Orange Beach - July 29-31, 2011© Photos Posted by Mark Miller © Hi-Res Source
This was a trip to Orange Beach, Alabama. My wife was meeting up with her Sisters Paula, Peggy, and Pandy over at "The Caribe" in Orange Beach for a 4 day weekend, Thursday thru Sunday. I went over late Friday afternoon by water. I decided to try running the boat over instead of using the Trailer. The way I was calculating, it was half the distance, twice the time,four times the fuel, and a bunch more enjoyable. I took pictures and fished some along the way and my only mishap was running aground as I approached the Dauphin Island Bridge (Mariners be warned). I flagged down a passing boat to pull me off the bar and eventually got to the Caribe a little past sunset. On Saturday, the crew consisted of my 3 sons along with their friends Dalton McQueen and Seth Barzelay. We ran out to the Nipple to vainly search for Blue Water Fish. We found one small school of Blackfin that surprisingly refused to bite for us and only caught a chicken dolphin. We made some great dives on the Tenneco Rig and a Hopper Barge (LCM) on Saturday. Coming back on Sunday, it was just me and my son Paul and we made dives on the Atlantis Bridge Rubble, a Barge (where I saw a Lion Fish), several M60 Army Tanks and an Oil Rig. The trip over encompassed 67.2 miles, 40.8 gallons of fuel, and 5 hours. On Saturday we traveled 97.8 miles and burned 60.8 gallons of fuel over 11.7 hours. The trip back encompassed 93.2 miles, 57.6 gallons of fuel, and 10.6 hours. Trip Totals were 258.2 nautical miles and 153.2 gallons of fuel.
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