Saturday morning came clear and cold, near 40 degrees. We have gotten so sorry from just hanging around here that we seldom get out of bed before 8:00. But, we are staying up later than we do when we are traveling. Last night we stayed up in the lounge until about 11:00 playing dominos and Muriel was reading a book. Shelly has gotten quite proficient at the Caribbean horse shoes, where you swing a metal ring on a string and try to hook it on a hook on a column. The first night she started playing the game I told her I would give her $5 for Christmas spending money each time she hooked it. After 20 hits the first night I cancelled the offer.
The piers here at the Moorings Marina are all fixed piers and the tides have been unusually high and low due to the winds and the full moon when the moon is at its closest to earth at any time in this year so Muriel and Shelly have had to struggle to get on and off the boat at times, particularly low tides. They say they have taken up pole dancing because of the way they have to hug a piling while getting on and off the boat.
We shared pizza last night in the lounge while watching the Carrabelle Christmas boat parade on the waterfront. It was a lot of fun watching and cheering for the boats going by. There were fireworks across the river also. Sunday morning dawned overcast. Three boats left to cross. None of them have returned yet. They were all over 50 feet, however, one was a harbor cruise boat bound for Miami Beach. It is very shallow draft and flat in the bottom. We suspect they are getting banged quite a bit out in 6 foot waves. We are planning to go to a local BBQ restaurant for a buffet lunch.
The lunch was fun. We all ate too much. It was just wholesome food but it was good. For dinner we went with Tony, who works at the marina and was born here, to a local oyster processing plant and got the owner out of his house to get ½ bag, crocker sack, of oysters which we shucked and ate on the half shell, steamed, and as oysters Rockerfeller. We shared dinner with Blue Max and Going There.
This morning we met with Buddy at the marina at 6:30 to evaluate the weather for our crossing. The consensus was to leave Carrabelle at 6:00 Tuesday morning to cross to Steinhatchee. This is the plan as of noon on Monday. From Steinhatchee we will work our way down the gulf coast of Florida and hope to get Blue Max together with their family at Marco Island and us on to Everglades City by Christmas. Everyone has told us that it is a cardinal sin in cruising to set a date to get to anywhere. This is the first time we have set a date and we realize the truth in what they say.
The piers here at the Moorings Marina are all fixed piers and the tides have been unusually high and low due to the winds and the full moon when the moon is at its closest to earth at any time in this year so Muriel and Shelly have had to struggle to get on and off the boat at times, particularly low tides. They say they have taken up pole dancing because of the way they have to hug a piling while getting on and off the boat.
We shared pizza last night in the lounge while watching the Carrabelle Christmas boat parade on the waterfront. It was a lot of fun watching and cheering for the boats going by. There were fireworks across the river also. Sunday morning dawned overcast. Three boats left to cross. None of them have returned yet. They were all over 50 feet, however, one was a harbor cruise boat bound for Miami Beach. It is very shallow draft and flat in the bottom. We suspect they are getting banged quite a bit out in 6 foot waves. We are planning to go to a local BBQ restaurant for a buffet lunch.
The lunch was fun. We all ate too much. It was just wholesome food but it was good. For dinner we went with Tony, who works at the marina and was born here, to a local oyster processing plant and got the owner out of his house to get ½ bag, crocker sack, of oysters which we shucked and ate on the half shell, steamed, and as oysters Rockerfeller. We shared dinner with Blue Max and Going There.
This morning we met with Buddy at the marina at 6:30 to evaluate the weather for our crossing. The consensus was to leave Carrabelle at 6:00 Tuesday morning to cross to Steinhatchee. This is the plan as of noon on Monday. From Steinhatchee we will work our way down the gulf coast of Florida and hope to get Blue Max together with their family at Marco Island and us on to Everglades City by Christmas. Everyone has told us that it is a cardinal sin in cruising to set a date to get to anywhere. This is the first time we have set a date and we realize the truth in what they say.
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