Leaving beautiful Farmdale Bayou astern, Steve and I got an
early start on what would be a long day of motoring.
From here eastward the
Intracoastal Waterway becomes mostly a narrow waterway winding through pines
with an occasional waterfront dwelling ashore.
Steve waited for Dan to catch up
and indicated that I should continue on, which I did, and got to the intersection
to continue on to Apalachicola or turn southward on a very straight cut, five
miles to Port Saint Joe. I anchored and took a very welcome nap while waiting
for them to meet me, which they did a half hour later. Steve seemed a bit
miffed that I got the nap!
This day of motoring was a do-or-die test of the 3-1/5 HP 2-stroke outboard that my pal, Jerry, had loaned me for this trip. I prefer using my 55-pound thrust Penn Cotta trolling motor running off a pair of group-24 batteries, but that would have been no match for this upwind and mostly up-current portion. There was a nasty chop the last five miles and that was mild, as when we entered Saint Joe Bay which demanded using a very narrow channel with heavy breaking waves on the nose.
Shortly past the entrance there was a sober reminder of straying
from the marked channel.
After about nine long hours we at last we made it into the marina, celebrating with cold beer, hot showers and key lime pie!
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