We are still sitting tight here at Port St. Joe Marina and well why not. The marina and staff are great, the Dockside Cafe here has good shrimp, the Haughty Heron bar and package store has great specials (on Ladies night we had 12 beer for $12, cheese and crackers and live entertainment), great pizza at Joe Mama's, great Mexican food at Peppers, and a Piggly Wiggly, a good grocery store only 100 yards from the marina. We have enjoyed it all.
We have accomplished a few things most notably replacing the primary batteries for the boat. I am stiff and sore from lifting the six Group 29 (bigger than a car battery) batteries from behind the engines, up through the hatch, out to the deck up, onto the dock and then to the parking lot and then doing it all again in reverse. Of course I cannot fit behind the engines so everything, including the wiring and tie downs, had to be done bent over the generator. Oh well, hopefully we are good for another 7 plus years.
We have also re-organised the packing of the boat. All of the maps, charts and guide books for the Great Lakes and inland rivers were put away under the couch and the Florida gear was brought forward. We have been stocking up on wine again. The bottles are a pain to store. I truly miss our 10 bottle tetra packs that we had brought from our home made stock. So with the eating, drinking and the odd job taken care of, we managed to get out for a bike ride or two. There are some nice paths in the area and with the weather a little cool, around 70 F, it is good to get some exercise.
Carlton and I have been studying the marine weather forecasts and reviewing the daily crossing advice column and much to our chagrin there is no suitable window in the foreseeable future for a crossing. This time we are planning on travelling with Seamoore, a trawler that cruises at about 8 mph. This means that the crossing will take about 21 hours. This means that we will be out in the Gulf overnight, all night. The standard way of doing this trip is to leave about 2 or 3 in the afternoon from Carrabelle and arriving at Tarpon Springs about 11 AM. It is no good arriving earlier because the early morning sunshine makes it impossible to see and avoid the hundreds and hundreds of crab pots. We are in for a new experience.
Our current plan is to go to Apalachicola on Monday for a couple of days and then onto to Carrabelle for fueling and more waiting. Hopefully, we can get across next week. That is all for now.
Good luck! Keeping my fingers crossed for your crossing. We remember well the overnight ordeal. We'll compare notes when you get down to the Ft. Myers/Cape Coral area...over wine and docktails. BTW, looks like you have about the same spot in Pt. St. Joe Marina as 2010. PSRussell
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