Thanksgiving in Ft. Walton Beach…… Not where we thought we’d be for Thanksgiving, but we had a great time and enjoyed a wonderful buffet dinner with 10 other boaters. Now it was time to get back to cruising. Boat neighbors from Seabrook Marina, Steve and Deidra Greenwell aboard their Marine Trader, Osprey were waiting for us to catch up with them. They left Seabrook 10 days before us and had been doing a lot of anchoring as they headed east. Now as the Big Bend crossing neared, we were hoping to meet up and make the jump together. We were off to Panama City. They were ready to leave Panama City and continue east. Steve and Deidra decided to make a stop at White City’s free town dock for the night and let us catch them in Apalachicola. Panama City is where I met Tim, John and Dorothy for our trip to Cuba. This would be our last fuel stop before jumping over to the east coast. We were up at 5 in the morning to hit the fuel dock when they opened at 7. This was a cold and windy morning. I had to go down to grab an extra layer. Maggie stood shivering in the wind as she supervised the fueling. Sweet Momma went down and got a snuggie for her to nest in while she waited. 200 gallons of fuel added to the tanks and we were ready to head out. The wind was blowing us onto the fuel dock as we untied the lines. Tim nudged the bow thruster to get a little extra boost but we got a surprise instead. The thruster worked for about 10 seconds and then we had nothing but a loud whirl sound. No thrust!!. He nudged it a few more times with the same result. No time to deal with it now, he worked his magic and got us away from the dock and back in the ICW. While I took over the helm, Tim went below to see if he could find out what was up. He found the motor could turn, the coupling was good. As far as he could see, everything OK. Next step was to read the manuals and try to learn what would cause the thruster to stop thrusting all of a sudden. The only thing he could find is that something must have gotten into the propellers , but what? There was nothing we could do at the time, but keep on going. Apalachicola was our next stop.
I’d read and heard a lot about Apalachicola and had put it on my MUST STOP list. Apalachacola oysters are renowned for being some of the best and sweetest oysters in the world and I was determined to find out if the boast was true. As I sit here writing this, I’m straining to think of what to say about the trip from Panama City to Apalachicola and to be honest, I can’t think of anything to say. I guess that’s a good thing. Nothing remarkable to report ain’t all bad. I do remember coming into the dock at Apalachicola though. We had a current running against us and we had a wind that would push us into the dock. Not only that, but we had a very shallow spit that stuck out and had to be avoided. Thankfully, Steve and Deidra had already arrived and were there to lend muscle to keep us from hitting too hard.
We really enjoyed Apalachicola. The city had an old Florida feel, very quaint and peaceful. We learned that in 1837 Apalachicola was the 3rd largest port on the Gulf of Mexico. Cotton was brought down the Apalachicola River from plantations and loaded onto ships. It has seen difficult times, but there has been a resurgence of prosperity with tourism.
There was much debate over whether we should stay another night in Apalachicola or move on to Carabelle. We went to bed having decided that we wanted to stay another day. Tim and I had arrived late and it was dark by the time we were able to do any exploring. I wanted more time in the town. Steve and Deidra had had most of the day to get out and walk the town and were ready to head on. Come morning, Tim, Mags and I headed out peering in shop windows and wandering past old historic buildings. By 11, we were back at the dock and Steve and Deidra were talking about heading out. It was only a 4 hr run to Carabelle, but there were some large bays to cross. The weather men had downgraded the forecast and we could expect winds in the 20s the following day.. Heck, not what we wanted. I had had my oysters and that was my biggie, so…. remember subject to change? Well, we changed our minds and decided to head on our way too. Glad we did. Those large bays would have kicked up some waves if we had waited.
We pulled into Carabelle with Steve and Deidra right behind.