Orange Beach to Carrabelle FL - Fog and Devastation

Two themes in the last few days: fog and devastation

We left Orange Beach on January 2 after a very satisfying New Year’s Day. We traveled for two days in fog, some of it pretty darn thick. That first day we didn’t leave until about 9am because the fog was so thick. Needless to say we only made it to Ft. Walton Beach by nightfall.

An honest to goodness pirate ship!

A funny thing happened while we traveled. We participate in a system called “AIS” that allows us to see little red triangles representing boats that send AIS signals to other boats containing important information like boat name, length, direction and speed. That gives us the chance to call a tow pushing a barge or some other boat and say, “BIGBOAT, BIGBOAT, this is the pleasure craft Good Karma on your stern. How would you like us to pass, Captain?” It makes this kind of travel safer and a little more personable.

We pay a fee to receive AIS signals. We chose not to pay the additional fee that SENDS our AIS signal to other boats. As we traveled east along the Intercostal Waterway, Kermit turned on the fog horn. Periodically the boat gave out a big bellow to anyone who might be within hearing distance. We turned on all our navigation lights as if it was night and turned on the interior salon lights so we could be seen. We had our radar running on a split screen with our chart. We could see what was coming through AIS, through radar but we were not as clear to other folks.

Kermit putting down the anchor before we
got stuck

In Pensacola Bay we heard some chatter on the radio. “Who is giving off that fog horn? I don’t see you on AIS”. Other boats were talking about us! They could hear us but they couldn’t see us!! It was pretty funny. That comment in particular came from a pirate ship traveling westbound. We saw them coming at us on the AIS and took this great picture when it passed us in the distance.

By about 4pm we were tired so naturally we did something stupid. We identified an anchorage in a cove by some condos on the south side of the channel. It looked safe. Kermit went out on the bow to drop the anchor. I watched in horror as the boat slipped into shallow water and grounded itself! Of course it did. It was getting dark.

We tried our hardest to move the boat off the hard but she was solid. We turned off the engines and the generator then called our good buddies at Tow Boat US. Again. For the second time in as many weeks. I am sure they are getting mighty tired of hearing from us. They might be almost as excited as we are about getting us to our new home port.

Out came Tyler and his very polite sidekick in a center console. What is it with tow boats in smallish center consoles? We are learning way too much about this.

We made a bad mistake - see how far we
moved into the shallows? It was not
intentional, believe me. 

They assessed the situation. Immediately to the north or seaward side of the boat it was 10 feet. But we slipped onto some sort of shelf that was less than we needed to safely navigate.

I took no pictures of this adventure. It broke my heart.

Tyler and his buddy handed us a bridle. That is a line with a loop at each end. In the middle they slide another line with a loop so it looks kind of like this: --------). The bridle loops should go around the cleats on the starboard (right) and port (left) sides but it was too small. This is a very large boat. So they tied the short bridle to our forward most port side cleat and started pulling. POP! The steel reinforced line broke!

Back to square one. They made a bridle that was much larger. We looped the two ends on the front two cleats. Tyler got into position and started pulling. The boat started rocking. We moved a few inches. I bet the backwash from the big Honda 250 engines helped. Eventually they pulled us into deeper water. Kermit started the engines. We were back in business. Tyler and his sidekick rode off into the sunset. Thank goodness for Towboat US!

We dropped the anchor where we should have dropped it in the first place. It felt like we were way out in the middle of the channel but we were square on the little anchor that appears on our charts as the safe place to anchor. It was dark. We were exhausted. 

We went to our separate corners and quietly waited until I crawled exhausted into bed. Kermit spent the night on the couch. He wasn’t in any trouble. He was very nervous that the anchor would hold. So we was up and down peeking out the window to be sure we weren’t moving.

Next day more fog. The weather showed a very big storm coming through the next evening. We needed to find a safe marina. It is one thing to travel in fog. We don’t have a problem with that. It is another entirely to sit at anchor in the darkness while a storm whirls around us. We couldn’t have Kermit on the couch another night.

Normally it is simple to find a marina. But pull out your maps my friends. The next day travel on January 3 put us squarely in the Panama City neighborhood so hard hit by Hurricane Michael last November. It is a mess. We got some information from Michael Hechtkopf, our guardian angel off One September that indicated a few marinas that might accommodate us. We ended up at Lighthouse Marina and Boatyard in Panama City Beach.

Treasure Island Marina under repair

Lighthouse Marina - small

Kermit enjoying his BBQ
oysters at Lighthouse

My redfish was delish!

The boatyard part is particularly noteworthy. Remember those pictures we all watched of that Hurricane’s devastation? Remember that big pole building with the roof peeled off? That is Treasure Island Marina, the boatyard part of Lighthouse Marina and Boatyard. It is a mess. Big cranes hover over the yard as they try to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Treasure Island took the brunt of the wind. Lighthouse pulled itself back together again and reopened quicker, still not back to normal but open. We tied up on the gas dock.

Devastation everywhere you look 

After showering we decided to go to dinner at the Lighthouse Restaurant. After all, what better way to support the local community than by supporting the local community services? It turned out to be one of the best meals we’ve eaten in a long time! Kermit had BBQ oysters and I had redfish. It was wonderful.

The storm rocked and rolled that night but we were safe.

Next morning we had another difficult choice to make. The entire ICW portion between Panama City and Carrabelle FL (our goal) was destroyed by the hurricane. Mexico Beach? We passed it. Or rather, we passed what was left of it that we could see from the water.

Blue tarps and devastation

dead boat

FEMA housing - RVs

Dead boats

A FEMA park for homeless

No words

We passed a free dock by Mexico Beach that was intact but two of the three houseboats tied up were missing. Down the river a bit we found one of those houseboats. We saw dead boats on land where they don’t belong. We saw blue tarps everywhere. We saw small RV camps we later learned are provided by FEMA for folks who lost everything. It was very sad.

Our challenge was to get to Carrabelle where we knew we could get a safe dock. But that was about 90 miles. At 10mph, we don’t have 9 hours of daylight. So we knew we would come into Carrabelle at dark.

Apalachicola

The storm cleared out the night before but it was not a nice day. That really didn’t matter since we traveled mostly through relatively narrow channels. We tried hard to stay behind the storm as it moved east.

Apalachicola

The worst part of that day was at the end, naturally. It was about 2:30pm when we passed Apalachicola, the cutest little town ever. That town experienced damage from the hurricane so we knew we had to keep moving.

Apalachicola

Sure, we can go between those
two vessels, no problem!

A dredger, actively dredging

The distance between Apalachicola and Carrabelle is traversed through a very narrow channel in a very big bay protected from the Gulf of Mexico by narrow outer banks.

Depths never got more than about 10 feet. After our grounding earlier we were taking no chances. We were at full attention the entire trip, about 2 hours across that bay into Carrabelle. 

We passed a dredger and its support team. They told us to go between the two boats. Not much room!!

We came into Carrabelle as the sun was setting. Very pretty but pushing the boundries on safe travel.

I did not adjust the tilt so you can
see what it was like - I fell out of my chair!

Rounding the bend out of the bay

Coming up the channel into Carrabelle, approaching
the Moorings on the right

Carrabelle FL is where folks gather to wait for the perfect weather to cross the Gulf. Or this is the place folks land when the cross the Gulf from the east to the west. Anyway, this is our waiting spot.

The Moorings at Carrabelle

We walked around on Jan 5 and 6. I did some grocery shopping and we went to a bar to watch part of the Ravens game. 

Not much to see but the people are nice. The lady in the marina office said the town was hit hard by the hurricane but they don't complain because they know what happened in Mexico Beach. They feel grateful around these parts.

Kermit watches four or five weather sources for input on our travel decisions. He checks those sites with religious fervor. We have an unusual series of three days in a row with great crossing weather. We are jumping on that abundance.

We leave tomorrow morning, Monday January 7, 2019 bound for Clearwater Beach FL. It should be an 18 hour trip at 10 mph. We leave at 2pm with the intention of driving all night to arrive at about 8am. You want to leave and arrive in the daylight. I would prefer to maximize the daylight by leaving at 7am but that means we will arrive at 1pm so it is safer to do it this way. .

trees bent like twigs

We think this barge slab used to house a home

I planned food for the entire trip. We will switch off on four hour shifts as much as Kermit will allow.

Before we go, more pictures of hurricane damage from Hurricane Michael.

Next up: Clearwater!

Almost under water but not quite

We think this home used to be on that
barge shown above

Someone's home not where it belongs

Someone's home got squished by a tow

Someone's home

Sunk boats

Sunk boats