Thanksgiving Week in Carrabelle, FL

Days 212-218 … 00 miles traveled

C-Quarters at Carrabelle, Florida

We have never stayed anywhere along the loop this long. We want a 3+ day weather window of acceptable conditions (wind, wave, rain, etc.) to cut across the Gulf of Mexico from panhandle of Florida to the West Coast in 3 hops. There hasn’t been a good window of weather until … perhaps tomorrow!! So, we are in Carrabelle for the 9th day in a row.

We especially like the “handicap” slip we have with the full length finger pier … this allows us to get Cally on and off the boat much easier with either one of her boarding ramps.

C-Quarters marina is a popular staging spot for Loopers who want to cross the Gulf. It is a small town … one that boasts the Smallest Police Station in the World! Plus a couple restaurants, the grocery & hardware stores are a block away. Ultra convenient when you are walking or biking to everything.

If you have to hang out for a while, this is much better than our next 2 or 3 stops will be … so here we sat. There is a great group of locals who hang out at the marina under their huge covered deck. We sort of feel like part of the gang now. PLUS, Tow Boat US franchise here … we have been amused with the VHF talk. They must have one really high antenna because we can hear lots of talk between boaters and Tow Boat as well as the Coast Guard.

One of the advantages of hanging out so long, is cooking something different that is not easy to do when anchoring out.

This time it was RIBS!! Another advantage is long walks thru & around town with Cally.

just a few of the sights …

The local duck is fed feed corn AND cat food … his name is HUB and he is very sweet. This is him on our pier … Cally has been quite interested in him.I love this local pavilion with fishing piers for the locals.There is a 5 sink fishing cleaning station, too. By the fish scales around, it is VERY popular!

Then, there was THANKSGIVING, Looper Style!!

The marina kicked in 2 fried turkeys, paper goods, etc. The locals (boaters & regular landlubbers locals) & Loopers all pitched in, pot luck style with the sides & desserts!

This was seriously a lot of fun and a great day. Cally got lots of attention, went on another long, long walk! The adults hung, talked, played games and … 6 of us Loopers chatted until around 8pm.

Friday is the day to prep and rest for the next few longs days of travel. Rip checked things/systems in the engine room a couple days ago.

Several additional boats have hopped into the marina today and several from the next marina over have come up to chat and organize. Looks like on group will head out at first light or about 6:30am, then Kia Mae and us will try to head out by 7am for an 80 mile run.

Time to call it a night and get to bed early; it’ll be dark at 6am when we get up.