Carrabelle in pictures

One of the band of faithful followers of this blog has asked for more pictures. I guess my thousand words is not enough.....

The heart of downtown:


From the bridge looking down river at the town:


and from the other side of the bridge, looking up river:


A successful fisherman on our dock:


During the gale this well-protected cove is quite choppy:

What I have learned (so far.....)

The wind blows southeast in Florida day in and out and that is the direction I want to go.

I learned to pay attention to the tide when leaving a harbor or anchorage. Then I learned the same about arrivals.

The boat can take more than I can.

A forecast that mentions 20 knot winds implies "or more", just as variable implies "none"

A forecast of waves 3-5 feet implies a 10 footer every 3 or 4 minutes.

Forecasts are 100% correct when the boat is tied to a dock.

A tough, capable wife - don't leave the dock without one.

Sleep is a habit that can be broken by being 20 miles offshore in adverse conditions.

Sea water is free - until you pump it into your holding tank. Being 3.01 miles offshore makes it free again.

I have learned that running aground is not shameful, but it's no great honor either.

There is not too big an anchor or too much chain after dark.

A marker just spotted is not necessarily the one you want just because it's the only one you see.

Exploring a new town every few days and finding what you need is fun.

Small town folks are friendly.

The Gulf is lousy with dolphins. They have to do tricks now before I get excited.

If you ever want waterfront property now is the time.

Cruisers are the nicest people - even the ones in trawlers.

Carrabelle

Our greeting to Carrabelle was provided by Chuck and Leah from Wings (Hunter 29.5) who are experienced cruisers. Chuck was ready at the dock to take the bow lines from De Anne right after our initial docking was aborted due to an unexpected and quite contrary current in the river. After I backed away I found shallow water one foot past the channel marker. Luckly for me I was able to power off and make a successful run at the dock from the other direction, only dragging the expensive solar panel lightly across a piling.

After a much(MUCH!) needed shower and shave we repaid Chuck's help with a gin and tonic or three. Chuck and Leah are a delightful couple from Minnesota and we swapped many entertaining stories late into the night. For our landlubber friends - late into the night for cruisers is any time past 8:00pm.

Saturday morning Chuck and Leah invited us to join them for a visit to St. Vincent Island Nature Preserve. It is west of Apalachicola so we retraced our day-long journey of two days ago in about a half hour. It was quite eerie passing over the bridge into Apalachicola and seeing where we had just spent two nights on anchor.

The Nature Preserve is accessable only by a pontoon boat ferry. High wind and big chop made anticipation of the ferry ride (fortunately) more exciting than it was. We wandered the peaceful trail through woods and dune scrub down to a wide, unspoiled beach.

We had a late lunch at the Seafood Grill in Apalachicola, drove back to Carrabelle, and stopped at Chuck's favorite ice cream store. They greeted Chuck and Leah by name. Good thing a waffle cone and ice cream are part of a balanced diet.

After all that food I cancelled dinner without a complaint from De Anne, and capped off a wonderful day with a small seista. Have I mentioned retirement is great!?

Rising Star in Carrabelle with Wings next to us. Note we are now using our bug screens over the hatches. That is De Anne sitting quietly in the cockpit - normally she is moving so fast the camera is unable to capture her:

Out of Range

It's 6:00am Thursday morning and we are on anchor across from Apalachicola Fl. I have had a good night's sleep since the bugs drove us indoors about 8:00pm last night and we were asleep by 9:00pm. Because I am out of range of internet access I don't know when this will get posted.

Apalachicola is a quaint little tourist trap and fishing town. We walked the waterfront and did go into one shop. If you own an old boat don't throw away any pieces. Ship bells started at $1,800. That old compass might be worth $2,000.

We visited the Apalachicola Maritime Museum. It was locked up, but a carpenter next door saw us and came over to unlock the door and turn on the lights. He also threw open a large overhead door facing the water and left. A few minutes later a big gust blew through the door and scattered papers and brochures all over the Museum. De Anne and I ran around picking them up and finding heavy items to secure the stacks. We left, thanked the carpenter, and never saw anyone else. Based on the prices we saw in the afore-mentioned shop we could have left the Museum with a million dollars worth of antique boat parts.

Because this is the oyster capitol I felt required to sample some raw while here. The faithful follower will remember I have been investigating this delightful item at every stop since Mobile. Using a grading scale of freshness/size/cost Port St. Joe wins. Sorry Apalachicola, it's a subjective judgement.

Today we travel to Carrabelle, the shrimp capitol. I guess my eating habits are about to change.

Here is Apalachicola from one side of the boat:


....and the other side of the boat:



Blog addition Thursday night 8:30 pm

We left Apalachicola and motored through the morning. The bay is shallow and staying between markers is a must. Even in the marked channel we found some areas where depths were only seven feet. Once we entered St. George Sound depths were better and we could deviate some from the channel. Much better! Sails up and spirits soaring! We had a great sail on one tack 11 miles to an anchorage in Shipping Cove, four miles south of Carabelle.

We are anchored in the sound behind Dog Island. At this point the island is only 50 yards wide. We can see the Gulf from our cockpit and hear the surf on the other beach. Before dinner we rowed to the beach and walked the Gulf side. Back on the sound side De Anne walked the beach while I antagonized the hermit crab population. When 2 hermit crabs meet they fight. I provided introductions. Sometimes you just can't bottle up the inner little boy.

Here is sunset 30 minutes ago:


Another addition Friday 2:30 pm

The wind shifted and increased last night (not in the forecast - of course). Our beach became a lee shore (wind blowing us towards shore), the fetch (wind-driven waves increase the more distance they have to build) was up to 2 feet and we decided to vacate the anchorage without a morning stroll on the beach. High winds off-shore are anticipated over the next 3 days (gusts to 35 knots or in english - 40mph) so we will stay in Carabelle and visit with the other cruisers holed up here just like us.

After 3 days of travel and anchoring out it is nice to be at a dock and in a new town.

Moving On

This is a marina I could learn to love. The facility is just short of the San Diego Yacht Club. Yes, we were there as guests of De Anne's cousin who owns a J 160 Trans-Pacific racing yacht.

The entire staff is friendly and attentive. A morning paper and weather forecast is delivered to the boat, restrooms are big and bright with separate facilities just for live-aboards (oops - I mean cruisers - live-aboard is a bad term in Florida), a dock-side bar and grill that has great food at reasonable prices, and free loaner bikes.

Alas, even with all this, the wanderlust is building in both of us. We plan to use the IWW and take the overland route through the canals and river to Apalachicola on Tuesday. A couple days of oyster eating there and on to Carabelle where we will wait for the weather window necessary to make the 140 mile hop to Tarpon Springs. Yes, another overnight. Maybe the third time will be the charm.

Tomorrow we stock and prep for a couple hours then have some last day fun in this beautiful little port town.

Port St.Joe

On the east side of lovely St. Joseph bay is the town of Port St. Joe. It reminds me of the Florida of my childhood. Wide streets, slow moving traffic, and no feeling of dense, hurried life. The Piggly Wiggly is a block away. Everything is within walking distance. I ambled over to Advanced Auto, bought 2 new house batteries to replace the failing ones and when I told them I was a cruiser at the marina they offered to loan me their cart to move them.

De Anne has washed the boat stem to stern (in her shorty shorts - I'll sneak a picture in someday and get into trouble), gone to the laundry, cleaned the entire interior, and that was just this morning. We walked in the nearby park after lunch and De Anne visited with Lucy, another cruiser. I have adjusted the dock lines and sat in the cockpit watching the tide come in. Here is my view from the cockpit:


......and since I have free wifi, courtesy of the marina, I am posting a few more gratuitous pictures:

Risng Star at the dock


De Anne at the waterside town park

Overnight, again

We left Destin at dawn Monday morning. The anchor came up clean -quite an auspicious start. 500 yards into our trip to Panama City we went aground. A few days before we had watched, from the Destin boardwalk, the boats leaving the lagoon to get an idea of the course to use.Three boats left in the first half hour. All three went aground. One was a coast guard patrol boat. We did see a few make it out, but with a fearsome tide and having to parallel the bridge the successful captains were really gunning the engines.

We left at low tide so the current would sweep us away from the bridge and out to sea. Good plan, until we planted the boat in sand. The current heeled us over 20 degrees and with motor running we slowly bounced our way off and back into the lagoon. We turned around and made a second try, successfully this time. Of course the south ebbing tide met the swells from the south at the inlet and we got a great washing machine effect from the two opposing forces of water. We had 8 to10 foot breaking waves for about 100 yards. De Anne did a superb job of avoiding the biggest breakers.

Once the south wind rose we had a calm and relaxing sail towards Panama City, complete with several pods of dophins visiting us throughout the day and a sea turtle pacing us for about half an hour. The auto-pilot handled the steering and De Anne and I lolled in the cockpit watching the scenery and wildlife.

Novice skipper that I am, I failed the mental calculations of our actual speed with an arrival time in Panama City. No worries, a few hours of night sailing on a calm night with 2 foot seas didn't scare us after the experience of two weeks earlier. Then the wind died completely, and the fog rolled in. On with the motor and at 1:00am we lined up the markers into the Panama City cut. The boat speedo read 4.6 knots, but the chartplotter showed SOG (speed over ground) at 1.2 knots. It got worse the closer to the cut we got. Too much current, so we turned tail and ran. Next stop - Port St. Joe, about 40 miles down the coast.

We motored, at a slow 3 knots, through the night, in dense fog, relieving each other once an hour. We have found we prefer 45 minute naps to the more traditional 4 hour watches. Morning broke but the fog didn't. Finally, around 10:00am, just as we were looking for the first Port St.Joe marker the fog cleared. The bay was breath-taking. We could see the bottom 25 feet down. Miles of white sand beaches, untouched by any development. The camera just doesn't do justice to the view:


The Port St. Joe marina is clean, luxurious, and cheap! De Anne announced (after 3 rum and cokes - one over her limit) that we will stay here forever. Knowing my wife well, I am confident forever will end in 4 or 5 days.

The decerning reader of this blog will notice by now that we seldom end up where we plan to be. It gives real meaning to the phrase on our boat card "You're not lost if you don't care where you are."

Chores

Yesterday we decided to find and ride the Destin city bus just to do some sightseeing and perhaps a bit of recon.

While on the bus (we were the only passengers), the driver pulled into his regular turn around spot, got off and told us to follow. We walked out to the beach. He just wanted to show us the beautiful Fort Walton beach and the amenties offered. It was sparkling white sand and clear blue/green water. Back into Destin we rode pass every store, and mall that the conspicuous consumer would ever desire.

One of two goals was completed when the laundomat was spotted. Now our only need is a place to fill our propane tank. It's not empty yet, but getting close. The pumpout boat comes tomorrow, we will have all clean clothes this afternoon, the water tank is full (thanks to a handy spigot, thoughtfully placed on the dingy beach), the larder is full, so all we need now is a north or northeast wind in the 5 to15 knot range. Do I ask too much?

The last of sundown in the anchorage. Skip and Carolyn's boat on the left and Russ's boat on the right.

Gale Conditions

We weathered gale force conditions Sunday here in Old Pass Lagoon. The wind built through Saturday and during the night. By Sunday morning foam was blowing off the tops of the waves creating an interesting streaking pattern in the water. Since this is a protected bay the baby waves never got higher than one foot, so I was surprised to see this type of wave and blowing foam action here. I have not regreted my oversize anchor and 100 feet of 5/16 chain. Once an hour I would crawl to the bow, check the anchor, and readjust the snubber and chafe gear. For you non sailors - it is not wise to let the boat be held by just the chain. the snubber is a heavy rope 15 to 25 feet that is attached to the chain that provides a second attachment to the boat and allows some elastic properties. Chain would cause too much stress used alone. Below is an example of 2 reasons to have good ground tackle:



Many locals and cruisers have told us this is the worst Florida winter in memory. Sure, now that I'm here. The good news is that the worst Florida winter beats the best Indiana winter.

We were visited yesterday afternoon by a cruising couple anchored 1/2 mile west of us. Skip and Carolyn are on a 28' Catalina. They were interested in our electric motor. Their inboard gave up, a couple outboards have failed them and they are now using a British made, 40 year old outboard. They had some interesting stories, not the least of which was bouncing off a barge in the Intercoastal Water Way when one of their outboards failed.

The forecast is for warmer weather in the 70's; however, the wind is from the SE - just the direction we are headed. We are in a safe, comfortable anchorage with shoreside amusements so waiting for favorable weather is no hardship.