Dog Island

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 213 - October 30, 2017

Our plan for the day was to take off for Dog Island right after lunch, so we had a little time in the morning to work some more trying to figure out how to get Patty's new iPhone working. I could not believe T-Mobile's purported iPhone guru who told us that WiFi calling would not work on a non-T-Mobile supplied iPhone. An unlocked iPhone is an iPhone is an iPhone, and the only thing that distinguishes one from another is what carrier's SIM you put in it.

Not sure how the idea hit me, but my generic refurbished iPhone works fine, and so the test of whether Patty's phone was really the problem would be to put my SIM in her iPhone. We did that, and, what do you know, it worked perfectly, WiFi calling and all. So the issue was definitely not her phone, but something with her SIM or something else, So we called T-Mobile Customer Service yet again, and this time, we got a person who knew what she was talking about. After we explained what we had been told, and how the iPhone worked great with my SIM card, she checked her computer, and quickly came back and told us that the SIM for Patty's iPhone with phone number ending in 7020 had never been activated. She went ahead and activated it. What do you know,? Now Patty's iPhone works as it is supposed to! Bad on the prior two T-Mobile customer service reps. Funny thing, after every customer service call, they send us a survey asking, "How likely are you to recommend T-Mobile?" Well, actually not at all! But I don't bother answering the survey.

Then I returned Marc's golf cart to his house and walked back to the marina. The walk made me appreciate the golf cart all the more! While we were having lunch, Marc stopped by and brought us some boudin sausage, which Patty says is "like a rice casserole in a casing"! We thanked Marc profusely for everything, said our goodbyes, and cast off our lines for Dog Island!

Dog Island is about 24 miles from Apalachicola, and since we left about 1:30 p.m., we just ran at our usual trawler speed of ~7 smph.  We passed the east end of St. George Island and the St. George Sound inlet, and curled around the west end of Dog Island into Shipping Cove. We anchored initially where the first anchor symbol is, but when Patty got out the binoculars, there were signs all along the beach that said "No Trespassing." One Active Captain review mentioned that landing was permitted by the old pier, and that it turns out is where the second anchor symbol is, which is called Cannonball Point. Sure enough, this was well past the end of the "No Trespassing" signs, and since it was not anybody's front yard and was not posted, we anchored there, I got the Sea Eagle down, and Baxter got to go to shore!

 

After sundowners and dinner, we did a final weather check, and all still seems scumpo for a crossing of the Big Bend tomorrow! I had marked the R26 buoy that is at the end of the shoal south of Carrabelle, and then created a route on Garmin Blue Chart Mobile to Steinhatchee. This allows us to stay on the route line while zoomed in tightly enough to see any hazards. Although I don't  think there ARE any hazards after passing R26, if there were, I want to be able to see them!

Dog Island to Steinhatchee route

We think we will be ready to scoot across, but we will find out tomorrow morning for sure!

Ninth -and Last - Port Day in Apalachicola - Waiting for a Weather Window

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 212 - October 29, 2017

Shortest blog post ever - today did we did next to nothing! I off-loaded some heavy stuff form the boat, including the two folding bikes, the air conditioner, the box of outboard service parts and tools, and the dinged up Honda Stainless prop that we replaced at Irish Boat Shop in Harbor Springs, and delivered them to Marc's garage to be picked up when we tow home.

Then we listened to the Seahawks game with just another miraculous last minute drive engineered by Russell Wilson to beat the Houston Texans. Finally we went to Up the Creek for our last hurrah - a dozen raw oysters and a cup of grits each, with a shared slice of key lime pie for dessert.

That was it!

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Marc and Anita Grove for their hospitality. Fist, the use of their slip at Battery Park Marina was huge. We will have been here ten nights  when we leave tomorrow. The loan of the golf cart was also wonderful. We could have walked to some of the places we went, but some we would never have gotten to without the golf cart.  Finally, their hospitality and generosity have been marvelous. Thanks, guys!

Eighth Port Day in Apalachicola - Waiting for a Weather Window

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 211 - October 28, 2017

As you might remember, Patty's original iPhone 5S sleeps with the fishes.  You wouldn't think you could spend all day trying to put a SIM card into a refurbished iPhone 5, restore from a back-up and get everything working, but that is pretty much what we did today. And we have still come up short, maybe some tech wizard out there can point us in the right direction, but more about that later.

Marc had purchased a refurbished unlocked iPhone 5S on his Amazon Prime account and we paid him for it.  He let us know when the iPhone arrived, and dropped it off the next morning! So far so good.

The iPhone has landed!

Color us naive, but we did not know it would not have a SIM card in it. We thought it would, and by some magic, T-Mobile could program the SIM remotely.  We opened the SIM card tray with a paper clip, and saw that the tray was empty.  So we ordered a T-Mobile SIM card directly from T-Mobile Customer Service.  Say what you will about how crappy T-Mobile coverage is, and their coverage is completely crappy, their customer service is excellent. You get customer service by dialing 611, and your call is routed to a call center based on your area code. Our call center was in Bellingham, 15 miles from where we live. If you have ever had to deal with a customer service call center in Bangladesh, or wherever, you will know how wonderful it is to talk to a native English speaker whom you can understand! The SIM card was free, but there was an expedited shipping charge we were delighted to pay, and the SIM card actually arrived in one day, and Marc dropped that by the boat as well.

So we punched the SIM card out of the little plastic card. Patty tried and tried to put it in the SIM tray and insert it back into the iPhone, but no she go. After turning it over multiple times and looking at it, we decided to Google "inserting SIM card in iPhone 5" and watched a YouTube video, where we learned that the iPhone 5S requires a nano SIM. This SIM, we thought, was the wrong one. The video showed how to cut down a standard SIM to the dimensions of a nano SIM, but I sure didn't want to have to do that, so back on the phone to T-Mobile customer service. Well, I ended up with egg on my face, as I was on the line with customer service, Patty noticed that she could break off the excess plastic on the SIM to get it down to nano size and fit it into the tray. So I thanked the customer service representative and said "Never mind, my wife figured it out."

Now, we have an iPhone with a T-Mobile SIM in it.  I did a restore from an iTunes backup on the Macbook. There was something not right about it.  First off, the name of the backup was "crab_queen," while Patty's iPhone has been named "Patty's iPhone" for quite awhile.  All the same, I did the restore. When she fired it up, what had been restored was all MY apps and data. Then I thought it was possible that I had done the most recent backup to the Toshiba laptop, and sure enough, there was an iTunes backup on the Toshiba named "Patty's iPhone." So I did a restore from that one, and it looked like we were there. 

Patty's new iPhone 5S

But although she could connect to WiFi and send and receive emails  with her new iPhone, she could not send or receive phone calls or texts. There is no T-Mobile cell service in Apalachicola, so I figured that could be the problem and turning on "WiFi calling" in the phone settings would fix it. That is the only way I can make or receive phone calls on my iPhone here.

So I went into the phone settings and turned on WiFi calling. Instead of turning on WiFi calling, a message pops up "Please contact customer service to turn on WiFi calling for this account." So back again to Customer Service. The first representative checked everything and said WiFi calling was enabled for all phones on our account (there are three phones, mine, Patty's and Austin's), but I tried again, and got the same message. The first representative handed me off to his "Apple specialist," who turned out to be in Missouri, which was okay, since he was a native English speaker also! This guy, however, said that WiFi calling would not work on an unlocked iPhone 5 unless it had originally been obtained from T-Mobile. I don't believe this, because my iPhone 5 was a generic unlocked iPhone purchased at a refurbished iPhone store in Savannah, and mine works just fine. It would be an amazing coincidence if my refurbished iPhone just happened to be a T-Mobile phone, but it is possible I suppose.  But an unlocked iPhone, as far as I can find, is an unlocked iPhone that should work on any network with that network's SIM card. So wizards, what say you?

So we still don't know if Patty will be able to make and receive phone calls if and when we get some place where there is T-Mobile cell coverage. 

The next set of problems I cannot really explain well, but it is related to Apple's idiotic security systems. If you make a mistake twice, your Apple ID gets "disabled for security reasons." This has, in the past, required resetting the Apple ID password. Patty has been trying to download "Word with Friends," and our Apple ID has been locked. Or it could have been been a result of something I did because I really don't understand the settings for "Name, Phone Numbers and Email," which I tried multiple times to set on Patty's phone. Apple sends a security code if you try to add a phone number, but of course Patty's iPhone never received the security code. I kept trying, and maybe THAT is why our Apple ID is locked.I was able to add her phone number to this setting on my iPhone, which did receive the security code.  This is incredibly confusing, and not explained anywhere as far as I know.  I really do not want to reset the Apple ID password, I have enough trouble remembering it anyway. Maybe it is time to move to another carrier and a non-Apple phone!  

So enough of phones for the day. We had invited Marc and Anita out to dinner at a restaurant of their choice, and they chose Up the Stairs downtown. We had a great dinner, and tried to forget our phone frustrations! Patty had a blue drink, as our friend Roger Bumgarner said, "It is very important to have a drink that matches your shirt and earr

ings!" Anita had wine, and Marc and I had much more sensible double Manhattans! The dinner was great, and so was the company and conversation!

Patty's blue mojito at Up the Stairs restaurant!

Our last thing for the day was, as always, to recheck the weather sites. Our day for crossing is now definitely Tuesday...unless that changes again tomorrow!

Seventh Port Day in Apalachicola - Waiting for a Weather Window

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 210 - October 27, 2017

Today was another tourist day in Apalachicola!  We are having lazy mornings, getting up later and later.  By the time I get back from walking Baxter, Patty has made the coffee.  After we have one cup in the cockpit, had our toast, then had another cup of coffee, it seems like it is late morning. This suits us fine, because there is really nothing we HAVE to do most days now! We reflected that Apalachicola is a great place to wait for a weather window since it is a wonderful tourist destination for which many people pay thousands of dollars to do what we are doing here mostly for free!

We headed out in Marc's golf cart to tour the Orman House Museum, the second of the two antebellum homes in Apalachicola. The Orman House Museum is now a Florida State Parks property, which means it has an admission fee. Ranger Jeremy collected the $4.00, and gave us a bit of history, and started us on a self-guided tour. This house was built between 1836 and 1838, and stands on ten and a half acres. Many of the furnishings in the house are original, including a sideboard in the dining room made from cypress wood, which has never been refinished according to Ranger Jeremy. We toured the rest of the house on our own, which was fine because there were quite a few explanatory signs in each room.

Thomas Orman House Museum

Original Orman sideboard made from cypress wood

Thomas Orman, like David Raney, was born in 1799, and also like Raney, is buried in the Chestnut Street Cemetery. Both were prominent cotton merchants in Apalachicola. Thomas and Sarah Orman  had one son, William, and William and Anne Orman had one daughter, Sadie, who married John Fennimore Cooper Griggs, who was the Customs Collector and Captain of the Port.  Sadie outlived Mr. Griggs and a second husband, and lived in the house until a very old age, cared for by a second cousin, Earl Orman. When Sadie passed away, she left the property to Earl.  The last of Thomas Orman's descendants, Iona Andrews,  continued to live in the house right up until 1994.  Iona apparently lived only in the two back rooms and let the rest of the house fall into ruins. A photo from that time shows the exterior of the house had fallen into serious disrepair. 

It was purchased by Douglas and Anna Gaidry in 1994, who substantially restored the house and ran it as a bed and breakfast until 1999, when they sold it to the State of Florida after winning a Florida Trust for Historic Preservation in 1997. The Gaidrys put in electricity, plumbing, modern bathrooms, and updated the kitchen for the bed and breakfast.  Ranger Jeremy told us the State Parks will restore the kitchen to a more historic version, although the original kitchen had been an outbuilding due to the danger of fire.

The slave quarters building still stands on the property, but is literally falling down.

Slave quarters at Thomas Orman House

After the Orman House, we went over to the John Gorrie State Museum. Gorrie was the inventor of the ice machine. Dr. Gorrie invented the ice machine in an attempt to cool his yellow fever patients. The ice machine he invented became the basis for the ice industry and air conditioning. The museum contains a replica of Dr. Gorrie's original machine. Unfortunately, the museum was closed for an extended period, and we did not get to go inside!

On the way back, we looked for the historic homes listed in the Chamber of Commerce's Historic Walking Tour (riding in the golf cart of course). We found many of them, but I didn't try to photograph them all. Here are a couple that we stopped for. 

The Billy Bryant House, built in 1915, is notable because Billy Bryant, a builder of fine homes and boats, was African American.  Florida was segregated like the rest of the southern states, but that evidently did not hold Billy Bryant back! Today the Mayor of Apalachicola, Van Johnson, is an African American, and Apalachicola seems to be way ahead of Savannah and Charleston, where we saw many 4x4 pickups driving around with Confederate battle flags. We have seen nothing like that here!

Billy Bryant House

The Flatauer House was built for Adolph Flatauer in 1908 - 1909. I Googled Adolf Flatauer, and learned we was an "itinerant peddler and dry goods merchant." It seems a rather grand house for an itinerant peddler, so I assume he must have had considerable success as a dry goods merchant! I also found this studio portrait of Adolph's daughters, Clara and Tessie, on Florida Memories, the State Library and Archives of Florida website!

Clara and Tessie Flatauer

We ended our "tourist" day at the Apalachicola Chocolate & Coffee Company for some very expensive gelato and a small selection of chocolates! Back at the boat, we had probably the first dinner not at a restaurant since the previous Friday!

We continue to look at our weather resources for the weather window to cross the Big Bend. It still looks like possibly Monday or Tuesday next week. I also played with Garmin Blue Chart Mobile on the iPad. We have known how to place markers at the current location, but I Googled how to place markers at specific latitude / longitude coordinates, which is ridiculously easy and I don't know how it previously eluded me. I also Googled creating and editing routes, which likewise is very easy, but I had not felt the need for routes before, since it is hard to get lost in an intracoastal waterway or a river! We know we need to avoid the shoals, and go across to Steinhatchee from R26, a red nun way out below Alligator Point, so I placed a marker there with the coordinates in Skipper Bob, and created our route from Dog Island, where we will spend the night before the crossing, to R26, and then to the channel entrance to Steinhatchee! We love Apalachicola and the Groves' hospitality, but we are anxious to get underway again!

Sixth Port Day in Apalachicola - Waiting for a Weather Window

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 209 - October 26, 2017

This morning we woke up on Daydream in the Wefings Marine shop! Marc came by in the morning bearing gifts: some lightly dressed sashimi, some smoked tuna and some smoked mullet! No matter what else happens, we will eat well!

There was no sightseeing today. Today was all about getting Daydream ready to cross the Big Bend on the plane. Yesterday the trim tabs were fixed and the Stingray3 fin was installed, but the new 11 pitch prop had not arrived. We have been running with a Michigan Wheel 14-3/8 x 15 prop since Harbor Springs, and we could not get Daydream on the plane with this prop for love nor money. Putting the throttle down simply resulted in pushing a huge bow wake and maybe getting to 9 miles per hour. We have been quite anxious to see if what Marc is doing is going to change this for us.

 After coffee and toast, we could only wait for the new prop to arrive. I wrote my blog post, and we continued to look at the weather sites, mainly SailFlow. It  looks like Monday might now be the best day, but we will reassess that on a daily basis.

The new Honda aluminum 15 x 11 prop arrived on the FedEx truck shortly after lunch, and Spencer put it on the BF-150. Now everything that could be done has been done, short of re-powering with a new 200 hp outboard.

Stingray3 fin and new Honda aluminum 11 pitch prop

Now there was nothing left to do but to get out on the water to see if we had succeeded. Spencer hooked the trailer up to the pickup, and drove Patty and me back to the Battery Park launch ramp in Apalachicola. Marc joined us shortly, and we put Daydream back in the water, and we did our tests.

My assessment is that it was a qualified success. Watch the iPhone video that Patty took from the shore as we passed and please let me know what you think, either in a comment or with the contact form (I can reply by email if you use the contact form).

Marc, Spencer and I took her out for the first test. We got the speed we were looking for. Downstream at wide open throttle with a 2.5 mph current pushing us, we were knocking at 20 miles per hour. At 5,200 RPMs we were running at 13 - 15 mph. But I say it was a "qualified success" because Daydream is still very heavy, and it does not just pop up effortlessly and gracefully on the plane like it does when it is lightly loaded and propped for the San Juan Islands and Strait of Georgia. 

Marc commented that he had never seen a C-Dory 25 that sat so low in the water. Getting on plane was a delicate balance of managing the trim tabs, the engine attitude and the RPMs. Handling at speed is not nearly as responsive as it should be. By analogy to the animal kingdom, Daydream is still a slug, but a faster slug!

For the second test, Spencer removed the Stingray3 fin, since Marc wanted to be sure that the fin was not actually reducing the speed. We went out into Apalachicola Bay and satisfied ourselves that it wasn't. In fact, it was running just a little slower. So we came back in and Spencer reinstalled the Stingray3. 

Second guessing ourselves, we wondered if we should have gone to a 13 pitch instead of an 11 pitch prop, which would have given higher speeds at lower RPMs if it worked at all. Back in our home waters, we run in the mid teens at 3,800 - 4,200 RPMs. But that ship has sailed, and this is the prop that we will use to cross the Big Bend of the Gulf of Mexico and finish our Loop.

At least our crossing time will be half of what it would have been with the 15 pitch prop. And we are not going to worry about how much fuel we use for the crossing!

Fifth Port Day in Apalachicola - Waiting for Weather Window

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 208 - October 25, 2017

Today was the day we were supposed to get our new 11 pitch prop and the Stingray3 fin installed on the Honda BF150 and the trim tabs repaired. Marc and some of his guys came down to the boat ramp at 9:00 a.m., but not to pull us out! It looked to us like he unloaded a Rosborough 246 (which by the way, is a VERY nice boat) and then loaded it on to different trailer.  He said he had some errands to run, and it would be about 45 minutes, so we had breakfast and I made a quick run on the golf cart back to the Piggly Wiggly. Then we got a call from Marc that they would be back after his guys had lunch. So we saw that today would not be the day we moved to Dog Island to get ready for a Thursday crossing! Looking at everything, Thursday was the day with the good weather window, and we are going to miss it.

We finally got pulled some time between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m. Marc's helper, Spencer, drove Daydream for power loading, and I was ballast to keep her level side to side! He had a bit of trouble, but after a couple of attempts Daydream was on the trailer and strapped down, and  Marc towed her the seven miles to Wefings Marine in Eastpoint.  We arrived at Wefings about 2:00 p.m.  Daydream was pulled inside the covered shop, and we got our folding chairs out to wait!

Spencer got right down to fixing the trim tabs, and somebody else pressure washed the bottom.  He quickly found that the trim tab fuse was blown. He replace the fuse and showed me where it was located, since I had previously looked for it and couldn't find it.  With the new fuse, the tabs were once again operable, but the position indicator light was still blinking. He did some research and isolated this to the position sensor in one of the trim tabs. Since we never look at the position indicator anyway (it is mounted so low that you basically have to get down on your knees on the floor to see it), and we operate the tabs by the way the bow of the boat responds, we are okay with not putting in a new sensor, at least for the time being.

Then Spencer installed the Stingray3 fin, which is pretty slick, since it does not require drilling holes in the cavitation plate. It is held in place by what Spencer called the lower unit torque tab. He had to make a minor modification to the fin with a Dremel tool and use a slightly longer bolt to replace the torque tab, but the fin is solidly in place. Now all we needed was the new prop.

When the FedEx delivery came, our new prop was not there.  Tracking showed it had left Memphis and was "out for delivery." That means it will arrive some time tomorrow, and FedEx only guarantees that it will be before 4:30 p.m. Ron, the GM, thinks it will probably be here in the morning, but maybe not.  They said they could come to the marina to put the prop on tomorrow, but we decided to spend the night on the boat in the shop so they can put the prop on here as soon as it arrives, and hopefully, we can get out on the water to test whether or not we can plane.

New Stingray3 fin, old 15 pitch prop!

The problem all this presents is that having missed the Thursday weather window, we now have the quandary of our next weather window for the crossing.  Marc thought Friday looked okay, but it looked pretty sketchy to us on SailFlow and Marine Weather.  Saturday and Sunday were definitely bad days by all accounts, with high wind, high waves and a short period between waves. Ideally, we want less than two foot waves, wind less than 15 knots from the right direction, and a period between waves at least twice the wave height.  Patty thought Monday looked possible. The worst thing was that the sources we consulted were sometimes conflicting, with one saying high wind and another saying small waves, and vice versa, for the same day!

So I emailed Marv, who publishes Marv's Weather Service, which Marv does strictly as a public service. His reports had been spot on during Hurricane Nate. He responded that our weather window, as he saw it right now, was Tuesday, and that could change between now and then. So, for now, Tuesday it is, and as prudent mariners who do not wish to get our fillings knocked out, we will sit here Thursday through Monday. It is a good thing we love oysters!

Fourth Port Day in Apalachicola - Waiting for Weather Window

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 207 - October 24, 2017

Patty showered with the Helio on the cockpit while I was walking Baxter, and then when I returned, I did a somewhat abbreviated version of a shower too - well, I washed my hair, that is sort of an abbreviated shower, isn't it? And I ran out of hot water at that!  Back to coffee and toast for breakfast.  I wrote my blog for the day, and then off for another day for sightseeing in Apalachicola. Having Marc's golf cart certainly made it easier to get around!

We headed first for the Chestnut Street Cemetery. We had a brochure with a map and the names of some of the people buried there along with their stories, such as Mary Hickey, who slit her husband's throat and then killed herself. Unfortunately, the map was not very good and we did not find Mary's grave or many of the others listed, so we just walked around. 

Chestnut Street Cemetery

Many, but not all, of the gravestones were very old, with birth dates in the late 1700s and early 1800s. There were a lot of graves of soldiers who had fought in the Confederate States Army, with very little information other than their military service.  We did recognize some of the names on headstones or memorials, like David Raney and Thomas Orman, who were both born in 1799, and who were both notable cotton merchants who each built mansions before the Civil War!

Raney plot at Chestnut Street Cemetery - the small headstones are various family members

Thomas Orman headstone

One of the interesting structures in the cemetery is known as "The Chimney," and according to the brochure, nobody knows who erected it, when, or why, but for generations, Apalachicola youth have had to climb to the top to leave childhood behind!

"The Chimney" in the Chestnut Street Cemetery

Many of the headstones of those less wealthy than the Raneys and Ormans have not stood up to time and the salt air well, and are difficult or impossible to read. Many of the plots at one time had wrought iron fences and gates, but now they are almost all rusty and falling down, with apparently nobody left to notice or care.

Rusty gate and falling down fence around one family plot

After touring the cemetery, went to the Piggly Wiggly supermarket for some shopping, and on our way back to the boat for drinks and lunch, stopped to look at a few of the great homes in Apalachicola.

Love the porches and widow's walk on this one!

This house was being painted when I took this photo - it is a great house with a widow's walk and a turret!

After lunch, we went back downtown, and our first stop was a funky antique / junk shop called "The Tin Shed." The Tin Shed has a lot of bona fide maritime antiques, mingled with a lot of cheap junk! It is a fun place to spend a little time looking around!

The Tin Shed

A little bit of the merchandise greets visitors just inside the door!

Colorful display of floats at The Tin Shed

After The Tin Shed we proceeded along Water Street. There were more than fifty identical three story brick buildings built in 1838 as cotton warehouses along the waterfront, of which only two survive today, the others having been destroyed by fires, hurricanes or lack of maintenance. One is used today as the Apalachicola City Hall, and the other is used as the Apalachicola Center for History, Culture and Art. We did not go into City Hall but we did go into the Center for History, Culture and Art.  There is a very old, very long Indian dugout canoe on exhibit, which was interesting, but the main exhibits were many posters with photos and text submitted by citizens on what they thought was necessary to sustain or revive Apalachicola.

City Hall sign on former cotton warehouse

The last thing we did downtown was, naturally, to go back to The Old Time Soda Fountain for some more ice cream!

When we got back to the marina, our friends Cecil and Danny Hazen from Cape Coral were just arriving on their trawler Desperado. We had first met the Hazens back on the Trent-Severn and again at Demopolis waiting out Hurricane Nate, and we traveled from Demopolis to Mobile more or less with the Hazens, so we made plans to go out to dinner together!  Somebody had recommended The Station, a new oyster raw bar, to them, so that is where we went, and we had a very nice evening with our friends! And we never get tired of raw iced oysters on the half shell!

Pat, Danny, Patty and Cecil at The Station Raw Bar

The Hazens will be leaving tomorrow for Clearwater, which will take them something like 22 hours in their trawler. They apparently have more stamina than we do! We plan to visit them in Cape Coral when we get down there!

We have arranged with Marc to haul us out tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. to repair our trim tabs, install the Stingray3 fin on the Honda outboard, and to install a new 11 pitch prop, which Marc thinks collectively will allow us to get Daydream on the plane for the crossing of the Big Bend. We sure hope he is right!

Third Port Day in Apalachicola - Waiting for Weather Window

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 206 - October 23, 2017

Today was and tomorrow will be our days for being typical tourists in Apalachicola! After coffee and another "Sunday breakfast on Monday" (sliced white potatoes, bacon and fried eggs) and writing the blog, we hopped in the golf cart Marc Grove has loaned us and headed downtown! Our first stop was the Apalachicola Chamber Visitors Center, where we got a map and a fistful of brochures! We sat down on a bench outside to orient ourselves, and then headed off!

Our first, and longest, stop was the history Raney House Museum. This is one of only two antebellum homes remaining in Apalachicola.  David Raney came to Apalachicola in 1834 from Virginia, and quickly established himself as a cotton trader.  David built the house in 1838 at the corner of Market Street and F Avenue. It was originally a rather plain house built in the Federal style, and later, the front door was moved and Doric columns in the Greek Revival style were added, The house sits on a bluff, where David could look out over his eleven cotton warehouses on Water Street!  David and wife Harriet raised their family there, including three sons, all of whom fought for the Confederacy, and amazingly, all three lived to return home. The Raney family continued to own and reside in the home until 1914, when it was sold to a physician, and it was purchased by the City of Apalachicola in 1973. 

Historic Raney House Museum

Our guide was Judy McFarland, who took us through every room in the house and the separate semi-attached kitchen.  The kitchen had a covered breezeway,that could be quickly knocked away in event of a fire! A fair amount of the furnishings and other contents, including paintings, are original. She did an outstanding job of explaining everything we were seeing, and bringing the Raney family to life for us! The tour is free, but they accept donations, and we did our small part in that regard!

Our guide Judy McFarland in the parlor of the Raney House Museum

After the tour was over, we decided we needed some - you guessed it - ice cream!  So we headed to a shop downtown called, fittingly, The Old Time Soda Fountain. We would have gone to the other antebellum home, The Orman House, which is now owned by Florida State Parks, but by the time we were done with our ice cream, it was too late in the day to make their tour hours, and since they are only open Thursday through Monday and we are planning to move on to Dog Island on Thursday for a Friday crossing of the Gulf, we will probably not get to see this.

We walked around a bit, but Patty was not really in a shopping mood - as she says, our goal in life is to get rid of junk, not to add to the collection! I did poke my nose into the Oyster City Brewing Company brewery, but just to snap a quick photo! I really have enjoyed their beers at our several dinners out!

Oyster City Brewing Company brewery

Our last tourist stop for the day was the Apalachicola Maritime Museum. This Museum features several tour boat cruises, but since Marc had given us a great boat tour, we passed on their tour boat tours. The museum also has a limited display of artifacts. The most interesting artifact the museum owns is not on site yet! It is a stern wheeler paddle boat donated to the museum by the late Debbie Reynolds! We watched a video of the restoration in progress, and walked around to look at the other artifacts on display. My attention was drawn to a board showing a large number of useful knots. Patty and I have both been struggling with the bowline, which I had once known how to tie - I used it to secure the lines to our crab pots for years -  but I cannot for the life of me figure it out now! I took this photo of the venerable bowline, but however much I study it, I cannot duplicate it!  If you run into us somewhere along the line, please instruct us on this knot. And yes, we know "Make a loop. Then the rabbit comes up through the hole, goes around the tree and back down the hole." Damned if we can make that work!

The bowline - looks simple, no?

After the Maritime Museum, it was time to head back to the boat for sundowners before heading out for dinner! So far, we have had dinner at Up the Creek and the Oyster City Brewing Company Taproom, both of which were very good. Today we decided to head to Boss Oyster. At every restaurant, we have started with a dozen (or more) raw oysters on the half shell with lemon, horseradish and Crystal hot sauce. The oysters at Boss Oyster, and all the other restaurants, were not Apalachicola oysters, since none are available right now. But the Boss Oyster oysters were served on ice and were nice and cold, and were shucked so they were completely detached from the shell, so we gave them a" thumbs up" on the oysters. Unfortunately, the rest of the dinner, a basked of fried scallops and a basked of lemon pepper grilled shrimp, were mediocre at best, although the cheese grits were good. Where they really fell down in my estimation was their beer selection - with a great local brewery like Oyster City Brewery, their beer selection was limited to national brands available anywhere, and not even very good national brands!

Boss Oyster on Water Street

Platter of raw oysters on the half shell! I had eaten one before we decided this deserved a picture!

Our table at Boss Oyster was on the deck, and we were once again treated to a great after- sunset view out over the Apalachicola River!

View from our table at dinner.

Tomorrow is another day of sightseeing, as there is still plenty left to occupy our time here! Marc has also ordered a new 11 pitch prop to help solve our planing issue, and the current plan is to pull Daydream on Wednesday to install the prop, try to fix the trim tabs, and install the Stingray3 fin (sort of a Doelfin / Permatrim work-alike).  We are keeping our fingers crossed that this will get Daydream up on a plane, because it would be LONG day crossing the Gulf of Mexico to Steinhatchee at the speed we have been cruising!