We are on our way "down yonder" as of 11/5/2010! We packed the rental car, drove to Iuka MS non-stop, arriving at Aqua Yacht Harbor a little past midnight. Veda L had an overhaul, was freshly waxed and shiny, new bottom paint, cap-rails in perfect condition, now to unload the gypsy wagon (rental car) which was packed to the hilt. While returning the car the following day I saw a sign that said "Coon Dog Cemetery"......now who could resist? BOB could! He does not share my affinity for cemeteries which I love to meander through at every chance I get. Now....a coon dog cemetery, "come on! As you can see, I did make it there, albeit the next day, sans Bob. The top tombstone was one of my favorites out of the 185, "he was good as the best and better than the rest"
Every single one of the plots had flowers on it, so it was really beautiful up on that ridge overlooking the valley below. Now getting there was an adventure, and without google maps I would not have found it as directions given also rely on road signs, which there were none. So I followed the squiggly line and when I saw my dot stray, I turned around and corrected. I passed over Lurleen Buzzard Roost Creek, which was not a lick away from a sign posted on a gate with the scrawled message of "Nothin' here worth yer life!" which did stop me from snapping a photo, keep on goin' Linda Lou... A ramshackle barn next to an almost as bad house held a beautiful metallic bass boat glittering in the sunlight; the man has his priorities. Bless his heart.

When Bob and I spotted the sign to the Coon Dog Cemetery I had commented that it was probably the ONLY one in the world, and you are going to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity? His response was "Yes" Well, can you believe it; when I arrived at the spot, what sign should I see...Yep, "Only Cemetery of its Kind in the World" It was a beautiful drive getting there, I was wishing for my Audi to take the tight turns, hills and valleys, rather than the lumbering Aqua Yacht Harbor van, but you know what they say about beggers being choosers. At least it gave me a local look! On the way back to the boat I stopped at the Piggly Wiggly for provisions, the young man bagging my groceries looked at my Beefsteak Rye Bread and said "This is sure good with gravy on it" I said "just what is not good with gravy on it? "

While Bob was checking out the new engine on the tender, he sees a 32' Island Gypsy Trawler dock three boats up from us; could it be? Yes it is! Our first boat, (my training wheels as he called it) our first boat where we had gotten married on the aft deck, sold to my Sis and Hubby, now owned by Will from Chicago, renamed her Therapy. You can imagine the fun reunion as we introduced ourselves as the original owners and showed wedding photos of us being married on her. He thanked us for having heat installed as we were experiencing 28 degrees that morning. Therapy is heading for Key Largo for the winter to have rehab work done, but will live in Chicago.

Ah, a little fall color at Midway Marina as we came in to dock, I had to hurry with the dock lines as I could see the low light hitting the trees along the shoreline, I caught this just as the sun set behind me. Then it was a rush for the running shoes so I could finish a run while I could still distinguish goose droppings from mud.....As I write this we are at Columbus Marina where we ended our trip in the spring, tonight we will anchor at Sumter Landing, if we can get in the entrance which can be silted in, otherwise we will anchor atCooks Bend, then on to Demopolis. As we say...Life is Swell on Veda L!

We are on our way "down yonder" as of 11/5/2010! We packed the rental car, drove to Iuka MS non-stop, arriving at Aqua Yacht Harbor a little past midnight. Veda L had an overhaul, was freshly waxed and shiny, new bottom paint, cap-rails in perfect condition, now to unload the gypsy wagon (rental car) which was packed to the hilt. While returning the car the following day I saw a sign that said "Coon Dog Cemetery"....now who could resist? BOB! He does not share my affinity for cemeteries which I love to meander through at every chance I get, now...a Coon Dog Cemetery, com'on....not to be missed. As you can see I did make it! The top tomb stone was one of my favorite, of the 185, "he was good as the best and better than the rest" Every single one of the plots had flowers on it, so it was really beautiful up there on a ridge overlooking the valley below. Now getting there was another thing, if it were not for google maps I would not have found it, I had directions on google but of course the roads were missing all the signs; so left on "Coon Dog Cemetery Rd" didn't mean much. So, I followed the squiggly line and when I saw my dot stray from the line I turned around and got back on track. I passed over Lurleen Buzzard Roost creek, which was not a lick away from a sign posted on a gate with the scrawled message of "Nothin here worth your life" which stopped me from snapping a photo, keep on a goin' Linda Lou... A ramshackle barn next to a almost as bad house held a beautiful metallic bass boat glittering in the sunlight; the man has his priorities.

When Bob and I spotted the sign to the Coon Dog Cemetery I said "You are really going to miss the only opportunity you may ever have to miss what is probably the one and only Coon Dog Cemetery IN THE WORLD??" His response...."Yes" Well, can you believe it, when I arrived at the spot, what sign should I see...Yep, "Only Cemetery of it's kind In The World" A beautiful spot, a fun drive...just wish I was driving my Audi around those tight curves and up and down the hills instead of the lumbering Aqua Yacht van....but you know what they say about beggars not being choosers! On the way back to the boat I stopped for provisions, bought a nice little ham to slice up for ham sandwiches and some Beefsteak Rye Bread, the darling checkout lad commented as he put it in my bag "This shure is good with gravy on it" My response "What isn't good with gravy on it?" Nice place Iuka!

While Bob is checking out the new engine on the tender he sees an Island Gypsy dock three boats up from us; could it be? Yes it is! Our first boat (my boating training wheels) our Island Gypsy 32 that we got married on, sold to my sis and husband, now owned by Will from Chicago, and the boat is renamed Therapy. You can imagine what a fun reunion we had as we introduced ourselves as the original owners, showing Will wedding photos of us being married on the aft deck. He said he was glad that Therapy was from MN and had a heater as they were sure enjoying it in our 28 degree morning. She is headed for Key Largo for the winter and rehab work, but will live in Chicago. We hope to stay in touch.

Ahhh, a little fall color left, a brilliant scene as the last sunlight hit this stand of trees just before sunset as we pulled into Midway Marina. A few minutes later I was finishing my run around the lake not knowing if I was hitting or missing the goose droppings...time to quit. As I write this we are at Columbus Marina where we ended our last trip, tonight will be Cooks Bend, then on to Demopolis. As we say....LIFE IS SWELL ON VEDA L!

This is not a typical post to "Life is Swell on Veda L" but a fitting spot to place a tribute to our Dad who was better known as Judge Howard B. Turrentine! (The Honorable H.B. Turrentine!) Our boat Veda L. was named after his Mother, Bob's Grandmother, so I believe that they would approve of my posting this here.

Obituary follows:

Influential Federal Judge Howard B. Turrentine, a veteran of WWII, passed away August 20, at his home in Point Loma, CA at the age of 96. The former Chief Judge of the Southern District of California became just the fourth federal jurist in San Diego when he was appointed by President Nixon in 1970. Turrentine was also a former intelligence officer for the Navy, giving information to Gen. Douglas MacArthus in the South Pacific during WWII.

"He was the dean of our court" said Senior U>S> District Judge William Enright, who worked alongside Turrentine on the Federal bench. "He'll be greatly missed, he was a wise and intelligent Judge."

Turrentine left a lasting imprint on the local court, most distinctly in developing the rule limiting the number of interrogatories per case. "He was a great role model for younger judges in terms of his approach," said retired Judge J. Lawrence Irving, who also served with Turrentine. "He was a very practical kind of guy" He is survived by his wife, Marlene; two children and four grandchildren.

Below is a link to the album showing the still photos of Howards Military funeral at Fort Rosecrans.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lindabesk
/FortRosecransMilitaryFuneral?authkey=Gv1sRgCPT86Iup5MzMTA#

The very moving video of the military ceremony will be attached to an email.
Thank you very much for taking the time to honor Howard B. Turrentine...aka Dad.

Valley Outreach "First stop for the next step!" Thanks to SO MANY local business's who contributed raffle prizes that helped raise the total of more than $5,200! It all started with facebook reaching 10,000 friends, Ted and Rachael Kozlowski (Administrators of the Stillwater facebook page) decided it was a great reason to throw a party, but wanted to use the party as a fundraiser. Success! Thank you Sean and Joe at Smalleys for donating the space to party, Chris Aamodt/St Croix Vineyards for the wine tasting table, Lift Bridge Beer and Ted Kozlowski for donating the free beer! Kate Krisik and her volunteers for greeting guests and helping with the raffle, and explaining to guests what an intregal part of our community Valley Outreach is. Not just a food shelf, and not just "Dawn's Closet" which is a place to find clothes to go on that important job interview, etc., but also a place for students to go and receive all the proper "tools" for school, including a new backpack!

Ingrid Grahek of Twin Cities Game Theatre gets a hug of thanks from Linda Besk, Edina Realty, who was also one of the organizers of the event, she also helped her son Ted and his wife Rachael with the fund-raiser details. Ingrid brought the semi-trailer loaded with video games and such to the adjacent parking lot and gave free admission to all guests. Yeah Ingrid!

Rachael Kozlowski, with new baby Evelyn, watching the lucky winners of the raffle drawing, and showing a big smile when she found out we met the $1,000.00 mark which meant that Chuck & Judy Doughterty of the Water Street Inn, and Laura Bachmann/Chef's Gallery were each matching the first $1,000.!!!! Let's support their business the way as they support the community! Another regular anonymous donor who was not able to make the party also contributed $1,000. to the cause!

One of the many baskets of backpacks and school supplies that were donated. This basket was donated by Linda J Besk, Edina Realty...who found the Dollar Store a good source as was T.J. Maxx, 250 local students were requesting help with backpacks and school supplies, let's give these students the best possible start on this school year! Valley Outreach is still in need of supplies and backpacks, so don't delay! Check the Stillwater facebook page for items still needed!

"Ain't been no shrimpin' for 'bout a week now, oyster'n neither" is the response to my question asked at Buddy Grass' shrimp and oyster "shop" that is just around the corner from the Dog River Marina. I thought I might get lucky and get a half bag of oysters before the fisheries shut it down. These two pictures were taken a couple years ago, actually, as I remember.... just before we got the call that my Mother was failing fast and we needed to turn around and go back to Mobile so we could fly back to Madison. Mother was a very interesting person, not afraid to try new things, she really enjoyed Veda L, and we took her for a Mississippi 2 wk cruise when she was 85. Always wanting to have her breakfast with a newspaper to read, she starts eating her breakfast the 2nd day out and says "I can hardly enjoy my breakfast without a paper" I went to my cleaning cabinet and took out a newspaper from 2 years earlier from somewhere in Tennessee and handed it to her; her response "Well, I guess it's news to me!" Every morning we would do a "dumpster dive" into my cleaning supplies for some old news, but she was happy!

These two photos show a shrimp boat above and an oyster boat below; all the times we have left Mobile to either go north or south, I have never seen a prettier sight, I believe a bit of haze made these photos unique.

We are on our way to Bates Lake for the night, it will be about a 7 hour day so will take turns at the wheel. We hope that the entrance to Bates Lake is not silted in so we can make it through the cut. We got in last fall due to high water, but if we can't get into Bates we will spend the night in the Alabama cut-off, or as I call it....The Dismal Swamp. The picture of the floating fish shack is in Bates Lake and has a sign above the window IRA LEWIS. Reminds me of the old song "Drunken Ira Hayes..." Probably some whiskey has been drunk on this front porch I would guess....

Another photo taken in Bates Lake; we put the canoe in and took a little paddle into the back waters, that was until we saw a huge alligator basking in the sun lit water a few yards away, being he was almost as big as the canoe I thought it might be a good idea not to get close enough to get a good picture.

Right now we are going through Mobile Bay, then through the port of Mobile where we see ships from every foreign land docked alongside the channel, always makes us feel very small!

Once docked at Dog River Marina we enjoyed watching the shrimpers come into the river from Mobile Bay, the booms are out to catch any oil that might be drifing out in the bay, but so far it seems like the water here is oil free. We have been watching the coast guard and other huge boats with pumpers on them staging for cleanup when needed in the area from Panama City to Mobile, booms (long bumper type floatations) have been anchored around protected environmental areas to attempt to keep them safe from harm should the oil drift this way.

This was a fun scene to watch while coming into Dog River as we crossed Mobile Bay, Coast Guard helicopter doing airlift drills, amazing how the helicopter kept so completely still in one spot during the excercise. They would lower a diver into the water, turn him loose, then hoist another diver down "to save him" and hoist them both back up to the chopper.

Coming home through the tunnel last night after a dinner with the in-laws! We had seafood at Felix's on the causeway between Mobile and Dauphin Island where Rachael's parents live and of course I had to snap a picture going through the tunnel on our way home!

Good Morning from Dog River! I awoke at 5:13 to get my camera and tripod across the street overlooking Mobile Bay, of course I almost got the courtesy car stuck in the sand as I was more intent on my photo op that my parking spot! We are having Veda L hauled today as we believe we may have barnacles in our water intake which showed up as some AC problems. If you have to have a problem, this is a great place to deal with it! Tomorrow we hope to anchor in Bates Lake, then on our way to Demopolis and on to our final destination of Columbus, Mississippi........ Life is Swell on Veda L!

A Gulf of Mexico crossing is never complete without Dolphins coming along for playtime in your wake, this time a pod of Dolphins chose to glide along in our bow wake, switching from port to starboard as I crawled across the bow with my camera clicking away, this is a Mother and child, I see this quite a bit, and it is always touching as the Mom keeps her baby close to her within a fin's touch! We had a dreamy smooth crossing, never even used our stabilizers or had to alter course. Still a 24 hr crossing wears you out, so Apalachicola and their oysters were a welcome sight at lunch time when we arrived.

This picture was taken a couple of years ago during a Gulf of Mexico crossing, but I have yet to witness anything even close to it; I was in the pilot house and saw a dolphin leap high in the air, "Holy $@%!" and I ran for my camera, never thinking that I would get a repeat performance, not only did one jump but THREE dolphins jumped up, and they did it TWICE! The splash that followed was incredible as well. I did not have my camera set properly, and used the full telephoto, so it is not the clearest of photos, but what an experience to witness and capture! My comment was "did a dolphin show escape from Sea World during a hurricane?"

This was today! We were on our way from Apalachicola to Clearwater with a tummy full of oysters, we always see Dolphins in this area near Allanton in Wetappo Creek, and marked it as such on our chart; so I went out and started slapping the side of our hull with my hand to draw their attention to our boat, sure enough a pod of dolphins came along, and just when I thought that they were only going to glide alongside of us and depart, this one decided to give me a show! It is so exciting to capture the playfulness, and you can hear their chirping as they communicate. By the way, for every dolphin picture I get I miss 10 or more! Tough job being a dolphin photographer, almost as hard as taking pictures of sharks! (as you are fleeing!)

McKenzies! Always our first stop after leaving Compass Cay and arriving in Nassau, a short walk to Potters Cay for McKenzies conch salad, we have tried them all and they are the best! No sky juice today for Bob (or me), it is only $6.00 which seems like a real deal for the quantity you get...it comes in a very large cup, but is a mixture of coconut water, sweetened condensed milk and gin. Potters Cay is located under the bridge which leads from Nassau's downtown district to Atlantis on Paradise Island. As you walk along the waterfront it is amazing to see the half sunken boats and such on the Nassau side with the gleaming "Emerald City" type structure of Atlantis in the background.

As we left Nassau, passing all the cruise ships, and lastly the lighthouse on the point, we looked forward to a safe crossing over to Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove, just south of Miami proper. We were out in the Tongue of The Ocean during sunset, we cruised until about 2am at which time we were near Gun Cay and Cat Cay, we attempted to anchor in an area called Honeymoon Harbor which was not what we had in mind for a honeymoon....bad anchorage, hard bottom, as tired as we were we just wanted to get that anchor set and it refused to do it three times...finally on the fourth try we got it set. Thank God. Having all of your attention focused on what is in front of you in the dark and on the radar screen tires you out and we just needed sleep, gone on the days when we stay up past midnight! We crawled into bed at 3:30 and got up at 7am to start our crossing over to Dinner Key, some 4-5' seas as we passed through the cut between Gun and Cat, but then settled into a comfortable 3' the rest of the trip.

Stiltsville, I should google this to see who owns these, if they are Park Service owned or private. How they survive the hurricanes is beyond me, but are a welcome sight as we approach Key Biscayne, we know we are close to our destination.

Finally on May 6 we leave Miami...again. We left on May 5 but had a hose break and had to limp back to Dinner Key for repair. We had a beautiful ride past downtown Miami with the calm waters reflecting the tall buildings. Was early morning so we saw lots of joggers in the parks and trails surrounding the city. We saw a very old turtle pop his head up along the way to Pensacola, he was encrusted with barnacles and only peeked at us before descending into the waters.

Tucker, owner of Compass Cay Marina has these "pet" nurse sharks that come up on the dock at high tide (if you feed them!) so tonight Bob and I took left over fish scraps and lured them up on the dock, Bob was giving free massages to any takers. Guests are not allowed to feed them off their boats as it would draw in other varieties of sharks, if a Lemon or Tiger comes into the marina "nurse shark feeding area" Tucker has this long spiked handle that he pokes the rogues with and they seem to get the idea. I was snorkeling under the docks looking for Lionfish a while back and saw a lemon shark at the end of the pier, non-threatening, but needless to say I left his area... Tonight we saw crew chopping up fish off the "tender" to their 100+ yacht, and one of the family members was in the water with the sharks as they were being fed; Tucker told them not do feed off their yacht, and never, never get in the water when sharks are feeding, so Tucker said "oh well, just wait for the screams...they were warned"

This Flamingo Tongue was spotted by Bob while on our snorkel off Compass Cay cut, they are a shell/mollusk that you can find on sea fans.

Ahhhh, the joys of Bahama waters! Actually this was the small one, I was following Mama and Bob called me over to see "something" and it was this smaller one which at least stayed in one spot for me so I could take a few snapshots, he is missing the barb on the end of his tail, wonder who nabbed it, you can guess it was a shark.

I sent Bob down to take a picture of these fast little Chromis as he can hold his breath longer than I can, they move fast, I have been trying to get a clear picture of one of these pretty little neon blue fish the entire winter.... Bob had so much fun with my camera he said "do you think I could get to the point that I would just enjoy the water, take nothing and leave nothing but bubbles?" No. Picturing Bob with a camera and no spear is not even possible to conjur up.

Our last trip of the season back to Rum Cay, and Bob got us dinner for more than one night on a reef up by Flamingo Point. It is not easy to find good reefs around Rum Cay, but there is snorkeling....just not plentiful with fish and lobster, being out of season you would think you would see all kinds of little antennae sticking out from under ledges, but no. Plenty to do on the island though, if you like to surf they have boards and constant surfing adequate waves on the sound end near the creek to the salt pond.

Buddy finally got shore leave at Conception, we always let him go ashore at least once a season, he isn't allowed off at docks due to dogs and island cats that would surely pick on our domesticated "pussy" but Conception didn't have any dogs being let loose on shore due to only 2 boats in the anchorage, one being us. Buddy kept wanting to explore the jungle like brush however, so his shore leave had to be cut short. He doesn't mind riding in the tender at all, actually seems to enjoy it, letting the air blow through his hair!

Veda L at her anchorage at Conception, truly a beautiful spot, pristine clear waters offering view from your boat deck of dolphins surfacing in the bay, rays gliding through the waters beneath your boat, and then when you go snorkeling you get to experience being chased off the reef by lemon sharks whether you are spearing dinner or not. The Lemons are very prevelent here, so if you go I suggest letting the spear fishermen go in their direction on another reef and the snorkelers/photographers stay close together (so you can race each other back to the boat) and chose a different reef. Even so, we saw lemon sharks constantly, even within 2-3 feet of the shoreline and above reefs. A local divemaster in Exuma said that the warmer the water the closer they come in. Great. Conception is the only place in the Exumas where we have had these experiences.

Ah....the fronts have either stalled out or quit all together, giving us a reprieve from the dock at The Marina at Emerald Bay, now don't get us wrong...we love it there, but we came to the Bahamas to cruise, discover, and have adventures in the beautiful waters! Veda L is pictured here anchored at The Bight, off Freetown, Cat Island. Shallow waters to anchor in, and the crescent beach giving us a beautiful view of the island. Not only did we take the hike 206' up Mt Alvernia to visit The Hermitage which is a replica of a monestary built by Father Jerome, (Google history of Cat Island) but we also discovered The Catholic Church nearby that was also designed by him, anyone going to The Bight must walk the short distance to see it's Spanish architecture which is not common on the islands, step inside, it's open.

This is Lula's Place, in New Bight, Cat Island, one of many little "shacks" that line the beach, which we lovingly referred to as "the strip mall" Lula specializes in coconut treats, pies, cakes and homemade bread. She picks the coconuts and shreds them, I asked her how many she shreds a day and she said "oh about 7 or 8" She MUST have a cuisinart! We had a wonderful time here, she gave me a Kalik as change for my purchases, and her friend Pompei told us very interesting stories about the island's history, showing us where the first Dr, photographer and teacher lived in the settlement.

We left The Bight after two days and went around the island to Hawksnest Marina, the entrance shown above, where we found "courtesy bikes" to ride over to the restaurant for dinner, and internet service by the pool. We strolled the beach and found hammocks between palm trees that if we had gotten there earlier would have been a treat to hang out in with a good book by the sea. After our dinner we kept having near collisions while biking "home" as it was pitch dark out on this clear, moonless night and the stars above were putting on a fabulous show that we kept having to look at!

After Rum Cay we finally made it to Conception! This is surely my favorite spot in the Bahamas as it is totally uninhabited, has many coral reefs to dive on, a creek that you can dingy up (we took our canoe in) to see turtles basking in the clear warm shallows. We saw more juvenile Lemon Sharks than turtles however, which gave us the inkling that we would probably see the Mama and Papa sharks while diving the reefs....we did. A 6' Lemon Shark decided to pay us a visit while snorkeling/spearfishing a reef not far offshore. Richard, my friend and co-worker, who was cruising with us and I had a race to the boat to see who could propell themself into it first....so much for teamwork! Every man for himself. I don't mind them at a distance, you can see when a shark is showing signs of agressive behavior by arching it's back, lowering pectoral fins, etc., and this guy was just there for a cruise through the "supermarket" to see what we were shopping for. But,as we approached our tender, and we saw him on the other side of our tender while we were about 15' from it, and he made a U-Turn...that's when we made like rockets and launched! Yes, the Dr. says we should always get our heart rates up at least once a day!