Getting Ready for the Big Bad Gulf Crossing

Date 2-20 thru 2-22 2011

We are on our way to East Pass to start our important and intimidating Gulf Crossing.

To get the boat from the Panhandle of Florida, back to North Carolina we need to leave the northern Panhandle and cross diagonally to the west coast of Florida. The water in the northeast corner of the Panhandle is too shallow for our boat.

We left Hogtowne Bayou crossed Choctawhatchee Bay and traveled east on the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway.

East of Choctawhatchee Bay, we entered a white sandy bank canal that we followed to West Bay. The weather was perfect. The water and winds were calm.

Next we entered St Andrews Bay, where the winds picked up to 15 kts. We passed Panama City and anchored in Pearl Bayou. Everything was well marked which made our trip easy. Again we had a hard time getting our anchor to set properly. We spent a peaceful night at Pearl Bayou. 

Below is a map showing Pearl Bayou.

The next day we continued traveling in the waterway to East Bay where we saw men harvesting clams from the shallow bottom.

This is a big boat we saw being built along the way.

We continued on the waterway across Lake Wimico to Jackson River to Apalachicola and spent the night at Scipio Marina. Docking was easy with a side tie and no problems from the wind or current.

We had lots of recommendations for the Scipio Marina but I was disappointed. Maybe I was expecting too much, the bathrooms and laundry room left something to be desired. Our friends, George and Mike met us to spend some time on the boat. We ate at Pappa Joe’s Restaurant. We had heard their oysters were great. I don’t do oysters but Shay, George, and Mike seemed to like them.

Below is a map showing Apalachicola.

We looked at all the weather information we could find and the guys decided it was time to do the crossing. They left the marina the next day, crossed Apalachicola Bay to St. George Sound and anchored at Dog Island next to East Pass where they would start their Gulf Crossing. They plan to leave early on February 23 to cross the Gulf.  Shay planned to go in at Boca Grande Inlet to Charlotte Harbor, if the weather stayed good. He had routes into several other inlets if the weather changed. Shay filed a Float Plan with me and Dave, the previous owner of our boat. The Float Plan included the description of the boat, the people aboard and their contact information, where and when the trip would start, and where and when he expected to arrive. This information would be used in case of an emergency. I would not make the crossing but would drive to meet them at Burnt Store Marina in Charlotte Harbor so Mike and George would have a car to return to Niceville. They will pick up our car and drive both back to Mount Airy, NC.