Florida's Forgotten Coast

Florida's Forgotten Coast is located along the Gulf of Mexico in the North Florida's panhandle along the Big Bend Scenic Byway. It consists of Apalachicola, St. George Island, Eastpoint, which is a stones through away from Apalach and areas surrounding them.  We visited this area by car and now by boat. They are rich with history and as quaint as can be.  Gone are the tall condo's and hotels seen along the panhandle and in South Florida. What you will find are fishing villages, beautiful old homes, great shops and lots of yummy sea food. 
Apalachicola was established in 1831. Shipping cotton was it's biggest industry and it soon became the third largest port on the Gulf.  By the 1950's the waterfront was lined with brick warehouses used to handle the shipping of cargo for Europe. Now they are quaint shops and resturants. The industry soon turned to lumber from the areas cypress forests and then to oysters and seadfood.  Apalach(as the locals call it) is known as the Oyster capital of the world. Their oysters are known to be the cleanest and healthiest that exist and Tom can attest to their beauty! Apalach and its neighbor Eastpoint make up Franklin County. They harvest more than 90%  of Florida's oysters and 10% of the nationwide supply.  If you enjoy a layed back vacation without the fancy beaches and hotels you may want to check out Apalachicola. They have lots of great events throughout the year and a very active theatre that brings in major plays and concerts.
St. George Island is really a tourist area.  The island is long and consists of many rental houses along with a plantation of very large summer homes for stars.  Once on the island everything is there that you need and you can get around by bike rather than car.  There is a great park at one end of the island for hiking and exploring. We spent a spring break there and really enjoyed it as it never felt crowded, we could walk to the local watering holes, restaurants and shops and we had the gulf on one side and ocean on the other.
Carrabelle is not really an official part of the Forgotten Coast but there is so much history there and it is a quiet sleepy little town so I chose to include it.  The town of Carrabelle was incorporated in 1893.  It had an eclectic beginning which included the production of turpentine, maritime shipping, sponge diving, moonshining and military training.  Carrabelle was the sight of military training for WWII's landing at Normandy.  As we stood by the plaque on the beach commemorating the training sight it wasn't hard to imagine the boats and men charging the shore over and over again in preparation for that historical event. Carrabelle is also the home of the worlds smallest police station.  It was actually used as a police station for years.  The shops there are interesting and the area fun to explore. 

                                              Shrimp boats at dock in Apalachicola

                                                           One of the local eatery's

                                                      The Inn at Apalachicola

                                                   A view of St. George condo rentals

                                               A view of St. George Island from the top of the lighthouse

                                  Worlds smallest police statation in Carrabelle - sorry its sideways

                                                     The training sight on the beach

Dec. 15th Crossing the Gulf

One by one we pulled out of C-Quarters at 1pm in the afternoon to cross the Gulf of Mexico. The first 2-3 hours out were rough enough that holding on to something when standing or moving about, was a necessity. Peanut had a tough time finding a comfortable place to lay. I was a little worried that she was getting sea sick but once I got her off the floor and up on the bench seat she seemed to do much better. Just before sunset the waves settled down to 1-2's. The sunset was beautiful but it also meant darkness was soon to follow. The fact that there were seven of us relieved my anxiety a little. The night was clear and the air crisp. Without the interference of city lights the stars twinkled with an amazing brightness. Without the light of the moon that had not risen the sky and water appeared as one. Was it a star or a boat that we saw on the horizon? We had to use our radar to help us decide more than once.It was almost 9:30, when the moon finally showed himself. It was a half moon that provided a beautiful sheen over the water, a little more light and in turn comfort level. Tom ran out of steam about 11:00. He slept on the bench beside me until about one. I enjoyed rockin to the oldies on my IPod while he slept. I finally laid down about 2 and dosed in and out until almost 4. Tom took another nap from 5-6:30, this time on the futon on the aft deck. A much more comfortable choice. The drone of the diesel engines was my companion and I wondered for a moment what it would be like if I shut them off, what would I hear, how quiet would it really be out here? Would it be peaceful? Would it be erie? I woke Tom up at 6:30 so I could take a few sunrise photos and let him know we would be making a course change soon. The other boats were going on to Clearwater. We were going to leave the caravan at Tarpon Springs. The sun came up like a ball of fire rising up from the water. A sunrise I won't forget because of it's beauty and the the light it brought to eyes that were weary from the strain of traveling all night. It was an amazing 22 hour journey, one that we are glad we did but would not like to make a habit of.
                                    

                                                            Sunset on the Gulf of Mexico

 I had an led light that clipped onto my baseball hat. Used it to check charts and get around the boat in the dark.  It really worked well!

 Peanut was very unsettled. She could not figure out why we were moving and not going to bed. She stayed very close to me the entire night.

                                                  An amazing sunrise on the Gulf of Mexico

Other activities in Carrabelle

Our original plan was one night in Carrabelle then hop to Steinhatchee for the weekend as the weather window to cross to Tarpon Springs would not open until Monday. A discussion with the locals about Steinhatchee and the decision to be in the boat parade on Saturday changed our plan. We would wait until Monday and better weather for the hop to Steinhatchee. As fate would have it the weather window did not open on Monday.  By Tuesday afternoon nine other boats arrived from Apalach. Each morning the discussion over coffee centered on the weather and the "window of opportunity" for crossing and the evenign found us gathered for  appetizers and drinks on the deck. We had now been here 5 days but never felt "stuck ". We had lots of company and there was plenty to see and do. By Tuesday evening the word on the dock was that the "window of opportunity" was now Thursday. This meant our original plan of following the bend and traveling only in the daylight was out the window.  We would have to do an overnight crossing. We spent the next two days double checking systems, coordinating departure times and charts and sightseeing. Our sightseeing included the following;  six of us riding our bikes three miles to the Carrabelle Light House and climbing the 138 steps to the top; riding our bikes to the beach; hiring a shuttle service to take us to St. George Island were we walked around and climbed 98 steps to the top of the St. George Island lighthous; and taking our dingy to check out the backwaters.  Unfortunately the motor conked out and I had to row against the wind and apposing tide flow (not fun) to get us back. Tom and Don finished that day working on the motor!!  By Wednesday evenings social and review meeting there were now 11 boats waiting to cross. Seven of us who traveled about the same speed would go together.  Two boats were gas and would have to make a run to Steinhatchee for fuel and the last two were leaving later in the day because they would run at a faster speed.

                                                   Crooked River Lighthouse in Carrabelle

                                          One of our Looper social hours on the deck of C-Quarters

                 7 lbs of shrimp from the "shrimp lady" at $5.00 per pound - took forever to behead!

                                     The narrow stops to the top of the Crooked River lighthouse

                                   A bear crossing sighn along the beach front road in Carrabelle

                                                       The St. George Island Lighthouse

                                                 The ladder to the very top of the St. George Lighthouse

Dec. 10+ Boat Parade & More at Carrabelle

Friday, our first full day at Carrabelle was sunny but very cool. A group of local gentlemen were standing around a fire barrel and it didn't take Tom long to grab a cup of coffee and join them.  Kim provided details about a boat parade that would take place on Saturday night.  She asked us to participate as the marina needed one more boat to break a tie for the marina with the most boats in the parade. So it was off to the dollar store on our bicycles for decorations. We had a little tree to tie on the bow and a fiber optic tree for the inside but no lights. After several trips to the dollar store and some help from Don and Theresa we were ready!  We finished the day riding our bikes around town and hitting a few of the shops.  The boat parade was a first for us and great fun.  There were 19 boats of different sizes and Tom and I were both impressed with the extensive lights and decorations on some of them.  The celebration after the parade was held at C-Quarters and trophies were given out to the winners. To our surprise, and I think kindness of the judges, we won second place for boats larger than 36 foot.

Our boat lights - you can't see the tree on our roof

The pig with wings tied to our dingy

 Sharing our trophy with friends Don and Theresa who helped us decorate and rode with us in parade

Thursday December 9th - The beginning of an extended stay in Carabelle

Our three hour hop to Carrabelle from Apalachicola was a little stressful at first as the depth in the channel was only six foot. We had to be extremely mindful of our position between the markers and the crab pots along the edges. This was really apparent when we met a shrimp boat coming in and moved over from center to pass him. We noticed he really was not moving over from center so it was a close pass. When we moved over and the depth quickly dropped to four feet we had an instant lesson on why he wasn't moving!  Once out on the open waters of Apalalachicola Bay and headed for Carrabelle we could relax.
When we started down the Carrabelle channel we were back on our toes. We were told to follow the markers closely. It was a fair distance down the channel to C-Quarters marina and the scenery replicated a quaint fishing town. Except for a slight panic attack when I saw birds sitting on a protruding oyster bed in the middle of the channel, which just so happened to be directly behind the marina, all went well.  There was plenty of depth and room to maneuver.  Kim, from the marina, and our friends Don and Theresa (who were already there), provided plenty of guidance into our slip.
C-Quarters presented itself as a very relaxed, comfortable marina. It was an older building with a large deck with a picnic table and lots of rocking chairs.  Because the weather on the gulf would not cooperate we spent 7 days at C-Quarters instead of one and enjoyed every minute of it because of the relaxed, friendly atmosphere.
 

Dec 8th: Ah! Oh! Where is all the water?

The storm passed through overnight as predicted and the sun tried to peek through the clouds now and then.  I slid the door open to climb up onto the dock and when I looked down thought to myself, Houston I think we have a problem. We were on the bottom.  It seems the wind combined with the tide to blow more water out into the bay than usual and all six of us parked along the dock were on the bottom. When I climbed up on the dock the water on the other side had receded so far there was a 55 gallon drum that was half buried on the bottom now showing. A raccoon was trying to dig inside, looking for breakfast. Birds were running up and down in the mud taking advantage of items they usually cannot get too.  Our 11:00 departure time was obviously out the window.  Tom and I decided to take advantage of the extra time and enjoy one more spin around Apalach.  It is such a neat fishing village, with so much great history beyond being recognized as having the best oysters in the nation if not the world.  I took pictures of the old theatre that has been reopened and has more plays and concerts than any in our area at home as well as a few of the other buildings.  We have met several couples that told us how they came for a visit by boat or car and never left. That would be easy to do. About 1:30 in the afternoon the water had come up about a foot so we decided to try and get out. Several of the other boaters helped push us out away from the dock and Tom let Laughter drift out a little more before giving her a little nudge. He let her drift then gave her another nudge and we inched our way out like this until his nudge stopped stirring up mud.  We followed the channel markers out very carefully as beyond the markers in either direction means instant grounding.  Below are a few pictures of downtown Apalachicola.

Dec. 7th - The storm arrived

No sun this morning but the temperature wasn't bad at 60 degrees. It started to rain but since the temperature was warm I rode my bike to an Internet cafe anyway. The cafe' was soon buzzing with locals who came in for their morning coffee and conversation.  It was hard to concentrate on what I was doing, listen to the conversations, and answer questions about where I was from but I did enjoy myself. By the time I left the cafe' the rain had stopped but the temperature had dropped 15 degrees. We spent most of the day close to or inside the boat. Late in the afternoon the sun did shine for a little while providing an opportunity for the boaters along the dock to gather and visit bundled up like we would have been in Chicago.  By evening the temperature dropped into the thirties!  We learned that the couple in the sailboat next to us did not have heat on their boat so Tom lent them one of our electric heaters. The wind picked up significantly after nightfall, gusting to a reported 34mph. I was thrilled yesterday that we were the last boat along the dock closest to the Bay because of the beautiful unobstructed view. Tonight, not so thrilled because of the need to practice my balancing skills as I moved throughout the boat. If I listened to music in bed to match the movement of the boat rock and roll would have been the choice over soft rock. I even worried a little about Peanut.  If she was going to experience seasickness on any part of our trip tonight was going to be the night. The storm was supposed to pass through tonight and the wind settle by mid morning so we planned to leave about 11:00am tomorrow for our 21/2 hour trip to Carrabelle.