Friday, January 6, 2012

Goodmorning Ya'll,

Picking up where I left off at Panama City, we departed the marina on Wesdnesday, January 4 & headed for Apalachicola!  We still have trouble spitting that out! One of the first interesting sights we encountered was this home nestled into the bank of the Wetappo Creek, notice the tree growing right through the roof !  Unbelievable.

Traveling through the cut between St. Andrews Bay via Wetappo Creek to Apalachicola, we only encountered 1 motor yacht and a couple of small fishing boats (anchored), unlike the ICW closer to home.  This waterway was extremely narrow, but this picture, of that 1 lone boat we passed, doesn't capture how really close we were.  Glad Florida doesn't have commercial traffic very often, if ever.

 Making our way through the narrow Wetappo Creek, we continued our trip on the Apalachicola Bay. We arrived at the Apalachicola Marina (now known as Millers), around 3PM.  Had great weather the whole trip.  We walked around their charming little town with lots of well preserved history features.  Next door to the marina was Caroline's River Dining, which served oysters prepared 17 different ways!  I just happen to have a few shots of why they can prepare oysters 17 different ways! When we headed out the next morning for Carrabelle, Fl., we passed under the St.George Island Bridge, where we encountered, at least 50 oyster boats with crew 'hand' tilling the sandy bottom of the St. George Sound.

 As we walked round town we stopped in one of the local hardware stores & the owner asked if we were from the area. Our answer was his cue to start with several bits of trivia, that were quite interesting & unique to the area . 

Dr. John Gorrie invented a machine that made ice, which he originally designed to help yellow fever patients.  He was granted the first U.S. patent for mechanical refrigeration in 1851.  Dr. Gorrie was honored by Florida when his statue was placed in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capital.

The second piece of trivia pertains to Honey.  When we walked into this and other stores in town, bottles of honey were everywhere. We learned that there really is such a thing as nature's most perfect perfect food! 

Undiluted honey does not harbor bacteria & honey 1000 years old may be eaten with little fear of bacteria contamination and Tupelo honey will not crystallize or granulate.  White Tupelo honey, made from white tupelo flowers, is rated as 'prized,' is a sweet, light amber table honey with a greenish hue, & is the most expensive honey because it is the most expensive to produce.

Timing is critical for beekeepers to clean the combs at just the right time so that when the white tupelo gum tree blossoms, only the honey from these blossoms is collected.

Tupelo trees grow in river basins and Tupelo honey production is concentrated in the Apalachicola River Basin.  Apalachicola is the only place in the world where the White Tupelo honey is commercially produced.  

If anyone wants their very own bottle of 'white tupelo honey' here is the store to call and place your order; RetsyO's Tupelo Honey, PO Box 915, Apalachicola, Fl., 32320, phone # 850-323-0599. Just a side note, if you decide to order some honey, be sure to ask the owner to include the recipe's that he shared with us.  Enjoy, it is delicious!

Okay, moving on, we headed for Carrabelle, Fl. on Thursday morning, departing 9AM.  Traveling southbound heading for the Carrabelle River, we made a quick trip, about 3 hrs., docking at C-
Quarters Marina, where we were greeted by the 'local's', just hang'in on the dock - in the middle of the day - on a weekday! 

I thought maybe we missed a holiday or somthing, what do these folks do for a living? Well, let me tell you what they do - they Fish!  Carrabelle's principal industry is seafood processing, we enjoyed some fresh grouper and seafood gumbo. Here is a shot as we headed for the marina.

 The Capt. had to wash the B & B, of course, so that she would look shiney and sparkly for the 'locals' just hang'in on the dock.  That was fine, but within the hour, we smelled something burning and looked out on the deck, where we found alot of soot collecting.  As we found out - from the 'locals' hang'in on the dock, there was a controlled burn a few miles up the road.  Great! I guess that we just 'go with the flow, or in this case, the soot'. 

We ate dinner at the local Fisherman's Wife Diner, returned to the boat & began preparing for our 140 mile trip off shore, on Friday.  But, Friday morning came & we aborted the trip because of dense fog.  We are scheduled to try again tomorrow morning, early (5AM), but the forecast said the fog would lift by 10AM today, as of 3PM the fog is worse than this morning.  We may just be 'hang'in' with the locals a few more days!