After departing St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club, we entered the Canyon, a narrow man-made cut which forms the waterway.
As the Canyon widened into Lake Wimico, oystermen were hand-raking their catch in this small boat.
We arrived for our night’s dock at St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club in Panama City. The Club was quiet; this is the one night a week it is closed. We had a peaceful night at the dock.
The next morning, we had a view of this interesting shipbuilding facility.
Next we reached Apalachicola, the jumping off point for the annual parade of “Loopers” – pleasure cruisers making their way around the eastern half of the US. Mariners spend pleasant days or weeks in this friendly town, awaiting the weather window for the overnight crossing of “The Big Bend” to Tarpon Springs or Clearwater.
These houseboats seemed permanently moored along the bank on our way up Scipio Creek to Water Street Marina.
Apalachicola Bay is home to some of the best seafood in the country, including 90% of Florida’s oyster crop and 10% of the entire US harvest. Gambler is among the large fleet, which also harvests fish and shrimp.
On the opposite shore, behind Dora Mae, you can see the mountains of shells, the byproduct of all those wonderful oysters.
The shells are not wasted, as they are used in road construction throughout the region, here ready for transport via barge.
Even in town, there are smaller hills of shells, awaiting transport.
To partake of those special local oysters, we dined at Caroline’s River Dining, which boasts oysters eleven ways: Chilled, Key West, stew, Po Boy, Asian Barbeque, Kayarain, Motoyaki, St. Jacque, Saltim Bocca, Lim-O-Zine, and Boat Flambe.
The following afternoon, Thanksgiving Day, we departed the marina, thankful for the predicted perfect weather window and our overnight cruise to Clearwater.
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