As we cruised towards Apalachicola, we saw a few Dolphins, Bald Eagles, Pelicans and Egrets! We love seeing the Dolphins. Sometimes they stay with the boat for a while and sometimes they make an appearance, then swim on. Another beautiful part of nature we are seeing is Spanish Moss.
We arrived in Apalachicola and docked at the Apalachicola Marina, a very small marina the consisted of mainly a fuel dock and 4 slips inside the fuel dock. The marina was very rustic to say the least, but at least we were tied to a dock since the weather turned rainy and windy while we were there. In spite of it being a small marina, it was a busy place. Apparently, Apalachicola Marina provides all of the fuel for the local commercial oyster and shrimp boats. The boats were docking and taking on fuel several times a day. Apalachicola is known for their fresh oysters!
The height of the tide in this brackish water changed dramatically, so depending on the tide, it was either hard or easy to get off LeeLoo! It did not stop us from getting to the dock, but it did prove to be a challenge a few times.
The town of Apalachicola was a bigger town than we had been to in a while. There were a lot of small touristy stores and a lot of restaurants featuring oysters. It was nice to have a bigger town to explore.
Thursday through Tuesday, December 3-8 - Destination - Carrabelle. After spending a night of rocking and rolling on the boat due to the wind, we woke up thinking we would have to spend another couple of nights in Apalachicola. The wind and wave forecast for the bay did not look promising. We had at least 4 hours of cruising to get to Carrabelle. Captain Carey consulted with a couple of the locals for their knowledge and learned that while it was not advisable to go out on the "big" water due to the waves, the route we were taking was more protected and we should be ok. So, with the help of the dockhand, we untied LeeLoo and set out. As the locals promised, the trip was not too bad. In fact, it improved as time went on. We had a safe cruise to Carrabelle!
We docked at the Moorings in Carrabelle and faced one more challenge. The finger pier we were to dock against was very short. It was a challenge to dock LeeLoo, but with the help of the dockhand, we were able to successfully get tied off. What we learned: Captain Carey's job is to drive LeeLoo straight the slip while the dockhand secures LeeLoo's bow to the dock. Meanwhile Nancy has to capture the pilings on either side of the stern with lines to secure LeeLoo. Now, you all know that Nancy is rather short, so this will be a challenge! As we go deeper into Florida, we have heard that a lot of slips are like this. We have now converted our Bollard Capture Devices into Piling Capture Devices; Nancy can throw it over the piling as we go by. There is always a new boating skill to learn!
LeeLoo docked at the Moorings in Carrabelle - Notice the Short Finger Pier!
Carrabelle is a nice little town along the Carrabelle River along a bay which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. There are a few stores including a local IGA grocery store, a pharmacy and believe it or not, 2 hardware stores! The town also boasts of having the World's Smallest Police Station.
There are also several good restaurants featuring the local seafood. The importance of arriving in Carrabelle is that we are getting ready to do our big Gulf crossing as soon as a weather window allows. When we first arrived, we were the only Looper boat here, then every day since more boats have arrived. We are planning on embarking on our overnight crossing on Wednesday evening and will arrive in Tarpon Springs, Florida on Thursday morning.
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