Tucker Bayou

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

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 201 - October 18, 2017

Tucker Bayou boat ramp was also given the fanciful name of "Pt. Washington Landing at Choctawhatchee Bay" by the County Commissioners. This was almost the anchorage that wasn't for us!

We had a fairly long but easy run in the ICW from Big Sabine Point on Santa Rosa Island to the Tucker Bayou turn off from the ICW,  Santa Rosa Island it seems is substantially occupied by Eglin Air Force Base, although not much of it except microwave towers and radar domes is visible from the ICW. 

Our boating friends, especially those with boats with a three foot draft or more, will immediately see the problem with Tucker Bayou!

Screenshot of Tucker Bayou anchorage

Hint: the answer lies in those little numbers on either side near the top of this screenshot, called "spot soundings," which represent depth in feet! We turned in, and as the depth approached two feet, which I tolerate better than Patty does, we turned around to see if we could find something better. We motored around for about half an hour looking. There were three Active Captain anchorage symbols not too far away, but  there was simply nothing except private homes or marshy shoreline anywhere in the vicinity.

Typical marshy shoreline at and around Tucker Bayou

So we sucked it up and went back. We put our outboard motor up and "got adventurous"  per Jonathan on Salty as we were coming into Honest John's Fish Camp way back in Melbourne Beach, FL.  Depth dropped and finally there was no depth showing on the depth finder, that box just went blank. We were going very slow, and dodging old pilings and little white balls. I don't know what the little white balls were, but I am pretty sure they were not something we wanted to be close to! A C-Dory 25 Cruiser can navigate Tucker Bayou, barely, but I don't think many other Looper boats could have come in here, not the Mainships, Monks, Sea Rays, Carvers or Bayliners! Loopers with dogs on those boats had better plan to stay at a marina somewhere before they get here!

It was later than normal by the time we got the anchor set. It had been an eight hour day cruising and half an hour of indecision after we arrived, but we anchored just off the boat ramp in about three feet!

Daydream anchored on Tucker Bayou

I got the kayak down, put Baxter in his doggie PFD, and paddled off to shore! You had to be there to realize exactly HOW relieved he was to get to shore (maybe TMI!) - but he took a flying leap from the kayak to the shore! There was a nice sandy little area next to the boat ramp to land the kayak.

Kayak landing spot adjacent to boat ramp. No alligators as far as we could tell!

Tucker Bayou boat ramp is officially "Pt. Washington Landing at Choctawhatchee Bay"!

Boat ramp with pilings out in front

This is actually a very nice single lane concrete ramp at the terminus of a county road. There are two piers here, as well as the boathouse for the Choctawhatchee Rowing and Paddling Club. Several boats retrieved while we were there, and two paddle boarders went out, apparently unconcerned about alligators! 

I called Bob Austin to let him know where we were and our plans to get to Apalachicola. He called back in a few minutes to tell us that White City was actually much farther than we thought it was, at Mile 335, 75 miles from here, and only 16 miles from Apalachicola. We have adjusted our plans for tomorrow night to stop at Farmdale Bayou, which is the right distance, and according to Active Captain, has a beach to land the dog. I also called Marc Grove to let him know we would be arriving in Apalachicola on Friday. Marc offered us the use of his slip at the Apalachicola Municipal Marina.  We are looking forward to visiting Marc and meeting Anita!  I am especially anxious to try some of Marc's home brewed beer, as well as to visit the local microbrewery!

We had our sundowners and treated ourselves to a dinner of ribeye steak and boiled potatoes smothered with butter, sour cream, and bacon bits. Feeling tired from a long day and a bit stressed from almost not finding a suitable anchorage, we turned in at 8:00 p.m.!.