Apalachicola!

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

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 203 - October 20, 2017

We got up fairly early, and it was low tide when I took Baxter to shore. There was a whole lot more beach than there had been yesterday afternoon. I paddled around the corner from where I had previously landed Baxter, and there was a sandy beach with a picnic table, and it was a fair distance from the marsh grasses, Baxter was a happy camper!

The run to Apalachicola was 46 miles. We saw no alligators along the way, which makes exactly zero alligators we have seen except for the one baby gator back in the basin at River Forest Yacht Basin. Not that we are anxious to see alligators, but I thought for sure we would see some as we got close to Apalachicola! The ICW opens into Lake Wimico, and the outlet of Lake Wimico is the Apalachicola River.

We came down the river, and then made a sharp right turn up Scipio Creek to go to the Scipio Creek Marina fuel dock. This was challenging, as there was a lot of wind and current! But we got to the fuel dock, and filled the tank.  For our entire cruise from Mobile to Apalachicola, a distance of 274 miles over 40 hours, mostly running at 2,400 RPMs and  ~7 - 7.5 smph, we took 66 gallons of gas, for an average of 4.15 smpg and 1.65 gph.  So far, we have traveled 4,905 miles in 772 hours of running time (engine hours, includes hours waiting at locks!). When we cross our wake, we'll do a wrap up on the vital statistics!

We called Marc Grove, and he gave us directions to one of his slips at the Battery Park Marina, which is Apalachicola's municipal marina.  We are in Slip 64. The slips here are the piling and fixed finger pier type. We got in OK, and have six lines, three on each side. We are bow in, so we have to use the walk-around to get on and off, but we just don't feel comfortable backing in with the outboards. This makes it interesting for Baxter to get on and off!  We have been putting him in and out the front center opening window to the bow, then putting him on the finger pier. So far, he has not jumped or fallen off!

Daydream in Marc Grove's slip at Battery Park Marina

This marina, we were told by the fuel dock attendant at the Scipio Creek fuel dock, is also known as the "Ten Foot Hole" by locals.  The fuel dock attendant thought it was because it maintained a constant depth of ten feet - but if you Google "Ten Foor Hole," you will find another meaning for the term, which is probably not appropriate for a family oriented blog! Not sure where I read it, but I recall reading that it was formerly a barge staging area - don't know that for a fact though. I don't think many transient boaters stay here. The police chief is the dockmaster, and many of the Active Captain reviews say that even though they called the phone number for the PD, nobody came down to the marina to collect! There are no showers, and the restrooms in the Community Building in Battery Park do not have mirrors, soap dispensers or paper towel dispensers. But for us, free is  a very good price! The boat ramp is very active though! Marc launched a very nice Twin Vee catamaran to go out and shoot some promotional video, I assume for the Wefings website.

Battery Park Marina, aka the "Ten Foot Hole"!

Reaching Apalachicola is a really a milestone for Loopers! Most wait here for the weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico, either to Steinhatchee (shortest route) or Tarpon Springs  (longest route). Most Loopers depend on Eddie's Weather WAG, a forum on the AGLCA site, for go no-go advice, Eddie is telling us that Thursday is our day:

For those Loopers who are ambling along the beaches of the Panhandle, mark your calendars for October 26^th (next Thursday).  It looks like King Neptune may tire of thrashing about in the Gulf by then, opening up a weather-window for us to cross the Gulf.  

So Wednesday afternoon, we will motor the short distance between Apalachicola and Carrabelle behind St. George's Island to anchor there for the night so we will be ready for a 6:00 a.m. departure for Steinhatchee! This is about a 78 mile cruise, so at about 7 smph, we are going to be on the water for close to 11 hours, out of sight of land (this is the only part of the Loop where we will have been out of sight of land). From there, we think it will pretty much all be downhill until we cross our wake in La Belle!