The Next Goal

After leaving Pensacola our next goal is to get staged for the crossing from Carrabelle, Florida which is on the mid-portion of the Pan Handle to Tarpon Springs which is just north of Tampa.  The typical crossing involves a 170 miles of open Gulf of Mexico crossing. The greatest distance offshore would be about 50 miles.

To get to Carrabelle we had a few stops along the way. To get underway though, we had to get out of the "skinny" canal from the NAS.

When you boat here you must be mindful of your position ALL the time.

The depths are usually very shallow as a rule as seen on our display. The depth portion is the 7.5 feet on the screen.

Our next stop was Ft Walton Beach. On the way we passed some unusual sites in the skyline including a Ferris wheel amongst the condos on the beach front,

an architecturally interesting radar tower,

and our first barge coming at us under a bridge so the space was a little tight. There is a jargon used on the waterways that falls back many years to the old sternwheelers that is still used today.

When passing tows who have the right-of-way, you typically talk to the tow captain on the VHF radio to ask which side of his barge he would like you to pass on. He will either say "the one whistle", "the two whistle", or "either side". If it is the "one", we veer to the right; if it is the "two", we veer to the left. We chose to just get out of the way all together as there was no room left between the barge and the bridge.

That evening we spent the night at Shalimar Marina in Ft. Walton Beach after traveling about 47 miles. Debi cooked us up a batch of fresh chili...

and ate while we enjoyed the birds...

 and a nice sunset.

From Ft. Walton Beach we navigated to the Panama City Marina which was about 66 miles away. Along the way we entered a portion of the dug out ICW.

There was a dredging operation going on which was interesting to see.

In this area they pump the spoils [the "dredgings"] up over the top of the bank and fill up settling ponds. After the sand settles out, they drain the water back into the ICW.

Further up the canal we approached another barge and took him on the "one whistle" this time. It is beginning to sound like we are getting some experience under our belt and know what to do!

Once in Panama City we walked the town where we had our first upclose and personal "gator" sighting.

The good news is that it was stuffed and in an antique shop.
Also in the store there was an old "hatch cover" from one of the old Liberty ships from WW II. It was priced at $350. Those that have known us for a long time know that we used to own over 300 of these hatch covers when I was in college. Where are they all now?

We finished this day off with a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant and a short walk home. We find that we are getting anxious to get closer to Carrabelle to be in place to make the crossing but still have some way to go to get there.

The next day took us to Apalachacola. These names are a lot easier to spell than they are to pronounce at first. On our passage there we went through some very typical Panhandle swamp country complete with shore birds,

fish camps,

and derelict boats.

Debi swore she heard banjo music so we sped up a bit!

Along the way in what seemed to be a very secluded part of the ICW, we passed a shipyard which was in the process of building 3 new ships. At least someone is building something in the US yet. This was at Allanton, Fl.

Apalachacola was one of our favorite stops so far. We were easily able to walk the town and had dinner at Boss Oysters,
a fresh daily specialty oyster restaurant...

with many different recipes on its menu.

Part of our walk led us to a maritime antique store.

It was full of crab pot floats...

statues...

and signs. I can not argue a bit with the pirates rules and have adopted them for In My Element.

Later that evening we went to their local theater and listened to two musicians from New Orleans play their guitars and sing their own original songs. It was fun to get out for the evening. The theater was originally built in 1911 and had recently been renovated. They did a great job and are rightfully proud of it.

The next day took us to Carrabelle arriving Sunday afternoon only to learn that the next safe "crossing window" would be Friday afternoon at the earliest and perhaps Saturday morning. I think that we will get to know this small town very well before we go. We have fueled up and prepped the boat for the crossing already. Now we are waiting for Mother Nature to cooperate.

Nautical Word For The Day: [from seatalk.info]

Cap:

1. Finish piece.

2. A heavy block of wood installed at the masthead for supporting a topmast.

From Great Loop Jargon:

3. From our experience this is a slang term in dentistry used to describe a crown that is used to restore a tooth.