Florida: Apalachicola to Carabelle

Day 154
NM Today: 26
NM Total: 3295

To go or not to go - that was the question we asked each other this morning.  We reviewed the wind speed and direction numbers this morning and were dismayed to see that our hope for a window to cross the Gulf seems to be slipping away.  Since there are no car rental places for 50 miles from Carabelle and Apalachicola, we had a dilemma.  Go on to Carabelle and hope for that window or turn around and go back to Panama City the way we just came.

The slip arrangement at Panama City with concrete pilings strategically placed to scratch the boat and trip the boaters has definitely been my least pleasant experience at any marina thus far. The idea of going back there and then having to leave the boat while we returned to New Jersey was abhorrent to me.  While Clark was talking to the hotel clerk about options, I called our next marina in Carabelle to see what they had to offer.

I discovered that for a significant chunk of change there is a woman in Carabelle who offers a concierge service.  She will for a fee drive us to the car rental place in Tallahassee about 60 miles away and then come get us upon our return at the end of our NJ trip.  I convinced Clark it was worth going forward to Carabelle even if we have to pay the concierge fee to get a rental car. At least we are heading in the right direction, and a window may just open up for us before we need to travel to NJ. Clearly I am hoping optimism wins the day here!

With the decision made to move onward, we decided to take one last bike ride around Apalachicola to see what we might have missed during our twilight excursion last night. We decided to try to find the Victorian Homes that we read about.  Nothing we saw jumped out as Victorian other than the Inn I included in the post yesterday.  We did like one non-Victorian home that seemed to be situated in a typical Florida setting.

Palm Trees

We accidentally stumbled across Fort Coombs on a side street.  This fort was first built in 1884 and rebuilt in 1900 after a fire destroyed the fort and surrounding buildings.

Fort Coombs circa 1884 / 1900

 Some of the shops and restaurants have amusing names like one we passed that Clark did not capture with the camera called the "Old Stuff Shop". I can just hear the conversation with the owner on that one.
"What is it you sell?" He answers in a strong southern accent, "Old stuff."
"And what do you call your store?" He answers with a shrug, "The Old Stuff Store".
Without the Alabama / strong southern accent it loses something in the translation.

Hole in the Wall Seafood & Raw Bar

 Carabelle is a fishing village and the nautical theme prevails as in the fishnet-and-float Christmas tree shown below.

Apalachicola Nautical Christmas Tree

On our way back to the boat, we passed three very colorful buildings (orange, yellow, and green) that turned out to be houseboats. They looked like vacation homes which I guess they are but just floating ones.

Two of Three Houseboats on the River

Although I liked the town of Apalachicola, the marina left a lot to be desired.  We pay by the foot of boat normally at marinas.  The Water Street Hotel and Marina charged us $1.50 per foot which equated to $52.50 for the night.  For that price we got electric and water.  Only one restroom is provided for the marina patrons, and it is a combo toilet / sink / shower all in one room setup, so if someone is taking a shower, no one can use the toilet or wash their hands.

It seemed. however, that we were the only folks in the marina actually staying on our boat, so that last factor of only one restroom did not really come into play.  Still I would have expected more for my money.  Oh, wait, we did get the only slip with Water Hyacinth growing in it.  I guess that is the something more but not something we wanted!  Once again I was happy to be on my way.

Floating docks at Water Street Motel & Marina

Bouquet of growing and spreading Water Hyacinth.

On the way out of town we happened to see the houseboats again, but this time from the water side.

Green Houseboat and Yellow One Next to it

The trip of 26 nautical miles today from Apalachicola to Carabelle took only 3.5 hours compared to the longer days we have seen on the water recently. We had a bit of wind and waves but nothing to complain about.  Clark did not have any splash hit him in the face today, and no water came into the second state room through the hatch to soak my laptop or printer.  The sun was actually hot. All-in-all it was a good day on the water.

I assisted Clark throughout the day's travel lending my eyes to help spot those elusive red markers. While looking for markers / buoys, sometimes I saw dolphins playing near our boat and sometimes it was Clark who saw them, but the dolphins refused to come out when the camera was running.  Although he tried, Clark was unable to capture any dolphin pictures.

As we came into Carabelle it was pretty cool to see all the fishing vessels with their rigging and netting.

Carabelle, FL fishing vessels

We stopped at the fuel dock before heading out of our slip for the night. The wind wanted to push the bow out and the stern into the fuel dock, so we had a bit of work to get lines setup so that the bow was in and the stern out. Given the slips are a combination of poles to lasso with lines and 12 foot fixed finger docks, it looked like we had our work cut out for us after fueling to get the boat into our assigned slip.

After much deliberation where Clark tried to explain to me what he wanted me to do, we decided to go for it.  Under the pressure of multiple people watching the performance, I managed to get my line around the pole for the bow line on the first attempt.  Bravo me!  Even the manager of the marina applauded my work.

Since we are unfamiliar with the tides here and we are dealing with a fixed-dock situation, we spent a considerable amount of time tying and retying lines and fenders to position the boat in the best possible way such that it won't come up at high tide with the gunnel under the finger dock and cause damage to either one or the other or both.  We rigged up multiple fenders at various heights to protect the boat from damage while at the same time configuring the boat so that I could get off the boat relatively easily.

Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving "pot luck" dinner here at the marina.  Clark and I walked to the IGA store across the street and down a bit to buy some ingredients for our meal offering. The marina manager said the food expected thus far was seriously lacking in vegetables.  Since Clark and I like vegetables, we decided to buy fresh at the IGA and cook them for tomorrow.

When we got back from the grocery store, we stopped and talked with the marina manager and some locals hanging out at the marina. One, named Russell, is a Tow Boat driver for Tow Boat US.  He needs to get his boat pulled out, inspected for damage and repaired. During a recent rescue attempt in the Gulf for a Mainship 34' boat which was reportedly "dead in the water", Russell's rescue boat slid down a wave and did some damage to itself. His crew could not go on to get to the Mainship and had to get themselves to safety.

From the way he tells the story his crew should consider themselves very lucky indeed to have returned alive. Russell said he called the Coast Guard and told them he failed to recover the Mainship and they needed to take action themselves to assist the stranded people out there.  I hate to think what the folks on the Mainship had to deal with and what happened with their vessel.