Our Stay in Carrabelle



All the Loopers waiting patiently here in Carrabelle

 Our stay at Carrabelle has been a very pleasant experience. Whoever said that there wasn't much in Carrabelle was mistaken. Granted there aren't a lot of restaurants but there are enough. The C-Quarters Marina is the best. In fact we would put it right up in the top when it comes to being convenient, hospitable, and economical. It's a great hangout for all of us Loopers while we wait for the great "weather window".

One of the best marinas!

Looper gathering - one of many!

One of our daily visitors

Obviously there isn't much crime in Carrabelle.

All dressed up for Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

After fueling up and settling into our slip, we found several Loopers already here. Some have been here for more than a week. Sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate very well. There would be even more Loopers arriving in the next day or so. It looks like there may be about 20 boats or so making the
Gulf Crossing near the end of this week.

Mike has really enjoyed this down period. He's been hanging out with the local good ol' boys every afternoon drinking a beer and sharing colorful fish tales. He did some work on the boat but mostly just took the time off. He needed that! It's going to be a long haul once we leave here.

The Gulf Crossing will be from Carrabelle to Clearwater. It's about 170 miles and will be an overnight run. We can only travel so fast. Of course, some will run faster, some slower. We will be out of sight of land and too far for our VHF or cell phones to have service. At least, we will be in constant contact with each other along the way. We all will be glad when this run is over, I'm sure. It will be a great experience! I hope! LOL!

Back to our visit here in Carrabelle – like I said – this is a neat little area. I've spent a lot of time riding back and forth to the IGA, local pharmacy, Dollar Store, Post Office and gift shops. One of my main goals was to get all of our Christmas shopping done and mailed. Done! Another one was to find more Christmas decorations. Done! Mike added more lights to NautiNell while I did the inside. Oh, and stop at the local hotdog stand for a chili dog. Done! LOL!

Every night we would all gather together for Happy Hour. Always good food and lots of fun conversations. Most of them would always lead to when we were leaving and how fast we were all planning to travel. Every day more Loopers would come in. It's been really nice seeing everyone – some we hadn't seen since Norfolk! One night the marina furnished us fresh oysters! Jim of Sweet pea was the only one you had an oyster knife (or whatever it's called) so he was in charge of the shucking! Everyone pretty much just lined up!

One afternoon Mike and Jeff went off in search of beer. They found it in the local Harry's Bar. Harry's is a liquor store and bar. They bought their beer after having a couple at the bar and talking to the locals. The owner ended up bringing them home in his truck so they wouldn't have to try to transport their booty on their bikes. He even gave them each a free t-shirt!

Mike spent some time fishing from the dinghy. He said that the dolphins kept coming up to the dinghy and blowing out their spout! He said that you really don't realize how big they are until you're in the dinghy beside them! LOL!

We were able to buy fresh shrimp from a lady who came by the marina. Mike and I had our very own shrimp boil. Shrimp, new potatoes and corn - all boiled together - yummm! The shrimp were huge and the freshest ever.

Well, we've been here since Sunday and it looks like we will be able to leave today (Thursday). We are planning to leave around 4:00 p.m. and head out to sea. We need to leave about this time so we will be arriving in Clearwater in the daylight but after the sun is higher so we can see. There are millions of crab pots out there and no one wants to catch one in their prop! Anyway we should be arriving in Clearwater Friday morning. We'll stay in Clearwater for a few days. We want to see Tarpon Springs which is nearby. Tarpon Springs is known for sponges and Greek restaurants!

Till next time!

Admiral "C"