Carrabelle!!

Day 210 … Thurs, Nov 16, 2017 … 29.3 miles; 3:30 hours

Apalachicola, FL to Carrabelle, FL

Today was 30 miles across open water, but in a narrowly marked channel. Chart left shows marked channel within Apalachicola Bay. St George Sound was the same way. We never lost sight of land, but were confined to a channel within what looked like open water. Much of which was too shallow for us. We are the dark circle on the chart.

We hit the jackpot as far as location goes at C-Quarters marina in Carrabelle … right in front of the marina office, showers & laundry!!  The long finger pier alongside is a necessity for getting Cally on/off the boat with her ramp(s).

The rocking chairs are popular for morning coffee and afternoon beers.

PLUS … we are on their web cam. Check it out … we’ll be here thru Thanksgiving it looks like. Click on the link, then click on Web Cam on right side of page.

Web Cam at C-Quarters Marina

Can you see us???

9 Other Looper boats were here when we arrived. Also, we saw 2 friends, Lil Lake Hideaway & Lake Effect head out past us as we settled into our slip. at least I got to wave, maybe we will see them after we cross to the west coast of Florida.

There was a Captains Meeting for the boats leaving tomorrow afternoon to cross the Gulf of Mexico to either Tarpon Springs or Clearwater. We went to the meeting, but are not leaving with this crowd tomorrow.

With Cally on board, She Who will NOT Potty Onboard, we will take 3 to 5 hops (stops) around the Big Bend of the panhandle over to the west coast. 27+ hour cruise with a dog who doesn’t potty on the boat isn’t for us. It will take us longer to get to Tarpon Springs, but we will get there and we will make the most of our route on the way.

A beautiful sunset for our first night in Carrabelle

The local gang gathers on the huge covered porch for coffee each morning … apparently.

Really nice marina staff, locals and live-aboards hanging out. Should make for a fun time.

AND … looks like we will be here for a while. We need a 3 day window of decent conditions (wind & waves) for us to start our crossing to the west coast. We could have left today with the crowd and gone one of 2 shorter stops Rip has picked out … but then we would be stuck there for days on end. MUCH nicer here, so here we will stay.

Looks like Thanksgiving in Carrabelle. HOWEVER, if conditions change, we can leave!!

I finally got a (second) chance to take pictures of the whittling Lesli from Soulstice does … take a look. We meet up with them back at Sumpter Rec Area Anchorage. Nice to see them again and catch up with all Leslie’s crafty projects. Leslie whittles when they cruise, as she gets bored …

Lesli is now teaching herself to paint in the style of “Pointillism”. It’s painting with dots of color. I think she is quite talented.

Scipio Creek Marina, Apalachicola, FL

Day 209 … Wed, Nov 15, 2017 … 21.8 miles; 3 hours

White City to Scipio Creek Marina

An easy, short run today of only 22 miles to Apalachicola. One of the towns frequented by Loopers.

Most of the day was in a channel with cypress trees or tall grasses and a bit of the cruise in larger water.

Sights along the way …

On the way into Apalachicola we saw a few “Tiny Houses” … well, Tiny House Boats. Pretty cute and right down town!

When we arrived we pulled in behind Ramble On!! Always fun to see Loopers we know when we arrive at a marina or anchorage.

Our views for the night …

Unfortunately, we are only here one night. No time to sight see. It’s a cute & popular town and well-known for their Oysters.

White City, FL

Day 208 … Tues, Nov 14, 2017 … 39.3 miles; 4:40 hours

Panama City, Fl to White City, Fl

Last night we went out to dinner in Panama City with Bob & Barb on Chemistry

and Scott & Linda from Ramble On. Had such a good time, I forgot to take pics. Here is one of Tilley (Chemistry & great buddy for Cally) last night.

Just moving further east along the GICW

across a good size bay then into a man made channel (“the ditch”) today.

Transitioning from the bay into the channel.

We passed Bob & Sue on Aestival, whom we met at Panama City. They left a bit earlier than we did this morning.

The stop tonight is a free dock at White City. Well … we think it will be ok. Lots of Loopers & others) stop here and have for years. Now, there is one sign up that says no overnight docking. You cannot see the sign from the water and if you walk judiciously, you will not see it.

There is more green grass at the park around the docks & boat ramps than the pic below shows .

The plan is to reach Apalachicola, Fl tomorrow and Carrabelle on Thurs. We have booked a slip at Carrabelle for a week to wait weather out (mostly winds) before we can think about starting to cross from the Panhandle of Florida to the West Coast of Florida. We will stay at Carrabelle until the conditions warrant moving; with the goal of getting to Tarpon Springs, Fl on the west coast. That is 3 to 5 stops, depending on weather & sea conditions before reaching Tarpon Springs. Not sure how many days it will take to do those 3-5 stops … it’s all about the weather, wind and waves.

Stay tuned.

Good night from White City, FL.