Dauphin Island to Gulf Shores, AL

Date: Dec 8, 2019                                            

Arrival Time:  1430                          

Location:  Gulf Shores, AL

Weather:  Cloudy, some rain     

Sea State:  Extremely rough       

Destination Tomorrow: 

Engine Hours:  1290                                                        

Crew:  Art           

PV resting at Tacky Jack's

Comments:  Today was going to be our day off.  Well things changed a bit.  During the night the swell on the south side of Dauphin Island increased.  By morning it was somewhat uncomfortable, so we decided to move further east with more protection, anchor the boat then dinghy ashore and see the sights.  It made since because, besides expecting a calmer anchorage, it was also closer to the township of Dauphin Island.  When we got to the possible anchorage we found it to also be somewhat choppy, so we selected to go around the east end of Dauphin Island  The east end is connected to Pelican Island which extends south because the cut that separated them no longer exists. Therefore, we would have to travel south around the sand bar that makes up Pelican Island.  The chart shows it to extend approximately 1.75 miles south.  We turned south expecting a short trip.  However, as we made our way the island continued endlessly. 

Missing bow guard from endless baptism

There were sandbars then breakers, then more sandbars, etc.  This area on the chart simply states, “Area subject to change.”  Our journey south around the endless sandbar extended more than 5 miles south into the Gulf.  The forecast, including Predict Wind, Windy and the Weather Channel were predicting NE winds up to 11 knots.  That wasn’t the case.  The winds gradually increased, the anemometer showing continuous winds at 25 knots gusting to 28 knots.  We were stunned and felt cornered.  The seas were the roughest I’ve ever experienced.  Not because it was 9-10 foot seas, but because they were stacked.  They may have been 10 feet apart.  Generally a swell is defined by the time between each.  For instance, 6 second swells.  These were more like chop with no time between.  We had to head directly into the wind and swell once we finally made our way around the south side of Pelican Island.  The course led us to Mobile Bay Channel heading north into Mobile Bay.  When we finally reached protected waters we decided not to stop and continued to the ICW, turning east.  Several miles later we made it to Gulf Shores Alabama docking at Tacky Jack’s Restaurant for the night. PV once again performed flawlessly.  The only damage was the anchor guards that were  totally ripped from the tip of the bow as the anchor and bow endlessly disappeared under water in the rough seas.  Many lessons learned today and thankful for experience which has taught us to always prepare the boat for the worst even when not expected.  In other words tie everything down.