Day 214 – 217; 12/19 – 12/22:
We tried to get an Uber/Lyft to Tallahassee Tuesday morning (12/19) to get to the rental car site, but that was a colossal waste of time…. Waited on line over an hour to be assigned a car, which never happened. Remember we said Carrabelle was small? Well that means no ride or cab services except for ONE woman (Sherry) that the marina recommended. She runs her own business, but was booked that morning. We finally got into Tallahassee in the afternoon with a ride from Sherry (at twice the cost of an Uber/Lyft, she sure knows she has a monopoly.) At that point, we no longer cared….we had some freedom and some wheels, so we were off to run some errands, do a little shopping and find a restaurant for dinner.
12/20 (Wednesday), we were off (by car) to Apalachicola, which we passed through very quickly on the boat, but didn’t get to enjoy the quaint little town. Located where the Apalachicola River meets Apalachicola Bay, the name “Apalachicola” is an Indian word interpreted as a ridge of earth produced by sweeping the ground in preparation for a council or peace fire. Over time, the term has been translated as an area of peaceful people or people on the other side. “Land of the friendly people” is a common interpretation of the word….and we certainly found that to be true!
Although Mexico Beach and Panama City suffered more catastrophic damage, Apalachicola was hit hard by hurricane Michael in 2018 with 160 mph winds, but the downtown shops and restaurants are nearly all recovered. Full of art galleries, local shops, breweries and restaurants, we enjoyed the day there before returning to Tallahassee for dinner and to drop off the car. The devastation on the water front is still apparent:
12/21 (Thursday) was looking like “go day” to cross over to Steinhatchee after being in Carrabelle for almost a week. 12/21 we were up early to get a pump out and brave the waves! Waves were forecasted at 3-4 feet, so we knew it might be a bit bouncy, but it was supposed to improve as the day went on. As we headed out of the protected area behind Dog Island, we saw 2 smaller boats returning – one was a 27’ Ranger Tug (Hope and Dreams) and the other a 37’ SeaRay Sundancer (Current Situation). It was too much for them and they decided to turn around and run inside to Alligator point. The Ranger Tug called it quits until Thursday and dropped anchor at Alligator Point with some others who were also waiting it out, but the SeaRay ran inside for a while then stuck its nose back out to see if conditions were any better for another try. After conferring with us and a few other boats who pressed on, they decided to give it a go as well.
The first couple hours were pretty bouncy with waves as high as 6’ but mostly in the 3-5 range. We took them slightly off our port bow or straight on the bow; never full on the beam (side of the boat) which would have been a miserable ride, pitching back and forth. The Fleming guys once said “your boat can handle far more than you probably can,” and “you’re not in rough waters until you have water shooting through the hawse pipes” (those are the thingies that look like port holes in the bow (front) that the lines (not ropes) go through to then tie onto a cleat; you can see them in the picture above.) Well, we got to see water shooting through the hawse pipes!
It was about an 8 hour run. About half way, the waves eased to about 3 feet and the last couple hours was pretty flat. We arrived in Steinhatchee about the same time as Current Situation (the SeaRay) and Kim’s Crossing (a 40’ Mainship), docked at the same marina and enjoyed docktails and appetizers on Legacy as the sun went down.
Friday, 12/22 was to be fairly ideal conditions with waves less than a foot and sunshine for us to continue our trek to Clearwater Beach. Nearly all of the boats holed up in Carrabelle, who didn’t go at the same time as us on Thursday, were on the move to Steinhatchee. Up and out at 6:00 am, it was still dark as we navigated the twisty narrow shallow channel back to open ocean, out of Steinhatchee and headed for Clearwater Beach. Carol was on the bow with a spot light locating the red and green markers (you remember “red on right returning”… So we kept the green on our right since we were not returning; we were leaving the harbor) while Gary drove the boat and kept us centered in the channel looking at chart plotter. Sunrise was at 7:30, so we did start getting some light almost at the end of the very long channel. Current Situation decided to run with us all the way to Clearwater, where they will leave their boat over the holiday to return home. Kim’s Crossing stayed behind and would leave at first light, but not go all the way to Clearwater.
We arrived in Clearwater around 5:00 pm, an uneventful 11 hour ride. If not for the extended stay at Carrabelle, we would have broken up the trip and stopped in Cedar Key and/or Crystal River on the way to Tarpon Springs/Clearwater…. But we had a deadline! We lost internet and cell signal for most of the trip (we were too far out to sea), but we were lucky to have Current Situation running with us. They have a different internet service and were able to get a message to the folks Carol was supposed to meet with, telling them we were signal-less and she needed to reschedule! Something for us to think about when we cross over to the Bahamas in February. We saw several groups of dolphins on the way, but only one that chose to swim along with us. Needing to travel so far (120 miles) and get there before dark, we were traveling at about 11.5 knots vs. our normal 9.5 knots, so that may have been why they didn’t tag along. So nice to be in clean water again!
We were excited to make it to Clearwater Beach to visit with Steve Little and Carolyn Reynolds, our good friends who winter there. Our first stop with them was one of our favorite restaurants on the beach – Frenchy’s. I always order the blackened grouper, but stone crab is in season so decided to switch it up….. Delicious! I’m sure we’ll be back there before we leave Clearwater for the grouper! It is the best!
Sat, 12/23 Michael arrives to spend Christmas with us… feeling blessed! We will also enjoy our family tradition of going to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas show here in Tampa. We go every year in Washington DC and were thrilled to see they are playing in Tampa on 12/23 (one night only)…..Perfect timing! The only sad thing is Sarah (and Kylie and Dick) won’t be with us, but Steve and Carolyn will. Next year!
Happy eve to Christmas Eve to one and all!
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