Dollar General Super Store

Carrabelle has no Walmart super store but it does have a Dollar General that sells canned goods, milk even cartons of ice cream.  I call that a Dollar General Super Store.  We visited it today and came back to the boat with a car load of stuff.  I don't know what we are going to do with all the stuff since we are not going to be here long enough for a garage sale.  Anyway, the slow moving front is moving out and by Monday we should have weather fit for crossing the Gulf.  Our weather expert say it will be a good day for crossing.  Ralph and June are arriving Saturday and we are going to enjoy some of the local events. Robert sent me a notice that Apalachicola is having an event this w/e so we will drive over to check it out. Ralph and June will move our car to the Tampa area when we depart and meet us down there. Denniese finished cleaning the upper helm and I cleaned the bilge. She also did laundry. I stayed in the bilge. The laundry and the upper helm turned out better than the bilge but she said she would give me another chance. We found a local seafood supplier and purchased a large red snapper steak for supper.  It was soooo good. We told him we would be back. The gas grill is acting up so I tomorrow I will work on it.  I only visited ACE twice today.  Standing on the bow of the boat I took a picture of my favorite place in Carrabelle.

Carrabelle Sweet Carrabelle

Wednesday started like most days for me here in the forgotten coast.  A trip to ACE hardware!  This time it was a navigation light that was bad.  Since we will be traveling at night I checked all the running lights last night and found one bad.  Ronnie, the owner said he didn't have one but could order me one that would be in on Thursday. Denniese also had a list of supplies for me. I returned to the boat and found she had started a painting project.  It seems a steel pole on the sun deck needs some chipping, sanding and a fresh coat of paint.  While she started on that I checked out the nav light and found it was corroded which was causing a bad connection. It was necessary to crawl into and under the instrument panel to remove the light. After the third time of removing and replacing the light I finally had it working. " Boat Rule number 10... Repairs usually take 3 tries"!! Some folks in a couple of vans pulled up in front of the boat and seeing that I am the only person around they ask if there was a bar around here where they could get lunch. I told them not here but about 20 miles West was Apalachicola and it had lot of bars and restaurants. They also ask about fishing and where they could rent a boat.  Half the group left and the other half stayed and watched from the parking lot.  It looked to me like they were on a convention and had skipped out of the meetings. As much as I tried the repairs did not take all day so I started on another chore.  This time it was the macerator pump.  I had suspicions that it was not working . "Boat rule # 16, never go looking for problems,cause you will find them"!!  After spending an hour taking the hoses off the pump and testing it I found the reason it was not spitting out "stuff" is because the holding tank (sewage) was empty.  I had forgotten that we had it pumped before we got here.  That's OK the smell kept any visitors from coming up and asking a lot of dumb questions.  It looks like the Gulf may be calmed by the first of the week for a crossing.

Carrabelle is Great

Today is Tuesday, March 20th, the first day of Spring and it is Spring in Carrabelle. Getting to know the places we visit is part of the fun of doing the Loop.  In between doing chores on Lifestyle II, we visit the local spots.  Here at Carrabelle that can be accomplished in about an hour.  Well it would seem that way since it only has one grocery, a couple of restaurants and no real retail community.  Today we visited the other restaurant.  It is at the other marina, the Moorings.  No connection to the world wide charter business with the same name.  The sign out front said "Carrabelles best breakfast".  We found that the Mayor and the Sheriff have breakfast there on most days.  The mayor was still there.  We talked, well he talked we tried to talk but he is a little hard of hearing and so it was best just to listen.  We did find out that he had lived in Green County, Tennessee, above Knoxville.  He is now on his sixth four year term.  He must be well liked or either they can't find anyone else to work for such little pay. I told him we loved Carrabelle and after traveling all over we decided that Carrabelle was the perfect city.  It has one road in, one road out.  It does not have a Wall-Mart or a traffic light. They have a downtown revitalization program that is coasting over $200,000. and consist of replacing the sidewalk for one block. He was real proud of the project. I asked him about not having a stoplight and he said they had one at one time but it caused too many accidents and had to take it down. Malinda served us breakfast and it was maybe the best we have had. By the time we were finished it was close to 10AM and the mayor said he needed to go to the office.  At least he has the right work ethic for the job.

Back on board

We arrived safely in Carrabelle Saturday afternoon around 4:30.  During the drive from Tennessee, Mike checked the weather forecast and wind predictions for the Gulf and we made the decision to not cross on Sunday.  The wind was forecast to picked to around 20 knots before we could get across.  So at this writing, the predictions are for fair winds on Friday.

It's a good thing we have a few extra days to prepare since the water heater element went out and we had no hot water when we arrived.  The hardware store is closed on Sunday, so after visiting the First Baptist Church of Carrabelle, we began cleaning the boat and getting stocked up on food and water. Mike changed the oil in the engine last night and tackled the water heater this morning.  After only two trips to Ace Hardware (which luckily is right across the street from the boat) we have hot water again!
 but
Maggie and I have been checking out the neighborhood a littler better when out walking.  There are so many old, small homes here and it looks as if the occupants just up and left all their stuff.  Windows are boarded up and it seems almost like a ghost town.

This area is called "The Forgotten Coast"  and I can see why - it is like a step back in time.  There is one grocery store and it is next door to the Ace Hardware.  We found a little diner across from the Post Office and there is a nice little park across from the Baptist Church.  Everything is within walking distance so Maggaie and i are getting plenty of exercise. 

We may have to dine out tonight because Mike is equalizing the batteries for the DC power source and the it takes around 8 hours.  I can't cook with all that going on!!!!!!!!

We have had 2 beautiful days with perfect temperatures, but the sand fleas are ferocious.  Unless the wind is blowing, they will eat someone alive.  We've got plenty of Skin So Soft and that helps keep them at bay for awhile.

The Adventuer Continues

Last March we started this adventure in Stuart, FL.  We had just completed a new house and moved into it for one month prior to the start of our trip.  By June we were traveling up the Hudson River. We moored Lifestyle II at Poughkeepsie Yacht Club in New York for 10 days and  returned home for a family reunion. At home we took the time to unpacked the remaining boxes. We celebrated my birthday, September 19, at Rock Harbor Marina, in Nashville, only 30 miles from our home in Murfreesboro.  At that stop we pulled Lifestyle II out of the water to do some bottom work and we spent time at home hanging pictures and getting to know our land home. By December we had made it to the Pan Handle of Florida but the winter weather was setting in and we decided to leave our floating home in Carribelle and drive to our land home for Christmas and the winter. That decision worked out well because we were able to spend Christmas with family and have some work done on our beautiful boat in Carribelle.

An early Spring seems to favor a departure from Carribelle by late March.  We have enjoyed our stay in Murfreesbor but our boat is calling and we are ready to get back in the grove of traveling.  We look forward to visiting familiar places along the Gulf Coast and crossing our wake at Key Largo.  As soon as we are back aboard Lifestyle II we will start the Blog on a daily basis or as the signal allows. Stay tuned for our report....

Mike,Denniese and Maggie Mae
M/V Lifestyle II, Marine Trader 40

Cozy Carrabelle

Carrabelle Florida is about 60 miles south of Tallahassee but is about as back woods as it gets this close to the coast.  Described as a sleepy fishing village it has everything we need.  From our slip we look over the oyster shell parking lot, past the dumpster and there is a Ace Hardware, an IGA and a bank. The next block has a restaurant and a couple other marinas.  The engine stopped on our way here from Apalachicola and it was my intent to have a mechanic look at it so we put our name on his list.  Since we haven't heard from him I took another look at it and put a pressure gauge on the fuel line and did my usual tightening and replacing washers until I know I have the fuel-air problem solved.  How many time have I said that? Anyway, we missed the weather window to cross the Gulf and we are sitting here with a couple other boats that have had maintenance problems and are waiting for a good weather pattern to develop. In the winter the weather stirs up the Gulf to the point that a small boat crossing can get bounced around if not careful. Soooooo, instead of sitting here telling stories with the good ole boys that hang out here at the marina/sporting goods store/boat charter place we decided to rent a car and head home.  This town is so small it doesn't have a taxi but the guy at the hardware store said the girl at the other marina had a son that would take us to Tallahassee, which is the closest car rental.  We fully expect the son to show up in a jacked-up 4WD pickup with a gun rack and a trophy on the hood. It's all part of our grand adventure called "The Loop".  We are all packed and ready except for a few things and should be back home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee by Friday night.  Love to all and have a Blessed Christmas.

White City

It has been 5 days since we posted a blog. But we have an excuse!!  We left Sabine Marina and headed East.  We anchored out behind Spectre Island on the intercoastal and the next night we were beside a bridge going to the beaches. We didn't have any Internet service so we could not send out a blog.  Thursday, we made Panama City.  We were on a mission - to buy fuel filters. Our life is, do laundry, buy fuel filters and look for the next place to park the boat.  We found the filters and walked back to the boat. We were ready to drop by the time we got back.  Denniese thinks we walked about 4 miles round trip. We stayed two days at Panama City. The second day was resting up from the first. Saturday we stopped at White City, Florida. White City offers a free dock and a fishing pier.  We watched the locals fishing and the locals watched us on the boat and the pelicans watched us both. White City is the dividing line for the Eastern and Central time zone. If you live West of the highway you are on Central time, East of the highway you are on Eastern time. The bridge and the fishing pier was about it for White City. No email or cell service.  It was a nice place to spend a couple of days.  Monday we took off for Apalachicola, Florida but along the was we decided to go on to Carrabelle instead.  Carrabelle is about 30 miles east of Apalachicola and has been described as a little sleepy fishing village and that is what it is.  But is does have a grocery, and Ace Hardware, a bank and several restaurants all within a short walk of the boat.  So here we are tied to the dock along with several other Loopers waiting for the weather to be just right for a crossing to the Tampa Bay area. The trip for us is about 30 hours of Gulf exposure so we are wanting a good weather window.  Maybe by Friday the weather will be just what we want.  Till then we are here at the sleepy little fishing village in the big bend of Florida.