Still Waiting in Carabelle, Florida

Interesting- this old clock stands at at the Y in the middle of town. 

Carrabelle, Florida is a nice older fishing village with a grocery store and a couple of small gift shops. The important stuff for Bill is the ACE hardware.

The seafood is mainly oysters, any way you want them. Most of the foods are deep fried.

I mainly stick to chicken but I have tasted the fried oyster, its a sweet meat not slimy as I thought.

However, I am NOT brave to try raw.

This Caboose sits on the on the Rivers edge. Not sure what this is about may need to go to the visitors center and find out.

Carabelle has the worlds smallest police station. It used to have a phone but it was removed when the locals were making long distance calls on it.

Here I am peeking out and in the bottom right corner you can see Laura taking the picture.

While we wait for a good time to cross we read, shop, plan, clean, read some more.

Carabelle is our last stop before we anchor out by dog island to do the daytime crossing to our next destination, this part of the trip is called the Big Bend I bought a tee shirt to commemorate this passage knowing (by faith) we are gonna make it. Some have asked why not just go marina to marina around the bend, why do you have to go across the Gulf? Here is what we have learned about that... If we could travel straight across it would take about 17-21 hours, aprox. 170 miles more or less. Our boat Proud Lady travels about 10 miles an hour it would take about 17 hours. We choose to take a route marked by our predecessors and divide the long trip into 2-3 days. One of the barriers to the Big Bend is the shoaling of sand and sea, making the depths hazardous. 2) The weather this time of year it can change in a heartbeat and kick up a squall. In the summer there are storms that are tropical and hurricanes. So we are here at the best time allowed by our insurance company. 3) The current in the Gulf goes in a circular pattern Not just in and out like on the oceans. 4) To cross the long route 17-21 hours we need another 2 people on board to relieve us for rest, eating and potty breaks. Proud Lady has not had to run that distance, her longest day is about  90 miles. Bill and I get tired  enough and have enough trouble doing 6-8 hours a day so, No! we are taking our time and doing the trip safely. We will be with 2 other boats when we cross. Its going to be so much fun!

Well, I have more planning to do- so Love Ya, JOY