:

After hurricane season.

Tinsley (2):

September, I mean, okay, November 1st?

Mike Wack:

Yeah, after hurricane season.

Tinsley (2):

All right, so I've, you know, I've talked to, um, two or three, uh, Island Packet owners on the podcast in this area of Panama city. Uh, gulf breeze, different boats, and they want to have like a little roundup, um, at, uh, So we need to, we need to do that and bill that includes you. All right, then because he has to run the air if his wife comes he has to run the generator So did you guys, uh, you guys didn't have to, uh, anchor at all?

Bill Bollinger:

No. No. Never did. We never touched the anchor the entire time.

Tinsley (2):

Okay. Either one.

Bill Bollinger:

Yeah.

Tinsley (2):

So you don't have any good anchors, secrets for us? Nope. Nope.

Bill Bollinger:

Nope. This makes just be glad you got to even if you never have to use the second one.

Tinsley (2):

Okay.

Bill Bollinger:

Well, all right.

Tinsley (2):

Well, I want we'll have to organize something up here soon to go over to Fort McRae. As Mike says, and, um, everybody watching. I want everybody to tune in next week because, um, last week I had the boat girl on, I don't know if y'all heard y'all need to watch that. It was, she grew up on a sailboat from age zero to 19. She apparently, her mom was pregnant with her and they spent, they spent winters in Bahamas and summers. In for, uh, Virginia, always on, on living on a boat. Full-time. That

Speaker 4:

poor girl.

Tinsley (2):

Yeah, it was. And she wrote a book about it and it's very, you can listen to it. It's really cool. Next week I have, um, this was recommended by the girl that was on last week, Melanie Neal, the boat girl. Uh, she said she's a hippie, small sailboat, um, uh, sailor, uh, kind of punk, so, and she sells boats too, so she's gonna be on next week. So everybody have to tune in for that. Um, I hope y'all will come back. We'll have some more stories to share. Thank you for being here.

Speaker 4:

And,

Tinsley (2):

uh, and how do we always end? How did I always end my videos? Mike salty. Okay. Salty abandon out.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Captain Tinsley

Host

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

Gettin' Beachy Podcast: Real Estate & Lifestyle Artwork

Gettin' Beachy Podcast: Real Estate & Lifestyle

Tinsley & Dana | Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Real Estate Agents