The Moorings at Carrabelle

Here's our cart sitting next to the boat after our Walmart run to Panama City with Jack and Nan, courtesy of Ray and Patsy loaning us their car. Courtesy cars, common on the rivers as the stores were not close to the marinas, are not common in Florida. Although the smaller grocery stores are usually within walking distance, every Looper appreciates a Walmart run. As you can see, we are now well provisioned in anticipation of our Gulf Crossing.

The ICW ends in Carabelle and picks back up again at Tarpon Springs (north of Tampa). There are three ways to make this 150 nautical mile passage. 1. straight across during the day, which requires a 20 mph boat...definitely NOT trawler speed. 2. 50-80 mile daytime jumps into small towns on the big bend...the going in and out each day adds many miles, this route takes 3-4 long cruising days. 3. leave at about 4 pm, cruise all night to make landfall at noon the next day. After days of hemming and hawing, we have finally decided to go ahead with option #3. All of these options require a "weather window" for being out in the Gulf. This time of year the Gulf experiences one "storm" system after the next, followed by a couple days of letting the water settle back down. When the waves are down to 1-2 feet, it is considered a "comfortable" sea for crossing. The weather window only lasts a day or two and then the cycle repeats. We let one of these weather windows pass us by (last weekend), but we've moved to Carrabelle now so that we don't miss the next one.

We left Port St. Joe early morning. It was cold and cloudy (sorry to complain, MN readers, but it barely made 50 degrees yesterday). Here's the crew on the dock, buddled up to bid us safe travels. You can see the main marina building in the background.

We soon came down from the flybridge to the lower helm, even turning on the generator and heat occasionally). On the canal back to the ICW, we saw this "Free Boat"... could make a nice looper boat with a bit of work.

Although we loved our 11 days at Port St. Joe, it felt good to be on the move again as we passed through a canal, a lake and a river with this "handyman special".

We went through Appalachicola where some of the boats cross from, but did not stop. Out into the bay and St. George Sound, we had some rough water. Were the waves 1-2 feet? We are not very good judges of wave height, but these were not uncomfortable and Shingebiss and her crew took it well. Late in the afternoon, we entered the Carrabelle River and the town of Carrabelle.

There are docks and condos lining both sides of the channel. The Moorings is the most well known marina, there is a "chart room" here and a "crossing guru" named Buddy that we hope to meet. Several of the Loopers we met in Port St. Joe are scheduled to arrive today, so we will have "buddy boats" to cross with. The next weather window is currently forecasted to be Sunday thru Tuesday. Tonight Carrabelle celebrates Christmas with festivities (food and music) topped off with a lighted boat parade and fireworks. We hope the rain doesn't put too much of a damper on the festivities. The weather in Tarpon Springs has been 10-15 degrees warmer than here, so we are definitely looking forward to moving on to that "other Florida". Advice to future loopers: bring your fleece.