PANAMA CITY, FL TO APALACHICOLA, FL

Monday, November 24th, 2014

Day 112
Miles Traveled: 64
Total Miles Traveled: 2287



  The theme of the day was fog, fog, and more fog with some rain thrown in for good measure.  When we left St. Andrews Marina at about 8:00 am there was light fog out in St. Andrews Bay.  But, as we cruised further east to East Bay, the fog began to thicken.  We were just about ready to go to the side of the channel and anchor, when Rick and Rose on "Grand Finale" appeared on our port (left) side.  Rick has an airplane pilots license and is very familiar with driving with electronics (radar, etc.), so we followed him through the worst fog.  His boat is an express cruiser and goes a lot faster than our "Seahorse", so, after helping to guide us through East Bay and what we thought was the last of the fog, he sped up and went on his way.  Little did we know that we would be encountering fog banks several times throughout the rest of the day.  None were as severe as the first, but all were definitely a cause for some anxiety.  The fog would be there one minute and gone the next.  We had never experienced fog at 1:00 in the afternoon.

  The scenery (when we were able to see it) was beautiful.  Some were wide expanses of water, like East Bay and Lake Wimico, and others were small channels through marsh lands and creeks.  All are part of the Gulf ICW.  The trees were displaying their pretty fall colors. 

entering Lake Wimico

Wetappo Creek - marsh land, part of Gulf ICW

  We also enjoyed plenty of wild life sitings.  Although, we were disappointed that we didn't see any alligators.

Lots of ducks

deer swimming across the creek

bald eagle in treetop

  We encountered our first swing bridge today.  Fortunately, it was already in the open position so we did not have to call on the VHF radio to have it opened and were able to cruise right on through. 

Easy pass through swing bridge

  We were relieved when we finally saw the first sites of Apalachicola, FL, our final destination for the day.  We headed up Scipio Creek to our slip at the Water Street Hotel Marina.  We were greeting by several other Loopers ready to catch our lines.  There are several marinas located on the creek and all are right near downtown Apalachicola.  We finished tying off our lines in time to go to dinner at one of the numerous local restaurants.  

Cruising up Scipio Creek to the marina