Friday, November 5

We successfully arrived in Destin in time to see Bob and Mary Jane and Brad and Chris for two days before they headed back home to Ohio. The docking procedure, however, was far from successful. Without going back through the painful details, we will just say that both Tessa and Taken Care of Business did not like Destin Harborwalk Marina A LOT!

It was a great evening together at their Destin Towers condos. I fried up some of Bob and Brad's freshly caught Red Snapper, served with a clean-out-the-refrigerators buffet. The sun went down and the look in Vickie's eyes expressed exactly what I was thinking. It's time for us cruisers to be in bed! After six weeks of waking with the sun and going to sleep with the sun, we run out of steam after dark.

The next day, Vickie looked on in disgust as Gary, Walt, and I purchased a box of 8 dozen fresh oysters at the seafood shop. "What are you going to DO with all of those?" she asked incredulously. "SLURP EM!" we replied! Raw, Grilled, Rockefellerd, Steamed, each one was delectable. Vickie had a BLT.

That night, compliments of Bob and Brad, I served panko crusted snapper with Thai red chili sauce and basmati rice. The crowd loved it. Way too soon, it was time to say good night and goodbye, as we were all travelling the next day.

Saturday morning the boaters were off to Panama City. Taken Care of Business was behind us, and Vickie said Walt complained all the way, claiming that all he could see was empty oyster shells flying off Tessa's deck. Not true!


 





We like to time a marina arrival so that we have a few hours to enjoy the port before dark, instead of arriving late in the evening and paying just for a place to sleep. However, travelling on the intracoastal is unpredictable, and we barely got to Panama City before sundown in time to have a cocktail and some grilled oysters. Vickie had a hamburger.



After a short stay, we moved on early the next morning towards Apalachicola. The sky was breathtaking, casting long rays of sunshine downward toward the water. This portion of the intracoastal included a nice comfortable channel through swamp country. As we cruised along enjoying the scenery, we came upon the first boat we had seen the entire day. When the name "Serenity" became visible, I screamed to Gary "THAT'S JIM!" and ran toward the bow waving. What are the odds that we would cross paths here on the intracoastal when the last time we saw each other we were bidding farewell in Fort Myers last April, after mooring together for the winter? Jim grew up in Fort Walton Beach and he had departed from there a few days earlier after visiting his parents. We cruised side by side catching up quickly before he made his turn toward Port St. Joe and the Gulf. Just as Jim said, the wonderful part of cruising is that you meet good people, you become a part of each other's lives, you go your separate ways, and sooner or later it is meant to be that you cross paths again.

Once again the day, and daylight, slipped away too fast, and we decided to anchor is a popular hurricane hole instead of arriving in Apalachicola in the evening. Taken Care of Business moved faster than Tessa, so they continued on. This was indeed a perfect spot to drop the hook. Scenic, secluded, and safe! It was a little disconcerting when we spotted our only neighbor....a partially sunken trawler. Gary surmised that they didn't quite survive the last hurricane. I concluded that if we had to hole up somewhere, this would be my choice. It was so peaceful and quiet that night that I found myself laying in bed listening for something, anything, except the crickets. You get used to so many sounds, some comforting and some not, at anchor or at a dock, that they lull you to sleep. This night was absolutely still. Mother Nature pulled out all the stops and treated us to a black sky filled with a spectacular multitude of shining stars. I crawled into the cockpit with only my headlamp for light, unzipped the canvas, began to crawl out and ZAP went the bug bites. Back to our stateroom to gaze up through the hatch! The next day, the welts were there, but only on my left hand and arm that Ihad stuck out of the canvas.

We took off the next morning bright and early, as we were excited to finally experience oyster heaven, Apalachicola. We were not disappointed. It is a quaint, rustic, seaside town with several interesting shops and restaurants. The best restaurant, Papa Joe's Oyster Bar, was right at our dock. The food was good and the oysters were the plumpest juiciest ones we have had.

Gary and I planned to stay two days in Apalachicola, but the weather decided that we should leave the next morning with Walt and Vickie. We had to cross thirty miles of open water, and the winds were predicted to increase steadily. It was a rough crossing but not unbearable. We arrived in Carrabelle with plenty of time to relax and head to "Old Salts Cafe" for more oysters. Vickie had grouper.

We spent a second day at the Moorings waiting for an opening at the marina that we planned to step the masts. Gary and I explored the accomodating town of Carrabelle. Vickie did not want to see any more slimy oysters being ingested, so instead I prepared chicken enchilada casserole.

Today we step the masts at Dockside Marina here in Carrabelle. I hope I have very little to report about that!