December 19– 23 Update– I’m sure some of you were starting to worry!!

This part of the Gulf coast is referred to as the Forgotten Coast.

We spent two nights in Port St. Joe; had dock tails wilh Loopers from 4 other boats.  We checked out the town and pick up groceries and other supplies .

On Sunday we left Port St Joe at 10:00, following  two other looper boats Dream Catcher and Bucket List through  the 5 miles Gulf County canal and then through several creeks which make up the Intracoastal waterway.

You can see how close the crab pots are to the marked channel in this picture below.

We followed the channel through Lake Wimico into the Jackson River and finally the Apalachicola River.

We reached our destination- the Water Street hotel and Marina in Apalachicola at 2:00.

I walked into town and checked out some of the stores.  Since it was Sunday, the slow season and so close to Christmas, many were not open.  In one store with trinkets, They had a bin of jewellery made from broken brooches—one of the pieces had a maple leaf, with the word Winnipeg across it.  What’s the odds of seeing something like that 1500 miles away from home.  I asked and was told the jewelry was made by a group of women in Knoxville Tennessee.

That night we went to the Raw Oyster Bar for supper.  I had oysters with cheese and Jalapenos.  I’m not sure if I can eat them raw yet—but may before the week is out.  We are in the oyster capital of North America and we could be here awhile.  We’re waiting for a weather window, with very little wind, so that our 140 mile overnight crossing to Tarpon Springs will be a relatively smooth crossing.    It is now Wednesday, things don’t look good until  well after Christmas day.  So we wait—it started raining during the Monday night and is still drizzling Tuesday afternoon.  They are predicting high water in places in Alabama and Florida which may result in flash flooding.  It’s now Wednesday afternoon and we just had another shower.

We been playing Euchre the past couple evenings with Pat and Dick from Dream Catcher—so far the women are leading the matches.  We talked about a joint Christmas meal on Friday, with Turkey, so Andy and I walked to Piggly Wiggly and back ( 2.4 miles) to pick up a small Turkey today.  Oysters for Christmas just doesn’t seem right!  On our walk about town we thought about going to church.

 

If I don’t post again before Christmas, We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Here we are in front of the  town tree in Apalachicola-  a net with crab trap markers.