East to Carrabelle FL

We left Panama City as planned on May 22 & had a nice morning trip across St Andrews Bay & East Bay.  Very few other boats were out........where were all the people??  Maybe they all still had J-O-B-S & couldn't enjoy the beautiful morning breeze and the clear water filled with dolphins!

Osprey nest up close (I've been told by two
ornithologists that these are ospreys)

As the bays ended, the GIWW became narrow again through Wetappo Creek.  Saw lots of wildlife in the wilderness areas, including osprey nests on top of the navigation day markers.  I was surprised how close we could get to them.  Maybe we saw the young birds in the nest, and momma was out hunting. 

We had originally intended to stop in Appalachicola for the night, so the Admiral could eat some big juicy oysters, but we had to make Carrabelle in order to leave the next day for the crossing of the Florida panhandle.  But as we passed Appalachicola, we saw at the docks a 60' DeFever boat named Sea Dog from Put-In-Bay OH (not Sea Dog III from Chattanooga).  We first met the owners of Sea Dog back in Oct 2009 at Goose Pond Marina in Alabama.  Our boat is home-ported in Middle Bass Island OH, just a mile from South Bass Island & Put-In-Bay OH, so we had lots of sea stories to share.  Unfortunately, we were unable to contact them this time.



You can do this only at slack tide!!  They live on a sailboat
anchored in the river & dinghy in for a dog walk
and supplies at slack tide.

We crossed the Bay into Carrabelle with no trouble in good weather.  With the narrow ICW channel thru this shallow bay, I can see how 15+ kt winds would make this very uncomfortable.   We arrived at C-quarters Marina on the Carrabelle River about 1730 (which, for you retired USMC-types, is 5:30 PM), with a strong outgoing tide (due to a full moon) & currents at the dock of 4 mph.  Add to that a 10-15 mph cross wind, and let's just say that Admiral Sue got us into the narrow slip on her third attempt.  And she didn't damage anything doing it!!  Like they say in aviation, "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing!"

We confirmed the weather for our crossing the next day, and then tried to get some oysters for the Admiral.  Unfortunately, the restaurant had none, because the price had increased too much for them to serve them.  Does that mean we'll have to return to Carrabelle in the future?