Eastern Shore Marine to Orange Beach Marina

11/30  Although the weather forecast was for winds of 15 knots, we decided to leave.  We had been stuck at Eastern Shore Marine for a week due to high winds.  Eastern Shore Marine was not ideal....one bathroom/shower for women and one for men,one washer/one dryer, and a courtesy van with a sliding door that flew open when you drove it.  The people at the marina were nice, though, and the town of Fairhope was lovely.  When we left, winds were out of the northwest, and provided us with a following sea most of the way to the intracoastal.  As we arrived at the intracoastal, we immediately had dolphins on our starboard bow.  We had been in the intracoastal about 15 minutes when we saw a boat (Salt and Sand) ahead of us pulled over and boarded by the coastguard.  When the coastguard disembarked Salt and Sand, they had a choice of examining a catamaran sailboat, a homemade raft (with hippies aboard), and us.  Guess who they boarded?  You guessed it.  They boarded us.  The way they did it....someone drove the coastguard vessel and pulled along side us.  Two coastguard members boarded us from the stern while we traveled at idle speed.  The first thing they asked, "Do you have any weapons on board".  Then they asked for documentation on the boat, general information about where we were going, our home port, etc.  They were very nice, and disembarked after about 10 minutes.  I guess we looked like harmless old people.  After getting off the intracoastal and winding toward Perdido Pass, we arrived at Orange Beach Marina which is really tucked away at the end of a bay.  We chose it because we need to have some electronics done, and this facility has Saunders Yachtworks and Extreme Electronics. Today they are working on our AIS system, the VHF radio, and the Vessel View which does not have a GPS signal.   They are going to install our Nema 2000 Auto Pilot tomorrow.    The marina charges loopers $1.00 per foot (regular price is $1.50 per foot).  We are so pleased that we will be able to see Sherry Wright, our former daughter-in-law tonight...she lives nearby and is coming to see the boat and join us for dinner.