Day Forty Two

It seems only fitting that our departure from Steinhatchee remind us of  the words spoken by  Martin Luther King..."Free at last, Free at last, Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!". 

Barely daylight

We left Steinhatchee this morning at 6:15 and pulled into Carrabelle about 3.  I waved goodbye to my buddy Walt, who had  become my 6:30 a.m. coffee pal.  It was a perfect crossing; light winds, small waves and no weather anywhere.  Despite that, the boat still rocked and rolled with the light swells but with the non-drowsy dramamine Bev and I took, we were fine.  Bev basically slept all morning in the main salon, and I decided I needed to go above to help Tom navigate.  My navigating consisted of sitting upright on the side seat, with my head leaning against the rail, with Tom waking me up whenever he needed help.  I can't imagine what I would have been like had I taken the drowsy version....I'm still fuzzy headed. At one point I awoke to find Tom had put a note in my logbook which said "I had to cross alone due to these two druggies falling asleep".   Finally, when we changed direction and entered the bay, Bev woke up and I was able to go below to snooze on the settee for an hour. 

Bev an Sunrise

We saw the usual sights, pods of dolphin who came to play in our wake (several babies...it's spring, I guess), saw those funny skipper fish who jump out of the water, walk on the water for a few yards, then pop back in...saw a huge fish that I think was pompano swim by (the water was very clear despite being 39 foot in depth) and we also saw a couple of pilot fish, not to mention schools of fish creating disturbances in the water.  We did see several boats coming the opposite direction as us

The new manifold worked beautifully.  When we got to Carrabelle I called Chuck, the mechanic, and thanked him for doing such a good job.  The heat lasar instrument which Dave gave me before we left worked beautifully.  It was a great way to ensure our temperature was under control. 

My toes in white sand

Carrabelle is a town full of transients both coming and going from and to Florida's west coast.  This bay is called Deadman's bay, and when the weather is not good (which I'm told is often), many boaters have told real horror stories about the crossing.  There are T-shirts which declare "I crossed deadman's bay".  Many boats go directly from Tampa to here, or here to Tampa, but those are usually sailboats which take 24 hours or twin engine boats which can cross at 25 MPH.  Given what I now know about the washing machine effect of a powerboat, and knowing I only have one engine,  I am glad we came the way we did, leaving Tampa, going to Yankeetown, then onto Steinhatchee and for the third leg of our offshore jaunt, Carrabelle.  Had we needed to duck in sooner, we could also have ducked into St Mark's...another option.  Luckily, we did not have to. 

Bev Tom Worlds Smallest Policy /station

After losing all that time in Steinhatchee, we redid our itinerary today and will stop in Destin, Pensacola and Mobile for a couple of days.  I called an old family friend, Ralph Rushing who lives in Mobile and he was delighted to hear that we might pass through.  Because I have a commitment in Dallas on 6/18 and 6/19, Bev and Tom have graciously agreed to stay with the boat while I fly off to do my engagement and then when I return we will resume the trip.  We will probably stop in Slidell to do all this so that we can get a rental car and they can drop me off at the airport. 

We're off to Apalachicola tomorrow, a short distance away. It's a quaint town which I look forward to exploring.

Worlds Smallest Police Station

More tomorrow...

Carrabelle Restaurant

Sunrise One

Sunrise two

Shrimp hut

Dock Walkers

Entering Carrabelle Channel

For you Bruce

Hmm How to get aboard...

In the middle of the crossing

Look hard...stringray sand sculpture

Low Tide

Naciente at Carrabelle

Nice Statue

No land anywhere

Don't remind me

Tenacious in Carrabelle

The Buoy at Carrabelle

Up the Creek to Carrabelle