Day 23 arrived in Carabelle -decision time!

Howdy! We arrived in Carabelle, FL about 3:20 pm after 59.9 miles of generally great weather. Docking was something of a challenge...  Our slip is perpendicular to the channel, and the wind was blowing 10-15 mph perpendicular to the dock in one direction and the outgoing tide was perpendicular to the dock in the opposite direction.  Once I figured out that the two opposing forces effectively cancelled each other out in this case then docking was relatively simple.  We had to dock stern first since there is only a 6 foot long finger pier on one side. The bow of Lucky Us is over 7 feet above the water and that makes it impossible to get off there.

We went under a number of  fixed bridges with about 60 feet of clearance and went through this swinging railroad bridge.

We have seen quite a few ospreys along the waterway, but this is the first nest that we have seen on a channel marker, and it came complete with an osprey in residence.

Birds on channel markers are fun to see close up, but the "deposits" that they leave behind can obscure the color/number on the marker... As for me, I'll take the close up views any day even if I have to guess at the number on the channel marker. We did have a few drops of rain, but the weather was so good that I was able to finish a "boat project" that I had begun yesterday. Yes, that really is the Captain using an electric sander to remove varnish from the cap rail on the flying bridge.

I am afraid that the Sun had gotten ahead of me and had badly damaged the varnish. I did not get this repaired before we started, but I figured "no problem". I'll just do it while we are underway... Actually, all I had to do was to start the generator and run an extension cord. You will note the black/blue straps around my back as they are part of my automatic inflating life vest. Better safe than sorry (?).

     ...and now for the rest of the story. I mentioned "decision time" in the title of today's post.  We have come 848 miles since we left our home in League City, Texas.  Except for the first 25 miles from League City to Galveston, we have been in the Gulf Intrscoastal Waterway the whole time. However, the waterway ends here at Carabelle and does not start again until about 200 miles south of here near Clearwater, FL. We have two choices:
     1. Go straight across the Gulf of Mexico to Clearwater. At our normal cruising speed of about 8 mph, this requires about 25 hours and would mean an overnight crossing.
     2. Follow the coast line of Florida around the bend between the panhandle and the main part of Florida (aka the "armpit").  This is a distance of about 260 miles with only about 3 relatively safe harbors or rivers in which we could spend the nights.  Thus, the distance is a little longer, but we could make the trip in 3 or 4 days with no overnight crossing.
   Our dilemma is which one to choose as each has its own plusses and minuses... I am going to leave you hanging as to which one we are going to choose. Waiting is the key word since there is a new Tropical Storm (Andrea) in the Gulf of Mexico, and it is predicted to reach Florida near Tampa sometime late Friday or early Saturday. We will have to wait until the storm has passed and the seas calm before we can start either of the two options above.  So, stay tuned...