Carabelle

I’m about an hour away from Carabelle. Sun has finally come out.

I’ve got some catching up to do here. Nothing of note. Changed the impeller on the motor last night. Wasn’t overheating but was getting steam from the exhaust and it sounded a little loud. The old impeller was partially disintegrated. The genset impeller went a couple of weeks ago. All good now.

On Sunday not long after I posted last the sound finally ran out, and I entered a dug canal about 3:30.

As it turned out this went for close to 30 miles. Nobody around, no other boats, no snags. I carried on as it got dark.

I eventually anchored in West Bay just west of Panama City. Tried to stop at a restaurant by the bridge but ran aground trying to get to their dock and bailed on that.

The looper that had passed me on Saturday was anchored in the lake as well, and they passed me on the way out the next morning.

Yesterday was relentlessly grey and chilly. I wore my warm hat rather than the sun hat. This was mid-afternoon.

Got underway about 8:00 and stopped about 5:00. Saw almost no other boats, except an old Allmand 35 sailboat aground off the channel with an old skipper. He waved me over and I towed him off.

I didn’t see Pamana City up close, but there was hurricane damage evident.

The area east of the city seemed the worst hit. I went through a few miles where many trees were snapped off

The afternoon was spent in another long ditch, this time with a strong adverse current of 2+ mph. I don’t know whether it’s less green because of the hurricane or whether it’s normal for this time of year, but it seems dead around here. Very little green, and no birds, fish or critters in evidence.

I anchored here last night.

I’m looking forward to stopping here. There is a very good looking weather window for the next couple of days to get across the Big Bend. This is a gap in the Intracoastal that essentially requires about 150 miles of travel on the open Gulf of Mexico.

I’m about 15 minutes out now. More later.