December 4, Day 174 – Port St. Joe to Apalachicola

The weather forecast this morning at 8:00 indicated we should have okay weather until about 1:00, so we decided to head to Apalachicola. It was a very cold and dreary day, but the winds were light. Even with the flybridge totally enclosed we were still pretty chilly and Linda had on several layers plus hat and gloves. We headed under the Port St. Joe Bridge and up the canal to the intercoastal. Our destination was the Water Street Hotel and Marina. This is a new place that received great reviews from folks at the rendezvous and also from locals we’ve talked to in the area. We had a bit of current against us the first part of the trip, but we got a push from the current towards the end and arrived at the marina around 1:15, just as it started to rain. Getting tied up and settled in was quite miserable as line and fender handling in the cold and wet is really quite unpleasant.

We went to Papa Joe’s Oyster Bar and Grill for lunch and had … you guessed it … oysters. By the time we returned to the boat it was starting to rain harder, so the rest of the day was spent inside researching stuff on the computer (they have good WiFi here) and napping.

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be windy and still quite cool, but no snow in the forecast as there is for other parts of the south. Hopefully, we will be able to see a little of the town tomorrow, along with looking at some smaller boats with the Wefings Marine dealer.

The high winds and tides really caused some wear and tear on our lines and also the pilings themselves. If you look close you can see the marks the lines made on the pilings and the wood shavings on the dock.

Getting ready to leave Port St. Joe Marina. If you think the captain is getting the boat ready, you'd be wrong. He's getting his fishing gear ready.

Approaching Port St. Joe Bridge

We passed by a large fishing fleet at the docks

Now that's one big net !!!

While many of the boats were still active shrimpers, there seemed to be lots of abandoned boats that looked like they'd been sitting unused for many years

Some very old boats in disrepair

Definitely a fixer-upper. Even had a sign on it that said "Free Boat"

Looking back at Second Star and Emotion III with White City Bridge in the background

After seeing all the old boats, this tug looked pretty "spiffy"

A view of the shoreline in our wake

Here's Gerry's fishing rod holder. Now the fishing poles have a place to call home, instead of poking Linda in the head when she's sitting in one of the chairs on the flybridge.

This was a boat works facility with a pretty large boat in dry dock

We passed a bald eagle. Think we have another picture from a few weeks back that looks almost identical. Guess they like to sit at the top of dead trees

The area was very marshy ..... the charts even indicated this was a marsh

We passed a cute little cabin and sailboat tucked in a little inlet. Very secluded place.

The shoreline filled with cypress trees and saw palmettos

The channel opened into Wimico Lake. The lake itself was very shallow and you had to make sure you stayed in the center of the channel.

Lots of fishing shacks up this little creek

More of the marshland and interesting trees