Apalachicola, FL

Tuesday 11/21  to Tuesday 11/29

After arriving in Panama City on Monday and washing all the salt spray from the boat we enjoyed a great sunset and then had a quiet dinner on board Passport.

On Tuesday we decided to take the public transportation to St. Andrews a town not far from Panama City.  We thought we would try out a local restaurant for lunch.  Ended up at Uncle Ernie’s and we both had the grouper witch was very good.  We then began our odyssey with the public transportation.  We wanted to go to a Publix grocery store to get the items we needed for the pot luck Thanksgiving luncheon we planned on attending .  After a bit of navigation by John with the map and bus schedule that we had been given by the marina  we did make it to the grocery store,  John thought that if we walked a few blocks with our bundle of groceries we would be able to catch a bus that would take us right back to the marina.  Well it was very much more than a few blocks and when we finally arrived at the bus stop, we learned that we had an out dated bus schedule and none of the four buses their were going any where near the marina.  What was even more frustrating none of the drivers seemed to know where we could get a bus heading in that direction.  After more navigation on John’s part and another very long hike we did finally meet up with a bus and made it back to our boat.  It was a long day and we were worn out.  Southern Belle had arrived while we were gone and we got together aboard Passport for drinks and to catch up on the each other’s travels for the past few days.  The day did end on a good note.

The statues were carved into the branches of this old cypress tree.

The Fishing boats in St. Andrews,

Ahoy mates Owen Jack & Will do you want to go sailing with me?

We are seeing lots of palm trees.

Believe it or not this boat is on it's way to Guatemala for a refitting.   

On Wednesday we did a walking tour of the Panama City area.  As with a lot of towns we have been through the economy has affected many businesses. That evening we all got together to watch the Panama City sunset out on the dock

Thanksgiving Day luncheon was hosted by the Harbor hosts in Panama City Carl and Greg Vernon at there beautiful home on Watson Bayou .  There were about 30 other Looper’s who attended.  Our hosts provided the turkey, ham, and drinks and we all brought side dishes.  It was a wonderful meal and the company was great.  It made being away from home over Thanksgiving a little easier. Thank you Carl and Greg!  John and I did miss all of our family as friends cannot replace them. Looking forward to seeing all at Christmas.

There's John in his shorts on Thanksgiving. 

The Thanksgiving group.

Friday morning we along with Southern Belle left Panama City to make our way towards Apalachicola and then on to Carrabelle in order to get in position to do the “crossing “ across the Gulf down to Clearwater.  We made it in to Port St. Joe on Friday.  Chris and Mary were able to walk to the grocery store and we both bought grouper to prepare for our dinners and split a cherry pie with whipped cream for desert. Yum!

Some of the many deirlick boats we are seeing along the way.

Kerm getting his super short hair cut.

Saturday was cloudy in the morning but the sun came out later in the day.  We had a nice run to Apalachicola.  We are at Scipo Creek Marina, which could use better organization in directing boats to their dock. There are seven other Looper's here spread out between three different docking locations.  We all got together for dinner at the oyster house on the dock.

Sunday was bright, sunny, warm and windy.  Expect for the wind just what you are looking for in Florida. We took a walk to town before the Captain’s meeting to discuss the gulf crossing.  The inter coastal waterway which we have been on since Mobile ends in Carrabelle and does not start up again until Tarpon Springs.  This waterway runs between the barrier islands and the Gulf in bays and rivers so we have not yet actually been in the ocean. 

With the waterway ending in Carrabelle you need to make a 170 mile crossing across the Gulf which will take at least 20 hours if the weather and waves are just right. There lots of crab pots along the shore when you complete your crossing so you need to arrive there after 10am, which means you need to leave no later than 2pm the day before.  There are many sources everyone looks at to find a good weather window to make the crossing.

As with any group it took awhile to meet some form of consensus.  We did agree that we would all move to Carrabelle once the winds died down and leave on the crossing from there.  All of the boats run a different speeds, but it seem there will be two groups, on running around  8 – 10 knots and the other a bit slower at 6 – 8 knots.  While we could run with the faster group we will stay with Southern Belle who has some speed limitations.  We also agreed to report each boat’s position every two hours via VHF radio to the group.

After the meeting we got the bikes out and went back to town and found a few of the shops open.  We rode around the town a bit and toured a home built in the 1830’s which was lived in by the same family until the 1990’s.  It is now a Florida state park and the ranger there gave a fantastic tour of not only the home but also the town of Apalachicola. 

The town has had three boom periods, first it was a major cotton exporting sea port,  then timber  was a big export and finally it was oysters.  There are oyster shells everywhere, paths, parking lots, etc.  We even saw a pile over 10’ high.  Commercial fishing is still a big industry here.  On our bike ride we came across another marina with over 30 fishing boats in it.  Unfortunately we forgot our camera so no pictures today.  After our bike ride everyone got together aboard Southern Belle for happy hour.

Christmas decorations and palm trees .

An old oyster fishing boat.

John trying to do a "Don" artsy photo.

We were surprised by an afternoon visit from John & Mary (the fast one's) from Mackinaw City.  They have been in Carrabelle since Thanksgiving waiting for a weather window to cross the gulf.  Some friends had stopped by and being Monday all restaurants in Carrabelle are closed so they drove over to Apalachicola for lunch.  Mary said their marina was better but there was much more to do our town.  

John & Mary and Mary & John

Here we are at Scipio Creek Marina.

On Tuesday the weather had changed overnight and it started raining shortly after we went to bed.  We awoke to a loud bang around 5:00 am, the wind had shifted and we had to add another fender and adjust the lines to keep from hitting the pilings.  The tides are something new to us that we will have to be dealing with until we get on the Erie Canal next summer.  At the Captain’s meeting (in the rain) it was agreed to wait until tomorrow to move on to Carrabelle.  There is more to do here in Apalachicola, but the marina in Carrabelle is reported to be a little  nicer.  

Mary and John