Panama City, FL to Caladesi Island, FL

Nov. 6 – Nov. 12

We moved from the City Marina to a neighbors dock where Jim & Sharon Angel where staying. Bill (the owner of the house) was very gracious in not only letting us tie to his dock but he also let us plug into shore power. Back to that saying: It’s not what you know but who you know! We are also invited to stop and use their dock anytime we are passing through the area.

From there we traveled 59 miles to Apalachicola FL, stopping one night at a free dock in White City. This dock is basically a launch ramp with a picnic area right along the ICW, but there is room to tie up 3 boats our size. We anchored in Apalachicola & took the dinghy in to walk thru town and had some lunch. This area is known for its oysters. (Sherri says Yuck! & Randy says Yum!)

Along the ICW.

 

 

 White City FL.

 

 Apalachicola FL.

 

 

You want something nautical? This store sold it. 

 

 

 

From there we moved on to Dog Island (near Carrabelle FL) and anchored for 2 ½ hours before setting out to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs. You need to time your arrival near Tarpon Springs for mid morning for several reasons. One reason is the sun, the other crab pots. Since you are heading east as you arrive it is better to have the sun a little higher so there is not as much glare on the water and you also need to be able to see the crab pots that are in that area. Each crab pot is set out with a single line attached to a floating buoy. You definitely don’t want one of these to get caught in your props. This crossing took us 20 hours (Nov. 10, 1:30 pm to Nov. 11, 9:30 am) and is done overnight. When doing this crossing it is safer to have at least one buddy boat traveling with you. We ended up with 15 boats all going at the same time. It was pretty neat to see all the mast lights glowing in the dark around you in the middle of the night. We had a beautiful sunset and at 2:15 the moon came out. Getting away from ALL the city lights we could see millions of stars which looked as if you could reach out and touch them.

 

 Looking past this house you can see the Gulf of Mexico.

This is where we were anchored.

 

 Several jellyfish floated by.

 

 Going through the channel heading into the Gulf of Mexico.

 

 Some of the boats we crossed with.

 

 Land again! This is Anclote Island and Lighthouse near Tarpon Springs FL.

 

After arriving near Tarpon Springs we anchored by 3 Rooker Bay and took a couple hour nap. At 3 pm we pulled anchor and moved 8 miles south to Caladesi Island State Park were we will hang out for several days.