Integrity Cruise

Day 239: - Panama City to Apalachicola, FL

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Day 239: Wednesday, December 21st: Today we were to leave early and make the long run over to Apalachicola with Lola Marie, our buddy boat for the next few days.

So we were up and over at the fuel dock by 7:00am when they opened. We fueled up and got underway with Lola Marie in company.

It was a chilly but pretty day (how many times have we described the weather like that?). We were cruising east through the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway (GIWW). The scenery varied dramatically as we moved east. First was the large East Bay just east of Panama City, then the canal cuts through the various creeks and rivers. We came to the highway bridge marking the shift to Eastern Time in the canal:

Sections of the rivers and bayous featured some of the most prolific cypress forests we had seen - like this one:

We arrived at our destination: Apalachicola, FL. This is a quaint town, almost a village, with tons of charm. As we motored gently up Scipio Creek off the Apalachicola River (which is the outlet of the Chattahoochee River, by the way), we saw specimens of marine "double-wides."

Next, we eased by the most prosperous fishing boat fleet we have seen since leaving North Carolina:

We pulled into Scipio Creek Marina and began to notice their love of signs. Notice the huge sign across the top of the service/storage building:

And they had the usual sign at the front of the entrance from the road:

The whole side of the main building is a sign:

Around to the side is the mild mention of the local restaurant:

On the street in front of the marina and restaurant is another rather pretty sign:

In front of the office is a great example of what Florida folks do when they don't have snow. The snowman globe snow blows around thanks to a small fan. Ah, Florida!

Once we were tied up and paid up, Ruth hiked the short way in to town to buy some milk and such. On the way she saw this cemetery and had to have a picture:

This is what Integrity looked like in the marina with the miles of marsh grass in the background (Yes, that's Bill walking out the dock):

We had happy hour aboard Integrity with Lola and Larry from Lola Marie and discussed the plan for tomorrow.

OK. We were here with Lola Marie, our "buddy boat," and Black Dog, veteran Loopers we first met in Guntersville, AL. We all wanted to cross the Gulf of Mexico to the Tarpon Springs area tomorrow because the weather window looked best. We planned to leave around noon.

We each hoped silently for good weather and smooth seas. How well we all slept is another story.

Position tonight: N29 43.956 W084 59.411

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