It is 33 miles from Apalachicola, FL to Carrabelle, FL.
As the Catholic Church, for once this Sunday, is within walking distance, we will attend mass in person. Our departure will be after the 10 AM service is over.
We arrive early to St. Patrick Catholic Church and join the saying of the rosary prior to mass. It is a warm sunny day, and with no air-conditioning, the inside of the church was pretty toasty!
Around noon, we “start her up” and begin our relatively short trip to Carrabelle.
Leaving the Ice House Dock behind.
We enter the Apalachicola Bay and follow the St. George Island Channel to deeper waters. Today, and everyday until mid-March, they will be dredging the channel 24/7. All navigational markers have been removed and mariners are advised to keep the area wake free. We rely heavily on the charts to locate and stay within the channel.
Birds coloring the dredge pumps white in more than one way.
Even with Navionics, it is tricky to stay within the deeper waters without the usually present visual markers defining the channel. Some areas are definitely very skinny. We probably should have timed it better with the tides…
Once we pass the dredging operation, we increase our speed. The bridge marks our passageway from Apalachicola Bay into the St. George Sound. This 4 mile long bridge, the Bryant Patton Bridge, connects St. George Island to Apalachicola. It is the 3rd longest bridge in the state of Florida (7 Mile Bridge in the Keys and Tampa’s Sunshine Skyway being 1 and 2 respectively).
From St. George Sound we will enter the Carrabelle River.
Carrabelle River
This area too has seen its share of hurricane damage.
Similar to Apalachicola, Carrabelle is a small historic fishing and shrimping town.
We will stay docked at the Moorings of Carrabelle Marina until a decent calm day appears for our crossing to Clearwater, FL. While the price of the dockage is on the higher side, $3.00 a foot with another $10 for electric, the location is decent with an IGA across the street and downtown Carrabelle walkable. The marina has a nice boater lounge, furnished with a pool table, games and books. They also have a coin operated laundry room with 2 washers and 2 dryers. All provided to busy their boater’s down time as they await a weather window opening.
We plan to leave on Tuesday morning, so we spend all day Monday doing the laundry, checking out the town, and shopping at the IGA.
Carrabelle is a very small town with a mere 1,300 residents.
Carrabelle is in the center of what is call the Forgotten Coast of Florida, which stretches from Mexico Beach to St. Marks. Why is it called the Forgotten Coast? Apparently, some years ago, the tourism board of Florida left the entire area off their maps when mapping Florida for potential travelers. For those visitors that find this Forgotten Coast, you will be rewarded with unspoiled beaches, coastal marshes, barrier islands, and small quaint historic towns.
As it is a Monday, we find the few shops actually still in business, are closed.
The retail scene is definitely not similar to Apalachicola!
We do find a cute luncheon spot, called Carrabelle Junction, that is open on this Monday. It is an old fashioned café and deli specializing in coffee and old ice cream favorites. Our sandwich/soup specials were very delicious.
The lunch payment is also old fashioned…cash only.
It is a clear night and the forecast tomorrow for the Gulf is epic calmness. The weather window appears to have opened for our crossing to Clearwater.
The next morning arrives, but with it, fog. We scratch our trip for today.
By noon, the fog lifts somewhat, but it is too late in the day to leave.
We spend another day in Carrabelle. We walk into town again and visit the world’s smallest Police Station.
Yes, it is an inoperable phone booth.
We also check out the local library, which offers more than just books.
A repurposed free tourist map and visitor guide box.
No maps but free Narcan for all! Disappointed we didn’t score a visitor map, we move on.
After another day of waiting in Carrabelle, we are hopeful, that tomorrow is the day we can leave. The weather looks promising as the sun starts to set over the marina.
The marina office on top and the boaters lounge/laundry building on the bottom.
Hoping that this pink at night truly is a sailor’s delight come tomorrow.
