A day off in Apalachacola.

Today being Saturday, it was lovely to get up late (around 7.45am) turn on the heaters and make some muffins before showering and getting on with the day. We had a hot chocolate with breakfast this morning.
I had somehow been making muffins all night! Sheesh...why??
I think this might have come about because I had looked in the freezer and discovered that I had no muffins to call upon for snacks for our long night on the Gulf.
Anyway....upon getting  up and pulling drapes, I found it was a glorious day, and the light was perfect for those early morning photos. I armed myself with two cameras and shot outside. Not before putting my down jacket, that is.

We are directly in front of this old waterfront store house, which, by the way, is For Sale!

On the other side of the boat we look out on the glorious marshes with all the bird life.

Behind us are some Houseboats and a store of some kind.

Not a good photo, but this Eagle was terrorizing the ducks and other waterfowl, and screeching fit to be tied.

 

Here we are from the dock, so that you can see the relationship to everything I just mentioned.

Robyn and Dave's 50ft Menorquin (made in Menorca, Spain) sitting in front of us. They use their folding bicycles all the time, they said. We have thought of getting some ourselves. Not made that decision yet. We walk everywhere otherwise....

...and pull our little red cart. Waz is ahead of me on our way to the Piggly Wiggly supermarket about 8 short blocks down Hwy 98, this road.

We soon took our jackets off and then our sweaters. It was so hot on the sunny side of the street.

All decked out for Christmas!

Love the phone booth with 'weathered' phone book! One of the few phone boxes that we have come across that actually has the appliance in place.! THAT is significant!!!

 

 

Of course we passed the 'Dead Center' of town

 

This is a very historic cemetery.

Don't you love the name of the Supermarket???and they had their own Smokehouse!

On the way home....Frosty had died in the heat!...

...and I fell in love with this little electric car. Perfect for a lovely little town like this

More Christmas decking.

The Liquor store is directly opposite.

And this is very decorative, next door to the Liquor store.

See the red mark on the wall? New county regulations say that is where the finished floor level will be on this old building because of storm surge during hurricanes.

When we asked the Harbormaster today, why there were no bathrooms down our way, he said it was because they couldn't build down at the dock level, and would have to make the building so high as to be unsuitable.

They wanted to charge us $1.50 per foot for the rent of the dock for the night (well, PER night) but we argued that everywhere we have been so far we have paid only $1.00 per foot, and we had all the amenities  such as laundry, bathrooms with showers, trash pick up etc. He seemed to take our complaints personally, but we stuck to our guns and were eventually charged only $1 per foot.

 

One of the things we love about this town is that they have gone out of their way to preserve the Historic buildings and indeed the history of the place which is significant.

 

We went by the Maritime Museum this afternoon, after paying for our dock, and talked to a young woman there who originally came from Carrabelle. She was happy to talk about the various Hurricanes that had come through the town and the area, because we had asked.

 

We shared a captains basket (shrimp, oysters, and fish) at a family run grill, for lunch, and shared a Key Lime Pie for dessert. As I have said before, we should just order one meal and share everything, that way we don't walk away groaning.  It worked! We did go for a walk around town afterwards, and down to the far end of the town to other docks to see if we could find any more 'Loopers', but we didn't see any there.

Earlier, while on our way back from the supermarket, we saw a couple who looked like they might be boaters...yes! and not just boaters, but 'Loopers'. We met Charlie and Kim, and were invited to come down and talk to them on their boat. We did, as they were parked right beside the Harbormasters door.

They are finishing their Loop in Palm Beach, and because they have a fast boat..(48ft SeaRay) which does 20knots, they are doing their Gulf Crossing during daylight hours. They offered us the charts for Georgian Bay, Canada, and I think we might take them up on their offer. They are selling their boat and returning to Seattle, WA, for Christmas. They had a professional Captain on board with them to help them cross. He just happens to be Charlies ex-brother-in-law, too:)

 

Like others we have met, they will cross their wake, as the saying goes, meaning they are back where they started their looping journey, once they get back to West Palm Beach. Dave and Robyn are trying to figger out what they will do once they tie up at their dock in Longboat Key Marina, Sarasota, FL.

They have a cottage in Nth West New York, Batavia, more precisely, and will go back there at the end of their journey. We share many traits with them, as we do with so many other liveaboard boaters...funny that!:)

 

We are going to have breakfast with them across the road at café con Leche, and then wait for them to refuel further up the dock, before making our start to the Gulf crossing.

We are headed towards Carabelle, but will not go to the township there, turning into East Pass to go between Dog Island and St Georges Island and out into the Gulf of Mexico.

The trip will begin here at around noon, and we should be at East Pass by around 3pm at the latest.

This puts us where we should be for the beginning of a long night of travel across the 'pond' to Tarpon Springs where we have booked the night following.

 

WE don't quite know yet how we will pass the time...19 hours non-stop motoring...but I made a Pasta e Fagoli (Italian Bean soup) for the trip and some new choc. chip, ginger, pecan cookies.

Waz has 'fixed' the autopilot so we don't anticipate having to 'steer' the whole way. Lets hope she behaves, and we don't have to do that. It would make for a looooooooong journey.

We will sleep well tonight and wake refreshed and ready to go tomorrow.

Saying our prayers that we are well prepared, as are our companions, and that we have a safe and uneventful journey.

 

Au revoir, see you on the 'other side'.