Dec. 6th - Our first full day in Appalachicola

I woke up to a yellow glow coming through the windows and realized that we had the perfect view of a sunrise over the bay.  I quickly swung open the salon door to step out on the dock and was a little shocked to find about a 3 foot gap between the boat and the dock! We had dropped so far when the tide went out I had to climb up and hope I didn't fall between the boat and the dock trying to go up and across at the same time.  I was able to get some great photos of the sunrise and some dolphins swimming along side the boat.  The difficulty came when I wanted to get back on the boat.  Now I had to reach over three feet and step down.  We have had some challenges getting off and on our boat on this trip but nothing like this one!  We spent the day riding our bikes around town. First on our list was to find Tom some oysters. He loves to tell the story about buying a 1/2 a gunny sack full of fresh oysters right off the boat for $3.50 on our last visit.  I didn't want to burst his bubble by reminding him of inflation so I didn't say anything as we rode our bikes on this mission.  Ye of little faith! Guess that's me, because Tom did better this visit. We stopped at one of the processing houses where a young man was wrapping up a pallet of boxes filled with fresh oysters.  When Tom asked if he could purchase some the gentleman indicated they did didn't sell to individuals but he did ask how many we wanted. When Tom replied 2-3 dozen the young man replied, oh that's all, that's no problem. He found a plastic bag and filled it from the conveyor belt. When asked what we owed him he said, no charge!  So, back to the boat we headed with four dozen plus free oysters!  I don't like oysters but I must tell you the oysters from Apalachicola are known all over the country as the best there are and they did look nicer than I have seen Tom have in a long time! On our way back we stopped to buy an oyster shucker, fresh shrimp and a grouper fillet. A great evening seafood feast on our grill was enjoyed!

Dec. 5th; Our Run to Apalachicola

We left Sun Harbor at 6:45am. We wanted to arrive at Apalachicola with plenty of time to tie up before night fall.  The weather forcast was calling for the winds to continue to build, the temperature to drop and rain to come in starting tomorrow afternoon.  We had been to Apalachicola by car several years ago and really enjoyed ourselves.  We thought it would be a great place to hunker down for a few days while the storm passed.  We had one more bay to cross and a lake but there was enough of a break in between to enjoy a pretty smooth ride. Near Mexico Beach the strip of land between the intracoastal and the gulf was so narrow we were able to see the gulf on the otherside.  As we got closer to Apalachicola the banks of the intracoastal began to change.  We no longer had tall grass and white sand to pass. Instead we found ourselves pointing out the strange and beautiful shapes that the cypress stumps formed along the banks. With a little imagination you saw everything from an angel to a bear.  When we entered Appalachicola river we had to be careful of the crab pots and make sure we stayed within the markers because of the shallow depth.  We chose to stay at the public marina which was a very long dock with a few slips along the shore.  We literally inched up to the dock keeping a close eye on the depth finder. There were no cleats on the dock. Our lines were looped around the poles and tied back to the cleats on our boat.  This also allowed us to float up and down easily with the changing tide.  We had the last spot on the dock that had access to electricity and the closest to the Bay.  We had a beautiful view of the Bay off our bow.