Apalachachiola for real

Day 85

Miles today: 65.     Total miles: 2,286.5

Hours today:  8.7

Locks today: 0.    Total locks: 34

This morning we left Panama City Beach early and motored a few miles to Panama City (no beach) for fuel and a pump out. Then we were quickly on our way east along the panhandle. The sun finally reappeared today after 4 days of rain, and considerably brightened our mood. The ICW route today included wide shallow bays or lakes as well as narrow creeks- plenty of variety of scenery but not many other boats.

We arrived at Water Street Hotel and Marina shortly before 4 PM. Old friends caught our lines- including John and Kathy (Serenity) and Roger and Mary (Ta Ta). Mark did a great job of pulling into a slip barely wider than Mara Beel with the wind pushing us. Fortunately the tide was not an issue. Quite a few Loopers are here in Apalachicola patiently (or not) waiting for favorable weather to cross the Gulf. Some have been here as long as 2 weeks. Yikes!

Now that we are in the Eastern time zone daylight lasts until after 6 pm - this works much better for 5:00 docktails! We are so happy to catch up with fellow Loopers for the momentous overnight Gulf crossing. The weather conditions have to be just right for us to cross open seas (170 miles) overnight, and it just might be possible this weekend. Keeping our collective fingers crossed.

Six of us enjoyed dinner at Up the Creek- Apalachicola is the self-proclaimed oyster capital of the entire universe, so of course we had oysters!