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: