Gulf Intra-Coastal Waterway

After completing some routine maintenance chores at Dog River Marina in Mobile, we waited in port for a good weather window to cross Mobile Bay. Although the forecast was for continued brisk winds, November 11^th dawned almost eerily calm.

A chat with local fishermen assured us it was now safe to go, so we cut south east across Mobile Bay and entered  the Gulf Intra-coastal Waterway (GIWW), heading toward the Florida Panhandle. 

Along the way we passed Jimmy Buffet’s sister’s restaurant, “ LuLu’s,” but we were anxious to keep moving on toward Pensacola, so we didn’t stop.

Boat traffic was light, but the occasional tows and barges we saw reminded us to stay alert.

Our plan that day was to find an appropriate anchorage close to a barrier Island where we could go ashore in our dinghy for a walk on a Gulf Coast beach.  After checking out and rejecting a couple of prospective spots, we finally found one to our liking at Big Lagoon, just west of Pensacola.

As soon as we anchored, however, our attention was drawn to planes overhead, and we quickly realized that we had lucked out and were about to witness the impressive Blue Angels Veterans Day air show. Awesome!  By the time the show was finished, the sun was going down, it was getting chilly, and all of our good intentions about going ashore for a beach walk vanished.

We awoke early the next morning to a beautiful sight of the sailboat anchored next to us with the moon still visible in the predawn sky.

As soon as it was light enough we pulled up anchor and got underway so that we could cross Pensacola Bay before the wind picked up and increased the chop on this large exposed body of water on our route.  Then we ducked back behind the relative protection of the barrier islands, which have a nice balance of developed areas and nature preserves which comprise the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

The next large body of water ahead was Choctawhatchee Bay, beginning at the inlet between Fort Walton Beach and Destin.  We decided to stop overnight at Bluewater Bay Marina (in the town of Niceville) in Ward Cove off the north western shore and save the crossing until the next day.

 

This turned out to be a great place to relax and kick back in a lovely setting after our 7-hour cruising day.

On the dock we saw a guy fishing for his dinner and stopped to take a look at his catch, two beautiful Sheepsheads.  Oysters are so plentiful here that he was using them for bait.  We opted to eat someone else’s catch at the onsite restaurant instead of trying to catch our own.

The next day we crossed Choctawhatchee Bay before entering a man-made cut referred to as “Grand Canyon,” part of which has white sand walls up to 100 feet high.

Our destination that day was Panama City, where we docked at Lighthouse Marina near the inlet.  It was obviously off season here and practically deserted.  We spoke to one charter fishing boat captain who said this when asked about the fall and winter season in northern Florida, “It gets cold here, just like up north, only we get it first.”

As the sun went down, we noticed for the first time an interesting silhouette across the harbor at Panama City Beach, a building shaped like a ship. There must be a story there, but we didn’t wait around to find out.

We had been experiencing some rather cool days, but now the weather turned warm again.  After passing through the relatively wide waters of the East Bay just east of Panama City, the Gulf Intra-coastal Waterway entered another lovely protected channel.

Once again boat traffic was light, so when we saw a small Coast Guard boat out performing safety inspections, we figured we too would be boarded as we were last May back in North Carolina. And so we were, only this time we were very careful not to miss the turnoff on our planned route, a side channel called the Gulf County Canal, which would take us to Port St. Joe.  Here we could see lots of stumps along the shore, and we had to be extra careful to avoid hitting the inevitable floating and partly submerged debris in the channel.

As we approached the town of Port St. Joe, we saw some rickety old docks with buildings and working boats alongside which, although picturesque, had obviously seen better days.

Port St. Joe Marina, however, is located in a newer section of town, situated behind a protective breakwater, facing St. Joseph Bay along the Gulf Coast where the Florida Panhandle dips south to form an elbow. 

Although this was a very pleasant detour along our GIWW route, we were anxious to move on toward Carrabelle, which would be the jump-off spot for our long-dreaded, but unavoidable, crossing of the Gulf of Mexico.  So, on November 15^th, we retraced our route back up the Gulf County Canal, which on this warm and sunny day had a beautiful glassy sheen.

Back on the Gulf Intra-coastal Waterway, we passed the free dock at White City, where we could have stopped overnight the day before had we not made the detour to Port St. Joe.

Now we debated whether to stop at Apalachicola, just a few miles away, or to continue on to Carrabelle, which was certainly reachable that day. We decided to stop at Apalachicola, partly because clouds were rolling in and partly because we wanted to “stop and smell the roses.”  But, as we pulled in to the dock where we had been instructed to tie up, we began to question our decision to stop here.

Determined not to jump to any rash conclusions about this place before exploring it further, we went for a walk around town, stopping for lunch at Caroline’s, located in a waterfront inn we discovered along the way.

What we concluded about this town is that it’s an interesting mixture of working class oystermen/shrimpers, with an influx of artsy-funky hippie types who have opened local businesses.

The highlight of our “walkabout” was the discovery of a bunch of flowering bushes just loaded with Monarch butterflies, probably stopping off on their migratory route south.

Later that day as we sat on our aft deck watching the sun go down over our neighboring shrimp boat, we were very glad that we had not written off Apalachicola.

But now it was definitely time for us to move along on our own migratory route.  So, the following morning, after an easy crossing of Apalachicola Bay and St. George Sound, we entered the channel leading to Carrabelle.

Here we had reservations at C-Quarters Marina, where we would fuel up, relax, kick back on the porch, and await a favorable weather window for the Gulf crossing.