Well I finally made it to Dog Island yesterday! Dog Island is about 3 1/2 miles off-shore from Carabelle, Florida. It's about 6 1/2 miles long and only accessible by boat, ferry or airplane. Most of it is owned by the Nature Conservancy. It has expansive white sand beaches and large stands of cypress forest - and it's a bit of a staging area for folks getting ready to do the crossing to Tarpon Springs. Unfortunately despite it's beauty the anchorage is very rolly - although not as bad this morning as it was last night. It's also fraught with pesky flies and mosquitos, but there is a nice breeze so at least it's not too hot.
We left Apalachicola yesterday morning after spending two days anchored in Scipio Creek - just a stone's throw from the marina where I stayed earlier. While anchored there we were mostly blessed with a nice breeze and clouds which kept things pleasant. There was a litle tiny dock next to the St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge office where we were able to tie the dinghy for a trip to shore. We took a nice little hike down a trail/boardwalk that led into the Wildlife Refuge. At the end of the trail was a beautiful overlook of the creek. Thankfully the trail was shady - as it was very hot. Later we walked the few blocks into town. Although it was already 6 p.m. the sun was still brutal and I had doubts as to whether or not I would make it. Once we made it to town there was shade so after a little rest on a nice park bench we walked and walked everywhere exploring before having dinner at the Mexican restaurant.
We had planned to leave on Friday and head to Carabelle, but unfortunately I was not feeling well so we stayed another day. It was a very lazy day spent mostly reading. Early in the evening we took a very long dinghy ride down the creek to explore and then I made some delicious pizza for dinner - at least DJ's was delicious. I managed to burn my to a crisp :-(
We left around 9:30 a.m. yesterday and motored for a couple of hours as there was no wind. It was a lovely day and a bit surprising that so few boats were out on a holiday. It was so quiet that once we got on a fairly straight stretch of the channel I decided to make quesadillas for lunch. DJ pulled Perseverance up alongside and easily grabbed a plate. It started to get so hot under my navy blue bimini that I thought I was going to pass out. I decided to put out a little fan to cool me off. Of course, no sooner did I get it rigged that we finally got some wind. We sailed on a nice beam reach for several hours through St. George's Sound. My little boat sails like a dream in light wind - but no so much DJ's. As we got closer to Dog Island I slowed down as much as I could to 3.5 knots, he put out a 3rd sail and finally passed me to lead the way into yet another beautiful anchorage.
After the wind died down a bit we took a long walk along the beach and around the point to see the pass between Dog Island and St. George's Island. The sun was setting on one side and the almost full moon coming out at about the same time. It was truly lovely. Not everyone was having as much fun as we were. We happened upon a medium sized motor boat that was very solidly aground waiting for the tide. They seemed to be at that point where no one was talking to each other..... and it looked like they were going to be waiting for several more hours.
We got back to the boats in time to cook some ham steak and sweet taters/apples on the grill and watch the fireworks display in Carabelle. Actually fireworks were all around us as they were being set off on Dog Island and all down the coast too. It was quite a site and we had the very best seats of all.
Yesterday we took my boat into Carabelle as I desperately needed to attend to a little business - like a pump out, fuel and gasoline. The little town of Carabelle is scattered along both sides of the Carabelle River and is so charming. We followed the river a couple of miles until we reached The Moorings marina where I must say I made a flawless landing :-) in spite of the current and wind. Some how the attendant managed to lose my fuel cap so now it's covered with duct tape. They were nice enough to let me tie up for an hour so we could make a grocery store run. Lucky enough the IGA was directly across the street. Last time I let DJ go with me to the grocery though - between the two of us we got so much we could barely carry everything back to the boat. And we ended up getting two little containers of ice cream to eat for lunch on the ride back :-)
A storm was brewing so we left the dock in a hurry and I managed to put most of the things away while DJ drove us back to the anchorage. It's been on and off stormy since yesterday - mostly just rain and some wind. It looked way worse that it turned out to be - I sat on the deck for a while and measured the wind - only 22 knots. It's supposed to be stormy for the next couple of days - but Thursday is shaping up to be a day for the crossing. Meanwhile I'm busy with work and a few boat projects.
1 Comment
Kyla
7/8/2009 08:57:37 am
Hope you are on your crossing and that it goes well. We saw the nasty storm that was over you yesterday. Hope all is well. Were you able to sneak a peek at Benevolence? I'll call soon, we finally got a landline!
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