Happy Turkey Day from Apalachicola

Trip Day:	248	Latitude:	29°43.92' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:	22	Longitude:	084°59.28'W	Locks Total:	108
Total Miles:	5,453	Location:	Apalachicola, FL    MM 351

White City free dock was a dark, quiet refuge for the night, although we were both restless after the tragic events of the day. 

The morning glow and rising steam enriched our early morning start.  It was difficult to relax into the day in anticipation of arriving in Apalachicola and the fact that it is Thanksgiving Day.  Text messages and emails were cheerfully received and sent wishing family and friends a great Turkey Day.  We had Skyped with the Davie family a couple of nights ago and knew they were excited about the holiday weekend. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We could hear guns in the distance and passed many blinds, but these two didn’t seem too intent on hunting.  Just down the Apalachicola River the hunters seemed to be done for the morning and on the way home for Thanksgiving dinner. 

 

 

 

 The River was lovely with Palm, Cedar and Pine trees as well as tall grasses, but soon we could see the big bridge crossing the bay and open water beyond. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turning into the channel running along the waterfront we found the Water Street Hotel & Marina where we docked. Jade and Monarch, both large boats, were docked here but leaving this afternoon to cross the Gulf to Tarpon Springs.  As soon as we were secure in the slip we took off for a quick walking tour of downtown Apalachicola.

 

 

 

 

Factoids:  Today we crossed below 30 Degrees Latitude —not since March 16th have we been this far south.  We also crossed back into Eastern Standard Time zone.

 

Prayer Request

Anyone reading this blog, we ask that you say a special prayer for a fifteen year old boy who watched his father die today.

  We were peacefully at anchor behind a little island off the GIWW when we heard a kid screaming.  Seeing the fishing boat, we determined it was a real cry for help.  We got the anchor up as quickly as possible and I called 911 while maneuvering our boat along side the fishing boat so Ron could board.  The boy’s father was floating in the water and Ron began to attempt to get him in his boat, but was unable to lift him.  Another fishing boat, with a man and his son, was about to pass us when we hailed him to assist.  The two men got the victim onboard and immediately began CPR.    Ron and the other man took off fast in the bass boat to meet the EMTs in White City (about five miles away).  I took the son onboard with me, and we headed to White City towing the second bass boat. 

We did what we could, but our attempts failed.  No fifteen year-old should have to watch his father die.  Our hearts go out to the family . . . We don’t even know their names. 

 

A Nice Visit to Panama City

Trip Day:	246	Latitude:	30°09.00' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:	0	Longitude:	085°39.86'W	Locks Total:	108
Total Miles:	5,392	Location:	Panama City, FL    MM 290

While doing the laundry this morning, one of the ladies in the office suggested we ride our bikes along the shoreline to St. Andrews three miles away.  Ron got the bikes out of the locker and we took off.  It was good advice—large, beautiful homes with huge oaks dripping with Spanish Moss were our reward for the effort.

 

   The view from the mainland looked out at the barrier islands and St. Andrews’s pass.  

 

 

 

St. Andrews was a small fishing village with a park-like setting and active shrimp industry. 

 The basic problem with riding three miles to a destination is that you have to ride  another three miles to return to your original spot.  It felt really good to ride so we tried not to complain and just enjoyed the view.

After a brief rest back on the boat, we took off on the bikes again to savor more of Panama City.  Along the waterfront we found this 9/11 memorial—small, but nicely done.   Tomorrow we head out again, bikes back in the locker until the next time we hit dry land. 

 

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19th

The engine was hesitant to start this morning, so while Ron did some diagnostic work I made biscuits to share with the girls.  We stayed behind as they followed the path along the bridge.     Once Ron completed the engine work, we got underway picking up the channel in

Choctawhatchee Bay.  It was cool, but the bright sun promised us a good day on the water.  After having crossed the bay we entered a cut known as the Grand Canyon which connects Choctawhatchee and West Bays.

 After a short time Sojourner, Jade, and Loopy Kiwi passed us—these are all looper boats we have met  before.  A chat on the VHF confirmed that we were all headed into Panama City today. 









Nearing the end of the narrow cut, we caught a glimpse of wide-open bay.  With clear air and good wind, we raised the main and unfurled the screecher for a nice run across the bay. 

 The big trawlers were destined for   marinas along Panama City Beach, but we chose to dock at the Panama City Municipal Marina which is right downtown.  As soon as we checked in at the office we took off on foot to explore the downtown area.  The marina had rows of covered slips that sort of matched the 1930,s vintage art deco theater building, The Martin.


 Dinner at Bayou Joe’s was a nice way to end our day. 

 

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18th

Well, it was just the Louise and us as we raised anchors to leave Joe’s Bayou.  The dolphins  visited early in the morning while we drank our coffee—nice!

It was cool to begin the morning, but we gradually shed layers as the sun climbed higher in the sky.  Katie and Jessie on their boat, Louise, had a great sail with us on the ICW. 

 

 

It was an uneventful day with only a few power boats on the bay.  Everyone must be at home watching NFL games. 

In no hurry, we only went 20 miles today into the Choctawhatchee Bay.   We crossed under the bridge then ran parallel with it and anchored close to the shore.  Reggie, Katie’s dog, seemed happy to have the shoreline to do a little running. 

 This spot proved to be a nice, quiet anchorage in spite of the bridge traffic.  After watching the news, we played  a few rounds of cards then settled into reading mode. 

 

Remember .  .  . you can spot us on Google Maps by clicking on Locatio: Panama City Municipal Marina in the footer below!

Continuing Along the Emerald Coast

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17th

Trip Day:	243	Latitude:	30°24.37' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:	41	Longitude:	086°29.19'W	Locks Total:	108
Total Miles:	5,332	Location:	Joe’s Bayou, FL    MM 230

What a great two days in the greater Pensacola area—places to visit, good food, local brew and good friendship.  The group went separate ways today since the sailboats Truant and Wish could not clear one of the bridges in the ICW due to mast height.  We pulled away from the dock with Betty L following us.  Jessie and Katie took their time and got away a little later.  The clear skies were nice after the past two days of cloud cover.  The bay was a little choppy and unfortunately we couldn’t sail since the wind was right on our nose. 

The beautiful sand dunes of Santa Rosa Island were on our right and homes were on our left most of way.  The channel was well marked making travel stress-free and relaxing.












The panhandle area is looking more and more like the waterways around Sarasota, making us yearn for home.  But we want to be careful not to hurry past interesting places and miss the flavor of the region.

 We passed Fort Walton Beach and Destin then started looking for our anchorage for the night.  We left the channel at marker 59 and headed up Joe’s Bayou.  This was a very protected little bayou, but quite residential.  We dropped  anchor crossing our fingers that the people in the large homes would not ask us to leave.  

The dolphin didn’t seem to mind that we had invaded their space.  Dinner was on our boat with Madeline, Bob, Katie and Jessie sharing our meal.  After   dinner we said a long goodbye to Madeline and Bob since they are planning to travel hard and get to the other coast of Florida before the end of the month.  They are leaving their boat and flying home to the snow for ski season.  Can you imagine choosing snow over a winter in the Florida Keys?

 

A great day in Pensacola

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH
 

Trip Day:	242	Latitude:	30°20.07' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:		Longitude:	087°08.66'W	Locks Total:	108
Total Miles:	5,249	Location:	Pensacola Beach, FLORIDA  MM 189

A big shout out to Betty and Marc’s neighbors who lent their Suburban to them to use as a tour bus today.  This motley crew of loopers were able to tour the  National Naval Aviation Museum for another great day in Pensacola. This museum of flight had a more extensive collection of aircraft than the Smithsonian.

 

The Blue Angles were featured in a four-story glass and steel atrium with four A-4 Skyhawks in a diving   diamond formation.  The history of flight was chronicled from a replica of the Wright Brother’s plane, WWI biplanes, WWII bombers, through space capsules.  

 

 

 

 

 

 There was a diorama that immersed visitors into the WWI Western front and an exhibit of Main Street USA in 1943 complete with a general store showing prices from that  period.  We hate to admit we remembered when a can of Campbell Soup was only 19 cents. 

We tried to imagine being a teenager sitting in a Erco Ball turret staring down the enemy in WWII.

This Banshee photo-reconnaissance plane was a one-of-a kind which was rescued from a park where children climbed on it in 1988.  It has been fully restored to its former glory. 

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We completed our visit with an IMAX movie about rescue missions.

 

The guys’ ears perked up when Marc suggested we go to the Oar House after the museum—imagine their disappoint when they realized it was a restaurant. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great lunch—all twelve of us. 

 

 

 

 

 

Betty proudly took us on a tour of Historic    Pensacola    Village with its quaint downtown built around town squares and parks.  The historic neighborhoods with their nicely restored homes were just lovely.   It appeared Pensacola has a healthy economy—we didn’t see any empty storefronts and it appeared to be a very active area. 

 

The guys felt it important to help support the local   economy by visiting the local microbrewery.  It just happened to be tour time—timing is everything!

 

After returning to the marina, Betty and Marc visited on our boat where we were able to catch up on their news and plans for the future.  We reminisced about the 5 months we traveled together and made plans to cruise together next year.

We ended the night with dinner at Hemmingway’s just across from the marina.  With full bellies and tired feet we said goodbye to Marc and Betty and thanked them for a great stay in Pensacola. 

Tomorrow will be another travel day since the weather looks  promising. 

 

The great state of FLORIDA!

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15th 
 

Trip Day:	242	Latitude:	30°20.07' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:	25	Longitude:	087°08.66'W	Locks Total:	108
Total Miles:	5,249	Location:	Pensacola Beach, FLORIDA  MM 189

We watched as Reggie waited patiently for Katie or Jessie to take him ashore.  There are so many boaters who have one or two dogs on board—a few cats, but not as many as one might expect. 

No one seemed in a hurry to get underway this morning, enjoying the peace of the anchorage and wanting to give the sun time to burn off the chill. 

Leaving Ingram Bayou, we watched as a man maneuvered his dinghy, with the halyard from a grounded sailboat, trying to heel the boat enough to get it to deeper water.  A little later we heard the ketch call Tow Boat US for assistance. 

                                                                           

It didn’t take long to know we were coming into civilization and both of us were tingling with anticipation.  Then we saw it  -  we had officially entered the state of Florida!  We put a Jimmy Buffett CD in the slot and turned up the volume.  With a nice wind, we were sailing at seven knots and singing along with the music.

 Then, just to sweeten the moment, we           spotted porpoise on our port stern, then more off the bow.  We were total tourists as we shouted to each other as they surfaced.  I ran to the bow to film, when I realized several had turned and were running with us surfing off the bow wake.  We passed by Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island on our way into the marina on Pensacola Beach.

We have been in touch with Betty and Marc (KatMan2) who live here and have offered to be our tour guides to show us their town. Within an hour of our arrival, Marc and Betty were on the dock—hugs all around—then we were off to see the fort.  Madeline, Bob and their son, John, joined the tour group. 

 

In 1559 Spanish explorer, Tristan de Luna, landed at Pensacola Bay with 11 ships and 1,400 people to  became the first European-established settlement in the continental U.S.  However, weeks later the colony was decimated by a hurricane which killed hundreds and sank 5 ships.  By 1561 the settlement was abandoned and the people returned to Mexico or Cuba. The     Spanish returned in 1698 and established Pensacola as an outpost to defend their claims to Spanish Florida.  Five flags have flown over the city; Spanish, French, British , Confederate States of America and United States.  Of course the original inhabitants were Native Americans and when the explorers arrived they made contact with a Muskogean-speaking tribe known as the Pensacola. 

 

 

 

 

 

After the War of  1812 The US fortified all of its major ports and the construction of Fort Pickens lasted from 1829 to 1834.  21.5 million bricks were used to build the fort and most of the construction was done by slave labor.  The fort is located on the tip of Santa Rosa    Island in order to guard the  island and the entrance to the harbor.  Some locals contend that when shots were fired in January 1861 these were the first shots fired by the United States in the Civil War.

Despite repeated Confederate threats, Fort Pickens remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War.  In 1886 a train pulled into Pensacola with 16 Apache men; Geronimo and Naiche, the youngest son of Cochise, were among the Apaches held at Fort Pickens for two years.  Their wives and children were not allowed to join them for a year, when the local newspaper reported that Geronimo was happy now that the sounds of women singing and children playing could be heard in the fort. 

By 1923 two 12-inch Langdon guns were built at Fort Pickens with 17-foot thick concrete casements.  These massive guns weighed 58 tons, fired one-foot diameter shells weighing 1,000 pounds, over 9 miles.  Unfortunately the guns are no longer at the fort—they were sold for scrap when the fort closed in 1947. 

We greatly enjoyed our tour of the fort which is now a National Park.  We ended a great day with dinner at Betty and Marc’s house on Pensacola Bay.  We counted ourselves lucky that they had made it home before this group of loopers arrived and could welcome us to their home town.  Betty grew up on Pensacola Beach and Marc is a historian so they were perfect hosts!

 

Back On The ICW!

Trip Day:	241	Latitude:	30°19.25' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:	42	Longitude:	087°33.44'W	Locks Total:	108
Total Miles:	5,224	Location:	Ingram Bayou- AL

With light winds predicted for today, several boats got underway early despite the 38 degree temperature.  The winds were on our beam so we raised the main, then unfurled the jib and we were sailing!  Katie and Jessie on Louise were so excited since they just had their mast stepped after having shipped it from Chicago to the marina in Mobile Bay.  It was a great sail with porpoise sightings and bright blue sky.  When the winds got light we motor-sailed, but still had a good day on the water. 

Near the end of Mobile Bay we had to dodge posted Oyster Beds before we reached the Intercoastal Waterway.

A  little before noon a group of us made the decision to stop at LuLu’s for lunch along the intercoastal.  LuLu is Jimmy Buffet’s little sister and her restaurant seemed to be a local hotspot.  Fun was had by all and it was a nice         diversion and good food. 

It was great to see shrimp boats instead of tugs and barges, although we did see one tug.  It felt like home today—salt air, brown pelicans, porpoise and osprey.    

 

At marker 71 we turned to port and entered Ingram Bayou which is listed as a four star anchorage in the guide books.  There were three sailboats already at anchor, so we motored past them and tucked into the back of the cove around the corner from them.   What a nice spot. 



















We immediately spotted an Osprey in the trees, then thirty   minutes later a  porpoise circled the boats while feeding.  

We settled in, read for a little while then began closing up the boat since the temps will be in the forties again.