Apalachicola--Gateway to Warmth (We Hope)

We left Port St Joe at a leisurely hour on Tuesday the 11th for a 5 hour motor cruise up the Gulf County Canal to rejoin the ICW about 5 miles north of PSJ. This began our leg into Apalachicola through a huge area of swamps, bayous and creeks and LOTS of Bald Eagles. I didn't see any swoop down and grab a fish as I had in Louisiana but they were more numerous and spectacular.

We arrived at Apalach around 3 PM and tied up at Miller's Marina right on the Apalach River just short of the Hwy 98 bridge. It's from here that we plan to leave Friday or Saturday to jump across Apalachicola Bay, through Government Cut and out into the Gulf for our 140 mile sail in open/offshore water across the Gulf to Tarpon Springs and the main Florida Peninsula--and hopefully warmer weather.

If you read earlier posts you will recall that we met a guy in Moss Point, Miss. who goes by the moniker--Buffalo Joe. He's actually Joe Stephens and he is cruising his Island packet sailboat in the general direction of Cuba. He left Moss point a day after us, passed us up in Pensacola and is now in Key West. We have stayed in touch with him along the way, and he graciously offered to come up here to crew with us across the Gulf. He has a car here in Apalach that he arranged for us to pick up and use and for me to drive to Tallahassee to pick him up at the airport. He has a number of friends here and some business interests and this worked out perfectly for both him and us. So the plan is to take off either Fri or Sat morning--depending on the better weather window.

Meanwhile, we have truly enjoyed Apalachicola. Had a great dinner at Tamara's Cafe (downtown) on Tuesday night--Tabasco Fried grouper with green beans and macaroni and fried softshell crab tacos with coleslaw---We had the leftovers last night and it was just as good the second night as the first. Wednesday we walked all over town including a jaunt to the Piggly Wiggly about 6 blocks away for some needed provisions, had lunch of a couple dozen of the best oysters we've ever eaten--3 different ways--raw, steamed with a parmesan topping and raw with a relish type sauce--MAN they were good as was the bottle of Pinot Grigiot. (At Up the Creek Oyster Bar on the water) We had also connected with Joe's friends--Phillip (marine mechanic) and Kristin (artist) and picked up Joe's little Mazda Miata. Later we drove over to check out the town of Carrabelle where a lot of boaters go to stage for the hop across the "arm pit". Nice town--mostly just marinas, lots of boats and an IGA--but we didn't stay long or explore in too great a detail. It is a very pretty drive over there, along the Bay with a view out to the barrier islands. This is a very pretty and relatively undiscovered part of Florida. Lots of development opportunity.

Later that night after our leftovers we watched a movie--SALT--and hit the pillows.

Oh yeah----the weather. It's cold--very cold. The wind has blown a steady 12 to 18 knots since we arrived, supposed to moderate today. But the temp is the real story. Last night it got down to 28 degrees. It's 10 AM as I write this and it is still around 35 degrees. It's supposed to get all the way up to 46 degrees today.

Today we'll do a bit of laundry, but otherwise hunker down in the warm boat and later I drive to Tallahassee to pick up Joe. Looking forward greatly to getting across the big water. It's supposed to be fairly gentle winds but still somewhat cold. I'm thinking I'll close up the salon, fire up one of the generators and crank up our little space heater down below so at least those not on watch can stay warm and toasty---maybe watch a little TV--you know--"roughing it". Life is good!