December 2, 2010 - Thursday

Parade of Boats on Gulf County Canal

On Lake Wimico

A group of boaters got together last night (Wednesday) at the bar to discuss crossing the gulf.  There were about 9 or 10 boats, both motor and sail, at the meeting.  It was very entertaining and a little wild at times but we all had a good time.  In checking the weather it looks like we will have a good gulf crossing window on December 3 and 4, 2010, weather was good from noon on Friday to noon on Saturday.

We left St. Joseph Sound-Port St. Joe Marina at 08:40.  There were several boats leaving, all but 2 boats decided to do the crossing.  It took us a little over 7 hours to get to Carrabelle to the The Moorings Marina.  It was almost like a "parade of boats" going back up the Gulf County Canal to pick up the GIWW.  It was about 32 degrees and clear in early morning but by afternoon it was mostly sunny and about 70+ degrees. 

All went good until we reached Lake Wimico.  This is a very shallow lake and you have to stay in the channel as either side is so shallow you could easily run a ground.  In our group, "The Old Grouch" stirred up some mud and "Q's End" went a ground but was able to get off on his own.  As far as he could tell all is well with his boat.

After Lake Wimico we went into a narrow channel until we reached Apalachicola where we went out into Apalachicola Bay which is very large and also shallow outside of the channel.  A little less than 5 miles outside of Apalachicola the GIWW makes a 90 degree turn to your port and we heard from several people this turn has a tendency to shoal up.  Right before the turn the lead boat, Old Grumpy, saw a sail boat a ground and was trying to help him off.  After several tries he told the sail boat that he should call BoatUS as he was afraid of going a ground himself and/or doing something to his boat.  I believe all boats agreed with him as there was the potential for all of us getting stuck.  We found out later that the sail boat did not have insurance!  We finally got to Carrabelle about 16:10 and by this time Keith was in the lead as 2 of the faster boats went ahead to fuel up and make room for the rest of us.  On the approach to Carrabelle in St. George Sound, Keith was talking on the radio and not paying attention to the markers and we missed one.  It is a little scary to hear the depth alarm go off but we were OK, just had to back track a little.

CO's comments:  One of the best lessons that we have learned so far is to talk to locals as they will give you a great deal of information as to water depths and areas to be cautious of.  Having sonar and setting the alarm to go off at depths 3 or 4 feet under your props or keel can save you from going a ground.  In some areas I don't believe the channel was any more than 20 feet wide.