We spent several nights at the Dog River Marina, changing engine oil in generator, doing errands, and buying some really fresh shrimp at a local store, "Mud Bugs"! The marina is not too fancy but the folks were very nice. They had a loaner car and the diesel fuel price was pretty good.
There was one other 'looper' boat from Texas there when we arrived but were joined two days later by "Marquesa" and another looper boat that was up for sale at the marina after doing most of the loop. Their broker brought a "low country boil" to the evenings 'docktail' party; shrimp, spicy sausage, and boiled red potatoes! Some good!
We had moved the boat around to the fuel dock late that afternoon, topped up the tanks with diesel, and spent the night at the fuel dock. Off at daybreak for our run down Mobile Bay which has a reputation for being nasty. Not that day, we had a fine ride down to the ICW.
About five miles after entering the ICW we came to "LuLu's" restaurant on the water. LuLu's is owned by Lucy Buffett, Jimmy's sister and we decided to stop for an early lunch - I think this is pretty much a first for us!
We had a great lunch and sat out a heavy downpour while eating - of course we had neglected to close up all the windows and upper enclosure so there was a bit of scrambling to prevent everything getting soaked.
We wound our way up the ICW and finally entered Florida waters after over 5 months of traveling.
We continued on until we reached Ft. McRee and an anchorage behind a large spoil island (created when they dredged out the channels).
Went for a dinghy ride exploring the remains of the fort, had a swim off the beach and were joined by several dolphins - pretty neat.
Off the next morning headed across Pensacola Bay. The day started off fine but windy. We got dive bombed by a large military transport plane headed for the large military (naval) base.
And passed this crazy tower on the beach - we have no idea what it is used for, perhaps a flight control tower but it was a long way from the base.
As we entered Pensacola Bay, the wind really picked up and we had a very lumpy ride ride across and through Santa Rosa Sound. We went off the straight course line and hugged the north shore of Choctawhatchee Bay to get some protection from the north winds and anchored about two-thirds of the way across the bay as close to shore as we dared. Turned out to be an OK anchorage despite the wind howling at night.
Off early the next morning, wind still blowing pretty hard but once we cleared this bridge we got into a canal to West Bay. Got lucky there with the tide pushing us along fast at 10 mph.
In what seemed the middle of nowhere we came across this major ship yard where they were repairing some pretty large boats - one looked like it was meant for servicing the offshore oil rigs.
Made it to the Panama City marina by 12:30 where we got a slip for the night. I biked around town trying to find a West Marine store (which I eventually did) in hopes of buying some better charts of the gulf - no luck.
Off the next morning across East Bay where we traveled with this shrimper boat for several miles.
Saw another shipyard where they we building a freighter in pieces.
And then down a long canal to the Apalachicola River where we took on fuel again at the Apalachicola Marina and spent the night at their docks. Pretty basic facilities (they cater to fueling the shrimp boats) but a short walk into the town of Apalachicola which we really liked. The town, called "Apalach" by the locals was founded in 1831 and was once regarded as the third largest port in the Gulf of Mexico.
We had dinner at the Boss Oyster House - fantastic oysters! This area is sometimes referred to as the 'forgotten coast' of Florida because it is so far off the beaten path. There are more than 700 miles of relatively undeveloped coastal shoreline with four barrier islands. It really is a beautiful area and we'd like to come back and explore by car.
Left the next morning for a lumpy ride (waves hitting us on the beam) but only had to go about 29 miles to get to Carrabelle - the usual jumping-off point for folks headed directly across the gulf to Clearwater, FL near Tampa. Arrived at the early afternoon marina and got assigned a slip that was pretty bad - had to be a gymnast to get off the boat at high tide.
We spent several nights there with two other looper boats, one was "Sea Tiger" which we had first met months ago at the very start of our trip n the Okeechobee waterway. We biked around the small town, and saw some of the local attractions (which were pretty few). This is at the 'bottle house' where they had a lighthouse, a small house and other art all crafted from old bottles.
Carrabelle boasts what is the "world's smallest police station" - apparently this is where the chief operated from years ago. Pretty fancy!
We managed to find some pretty good fresh shrimp and our last day before leaving we had fried oyster hoagies at a restaurant near the marina, "The Fisherman's Wife".
We departed Carrabelle on October the 7th at sunrise, Sea Tiger about an hour behind us. They were headed for Steinhatchee (about 80 miles away), we were hedging our bets and we headed for St. Marks, about 50 miles away. Despite a reasonable weather forecast, the seas were rougher than hoped for although they did settle down in the afternoon.
All day Valerie felt under the weather: chills, queasy, weak and when we anchored at the mouth of the St. Marks River she wasn't doing well. Sea Tiger showed up an hour later saying the seas were too rough and they were headed for Shields Marina, about 6.5 miles up the river; a long, narrow and winding channel. Given the way Valerie was feeling we called the marina and got a slip.
Shields Marina caters mostly to small boaters from Tallahassee but does have a few larger slips. It has a great ship's store, good facilities, great people and there are two restaurants and a small grocery store. And stone crab fishing boats!
We were very surprised when this barge went right past our stern headed out the river. Where the heck did he come from? And am I glad we didn't encounter him on the way in!
So we decided to leave the boat here for several months. We need to get back to Nova Scotia to close up the house there (we had already booked tickets) so we rented a car and headed back to the house in Venice. We'll come back in December and finish the "loop" then.
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