Florida: Panama City to Apalachicola

Day 153

NM Today: 53

NM Total: 3269

Neither of us felt any desire to delay our departure from Panama City. On our morning walk to the washroom, we passed by a nicely done 911 memorial.

911 Memorial at Panama City Marina

We returned the borrowed chafe guards to the office and returned to the boat to get underway.  It took at least a half hour to work our way out of the slip.  Hitting one of the concrete pilings did not appeal to either of us.  We slowly worked the boat forward – Clark walked the boat up as I pulled in the bow line to keep us close to the finger dock and away from the concrete piling on the starboard side.  So much for our early start! It was 9:00 before we were truly underway though 8:30 had been our goal.

Today was another long day on the water as we work our way towards our escape from Florida’s panhandle to the west coast of Florida.  We are still seeking that magical day where the winds are not too strong and from the right direction while the waters are relatively calm.  It is a long crossing whether done during the day or at night. Hour after hour of being tossed around is not on Clark or my wish list so we will position ourselves on the ready and then wait.

As we made our way from Panama City to Apalachicola, I hemmed Clark's pants.  He is practically wasting away on this Great Loop trip.  Even his skinny jeans are too big for him and dragging on the ground.  Sadly I am not experiencing the same issues.

The views today were a remarkable change from those we saw on the river system.  We are definitely in Bayou country.

Entrance to Lake Wimico Through the passage

Typical View along the GICW

To get to Apalachicola we passed through a railroad swing bridge.  Fortunately the bridge is normally open and only closed when a train goes over it about one time per week.  It looks pretty derelict to me.

Railroad Swing Bridge

 As we pulled into Apalachicola we passed by Ivory Lady and Next Chapter docked at the municipal dock near a set of fishing vessels.  One of these had the name Miss Martha.  Martha was Clark's mother's name.

Fishing Vessel - Miss Martha

We docked at the Water Street Hotel and Marina.  We normally dock with the stern in first, but the assigned slip had vegetation growing in it such that we thought it best to "bow in" and keep the plant life away from our props.  We arrived at 4:45 (now Eastern Time as the time zone changed near Apalachicola) registered as quickly as possible which was not very quickly as the clerk was taking reservations over the phone that took forever.

Any way as soon as we could we grabbed our bikes for a look around town.  The town of Apalachicola is quite quaint and seems to have more than its fair share of raw oyster bars. Unfortinately I do not eat oysters - raw or otherwise, so none of those restaurant options appealed to me.

Streets of Apalachicola, FL

Reindeer and Palm Trees at Apalachicola Court House

Note the Nearly Full Moon in the Background
(great photo by Clark)

Local Inn Established in 1907
- note the widow's walk on top of the building

 When we came to the riverside park, we learned a bit about Apalachicola's industrial background.  It seems that the town was prosperous in the past due to first the cotton industry and later harvesting sponges.  Historical markers at the park gave a bit of the background for the town's success.

Fountain in Riverside Park
at Almost Full Moon

After our look around town, we finally managed to agree on an eating place. We found a nice place called the Owl Cafe where Clark had Black Grouper and I had fried Gulf Shrimp.

We returned to the boat after dinner in full dark.  Fortunately we had both head and tail lights for our bikes to keep us visible to any traffic.  After stowing our bikes, I jumped on my computer to do the blog while Clark got on his to catch up on emails and such.  One of the items in his email was a survey from West Marine for the shopping I did there while in Fort Walton Beach.  I ran into the store for less than 5 minutes and purchased marine toilet paper.  I needed only that item and so did not browse in the store or require much in the way of assistance with my product selection.  

The survey consisted of somewhere around 50 questions about my shopping experience. Clark walked me through question by agonizing question regarding my satisfaction with the store, the product and the salesperson's assistance.  Here are the more interesting questions and my answers:

Clark: "Did you research your purchase [of toilet paer] on line before coming to the store?"

Ev: "No.  I did not need to research toilet paper."

Clark: "Were you working on a specific project that brought you to the store for the [toilet paper] purchase?"

Ev: "Not at that time but planning for the future"

Clark: "Did the salesperson demonstrate the product or its features?"

Ev: "Thank goodness - no!"

By the third question both Clark and I were laughing so hard we were crying.   We completed the survey and hit the submit button.