We got up Friday morning at 6:15 to get ready to leave for Apalachicola. It was another cool and cloudy morning. Several boats were preparing to leave when we got up. Several others planned to leave about mid-morning and anchor in the Apalachicola River a little short of Apalachicola. We took a little time to get free coffee at the marina and discuss our plans for the day and we got underway about 8:00. The winds were much lighter than the day before. We crossed East Bay and entered the GIWW canal for 30 miles. The trip through the canal was different scenery from the rivers we have traveled of late. This was low country swamp. We saw several bald eagles but not much else in the way of wildlife. As we exited the canal into a broad but very shallow lake a couple of the boats nearly got into shallow water because the channel markers were widely spaced and the wind was on our port beam, making it easy to let it set you off course to starboard without realizing it. We all made it without incident but it took some attention to keep on course, especially after 30 miles of just following the canal. We entered the Scipio Creek Marina at Apalachicola and Muriel and I took off to walk through the town which was just a few blocks away. We had been here once several years ago and I remembered an old hardware and ship’s chandlery which I thought I saw on the way into Scipio Creek. I could not find the store in town. I think it has closed and there is now an antique store in its place. We did find the liquor store to buy wine for several of the boats. As soon as we got back the others were ready to go eat at the Oyster house at the marina. Bill and Peggy were especially excited because the oysters were only $6.50 per dozen. The food was good and Muriel did not have to prepare it or clean-up afterward. We plan a leisurely departure in the morning because we have only 30 miles to go. We are hearing that fuel in Carrabelle has dropped to $2.35 per gallon. That is the least we have ever paid since we owned the boat. Unfortunately we recently filled up for $2.69 per gallon.
On Saturday morning we left Apalachicola about 9:00 for the 30 mile trip to Carabelle. It was a nice trip in light winds but overcast skies. The sun was beginning to peak through as we arrived in Carabelle. We came in from the bay and up the channel into the small fishing village. It is old and reflects a weak economy. Shrimping has mostly died out because the shrimp boats can not make a living. The Moorings is a nice facility with excellent bathrooms and showers and a nice boater’s lounge with TV, nice seating and a pool table and a game table. As usual, the staff is very nice. The boat Sojourner, which ran with us from Pensacola, had arranged to meet a delivery captain at Carrabelle for the crossing to Clearwater. There was another boat at the marina with a captain from the same, Sea Sense, school to take them across. Southern Comfort decided to go along with them and cross on Sunday directly to Clearwater. Southern Comfort will cross their wake at Tampa so they were anxious to get done with it. This is going to be a mile point for all of us. This is the first time since late May that we have traveled without Southern Comfort and Blue Max. We still have the company of Blue Max. The weather forecasts look like the weather will be unsettled and windy through the entire week so we are expecting to be here until the weather favors our crossing. We have routes laid out for a couple of routes to Steinhatchee and on to Crystal River and on to Tarpon Springs when the weather allows us to get out on the gulf.
Muriel and Bill and Eileen and I went for a walk in town this afternoon. There is not much town here but we found a restaurant which has 12 oz New York strip steak on Wednesday and Sunday for $8.00. Muriel and I went in to check out the place. It was a biker bar today, just because a Harley Davidson club had cruised in and stopped in.
Yesterday when we arrived here we really enjoyed the two marina staff people, Tony and Patty. Bill was asking where to get oysters and Tony told him he would have oysters here at the marina on Sunday and Bill said he would supply the drinks and snacks. Tony got about 3 quarts of shucked oysters so Eileen made an oyster stew with some of them and we ate the rest with crackers. We had our dinner in the little lunch room in the marina office with Tony and Patty. We all enjoyed the food and the company. A couple walked into the marina and said they were just looking around the marina and did not want to alarm anyone. We invited them to join us and they turned out to be boaters who purchased their first large boat in the summer of ’07 at Green Bay, Ws and took it home to Corpis Christi, Tx. So they had shared many of the same river experiences we had. We failed to take the camera with us so we did not get any pictures.
Peggy and Guy called about 7:30 am on Monday. They were in Tampa Bay and had crossed under the bridge which meant they had crossed their wake and finished the loop. They were within sight of their house. They were very tired after nearly 25 hours underway. They said their passage had been a little uncomfortable but not “bad.” We are happy for them that they have closed the loop but we hate very much to loose their company in our lives. They will be missed over the next few months as we continue our loop.
We are still in Carabelle waiting for our weather window to cross. This morning we walked Carlie and then Muriel made pancakes which we shared with Bill from Blue Max. We decided to go to the beach on the sound and enjoy the good weather today. It was beautiful and Shelly found many shells and some coral. We found one whole sand dollar and a piece of drift wood which had been eaten by something to create spherical holes over the entire surface. We then got the marina’s shuttle service to take us from the beach to a restaurant across the river for a late lunch. The hamburgers were outstanding. We got back to the boat late in the afternoon. The day was so pretty it is difficult to believe it was a day when we could not have crossed. The next several days are forecast to be much too windy to venture out on to the gulf.
Tuesday has been a beautiful day, a little windy but mostly sunny and warm. I serviced engines and changed heat exchanger zincs and then we walked around town. We got malted milk shakes for lunch and snooped around the hardware stores, two of them in town. I got a replacement zinc for the gen set and we ran into Roy and Ella from Our Turn at a marina down the road. They have a bag of fresh oysters and a boat was at their marina with stone crab claws so we all bought some and we are going back to their boat this evening for oysters and crab claws, that is Blue Max and us and them. The forecast has not changed except that the bad weather now extends into the weekend. At the shower this morning I met the man from the Blue Water Yacht which came in yesterday. They have cruised the Caribbean for nine years and twice circumnavigated the Caribbean as far down as Venezuela aboard a 54 foot sailboat which they lost to Katrina in New Orleans. They will probably be crossing with us when we go. Another boat, a PDQ 34 foot cat, came in today but we have not met them yet. Boats are gradually stacking up here awaiting good weather to cross.
We slept late on Wednesday morning, 7:30. We spent the rest of the day doing laundry and cleaning on the boat. A restaurant in town has a steak special on Wednesday nights so we took advantage of it with some other boats here in the marina. The weather was warm, overcast, and misty all day. The wind is supposed to pipe-up tonight with the possibility of heavy rain. One of the boats here has a hired captain on board and they are talking about the possibility of leaving on Friday morning. We will watch and see how the weather goes.
The heavy rain passed here last night, we had gusts to 65 mph with it which drove rain through between the sliding panels of our windows on the windward side of the salon. That was definitely the strongest storm we have experienced on the boat. All is fine this morning. We are planning a pot-luck dinner tonight with the seven boats here in town. We will get together in the boater’s lounge which is a nice room with tables, chairs, TV, and game tables.
Friday morning, it is much cooler than the past couple of days but still windy. We reviewed the weather forecasts on the internet for coastal waters and discussed them with Blue Max. We thought perhaps we could leave about 3:00 am on Saturday and get out far enough before the winds increased as predicted so that we could get some cover from the east shore. The people at the marina advised against it. They predicted that the heavy seas of the past couple of days, and nights, would still be unsettled enough to prevent us from crossing. It looks like the first possibility will be some time next week. Bill and I decided to work on a diesel leak he has had since back in Canada. We finally found that the source of the leak to be a cracked bronze fitting. A short walk to the hardware store and we had the new fitting and fixed the leak. Tonight we are going to get together in the lounge for some Mexican Train Dominos. We have played back in Michigan with one of the boats that is here with us. Tomorrow Carrabelle has its Christmas parade on the water with boats decorated for Christmas. They also have a concert and free hot dogs. This should be our excitement for tomorrow.
On Saturday morning we left Apalachicola about 9:00 for the 30 mile trip to Carabelle. It was a nice trip in light winds but overcast skies. The sun was beginning to peak through as we arrived in Carabelle. We came in from the bay and up the channel into the small fishing village. It is old and reflects a weak economy. Shrimping has mostly died out because the shrimp boats can not make a living. The Moorings is a nice facility with excellent bathrooms and showers and a nice boater’s lounge with TV, nice seating and a pool table and a game table. As usual, the staff is very nice. The boat Sojourner, which ran with us from Pensacola, had arranged to meet a delivery captain at Carrabelle for the crossing to Clearwater. There was another boat at the marina with a captain from the same, Sea Sense, school to take them across. Southern Comfort decided to go along with them and cross on Sunday directly to Clearwater. Southern Comfort will cross their wake at Tampa so they were anxious to get done with it. This is going to be a mile point for all of us. This is the first time since late May that we have traveled without Southern Comfort and Blue Max. We still have the company of Blue Max. The weather forecasts look like the weather will be unsettled and windy through the entire week so we are expecting to be here until the weather favors our crossing. We have routes laid out for a couple of routes to Steinhatchee and on to Crystal River and on to Tarpon Springs when the weather allows us to get out on the gulf.
Muriel and Bill and Eileen and I went for a walk in town this afternoon. There is not much town here but we found a restaurant which has 12 oz New York strip steak on Wednesday and Sunday for $8.00. Muriel and I went in to check out the place. It was a biker bar today, just because a Harley Davidson club had cruised in and stopped in.
Yesterday when we arrived here we really enjoyed the two marina staff people, Tony and Patty. Bill was asking where to get oysters and Tony told him he would have oysters here at the marina on Sunday and Bill said he would supply the drinks and snacks. Tony got about 3 quarts of shucked oysters so Eileen made an oyster stew with some of them and we ate the rest with crackers. We had our dinner in the little lunch room in the marina office with Tony and Patty. We all enjoyed the food and the company. A couple walked into the marina and said they were just looking around the marina and did not want to alarm anyone. We invited them to join us and they turned out to be boaters who purchased their first large boat in the summer of ’07 at Green Bay, Ws and took it home to Corpis Christi, Tx. So they had shared many of the same river experiences we had. We failed to take the camera with us so we did not get any pictures.
Peggy and Guy called about 7:30 am on Monday. They were in Tampa Bay and had crossed under the bridge which meant they had crossed their wake and finished the loop. They were within sight of their house. They were very tired after nearly 25 hours underway. They said their passage had been a little uncomfortable but not “bad.” We are happy for them that they have closed the loop but we hate very much to loose their company in our lives. They will be missed over the next few months as we continue our loop.
We are still in Carabelle waiting for our weather window to cross. This morning we walked Carlie and then Muriel made pancakes which we shared with Bill from Blue Max. We decided to go to the beach on the sound and enjoy the good weather today. It was beautiful and Shelly found many shells and some coral. We found one whole sand dollar and a piece of drift wood which had been eaten by something to create spherical holes over the entire surface. We then got the marina’s shuttle service to take us from the beach to a restaurant across the river for a late lunch. The hamburgers were outstanding. We got back to the boat late in the afternoon. The day was so pretty it is difficult to believe it was a day when we could not have crossed. The next several days are forecast to be much too windy to venture out on to the gulf.
Tuesday has been a beautiful day, a little windy but mostly sunny and warm. I serviced engines and changed heat exchanger zincs and then we walked around town. We got malted milk shakes for lunch and snooped around the hardware stores, two of them in town. I got a replacement zinc for the gen set and we ran into Roy and Ella from Our Turn at a marina down the road. They have a bag of fresh oysters and a boat was at their marina with stone crab claws so we all bought some and we are going back to their boat this evening for oysters and crab claws, that is Blue Max and us and them. The forecast has not changed except that the bad weather now extends into the weekend. At the shower this morning I met the man from the Blue Water Yacht which came in yesterday. They have cruised the Caribbean for nine years and twice circumnavigated the Caribbean as far down as Venezuela aboard a 54 foot sailboat which they lost to Katrina in New Orleans. They will probably be crossing with us when we go. Another boat, a PDQ 34 foot cat, came in today but we have not met them yet. Boats are gradually stacking up here awaiting good weather to cross.
We slept late on Wednesday morning, 7:30. We spent the rest of the day doing laundry and cleaning on the boat. A restaurant in town has a steak special on Wednesday nights so we took advantage of it with some other boats here in the marina. The weather was warm, overcast, and misty all day. The wind is supposed to pipe-up tonight with the possibility of heavy rain. One of the boats here has a hired captain on board and they are talking about the possibility of leaving on Friday morning. We will watch and see how the weather goes.
The heavy rain passed here last night, we had gusts to 65 mph with it which drove rain through between the sliding panels of our windows on the windward side of the salon. That was definitely the strongest storm we have experienced on the boat. All is fine this morning. We are planning a pot-luck dinner tonight with the seven boats here in town. We will get together in the boater’s lounge which is a nice room with tables, chairs, TV, and game tables.
Friday morning, it is much cooler than the past couple of days but still windy. We reviewed the weather forecasts on the internet for coastal waters and discussed them with Blue Max. We thought perhaps we could leave about 3:00 am on Saturday and get out far enough before the winds increased as predicted so that we could get some cover from the east shore. The people at the marina advised against it. They predicted that the heavy seas of the past couple of days, and nights, would still be unsettled enough to prevent us from crossing. It looks like the first possibility will be some time next week. Bill and I decided to work on a diesel leak he has had since back in Canada. We finally found that the source of the leak to be a cracked bronze fitting. A short walk to the hardware store and we had the new fitting and fixed the leak. Tonight we are going to get together in the lounge for some Mexican Train Dominos. We have played back in Michigan with one of the boats that is here with us. Tomorrow Carrabelle has its Christmas parade on the water with boats decorated for Christmas. They also have a concert and free hot dogs. This should be our excitement for tomorrow.
1 comment:
We just love to read all the happenings on your blog Bud! Helps to make us feel like we are still there in the "loop" with you and Blue Max! As usual the pix are super, too! I think Bill could get a side job as the official Looper Santa! We were happy to hear of Guy and Peggy crossing their wake! We miss all of you very much and are eagerly awaiting your visit to SW Florida! Love, Chip & Michele
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