We took our time getting up and out, weighed anchor at 8:30 am and motored west across Apalachicola Bay. There was a strong current, we were running about 4-4.5 knots. The winds picked up shortly thereafter out of the west at 18-20 knots. We motored for a few hours and an alarm sounded. We quickly got out of the channel, determined it was the high temperature alarm. We shut down the engine and Ed went to investigate. He found a loose belt and tightened it. All set and on our way again. The rest of the day we pounded into the west wind and the chop. We went in the channel at Apalachicola and passed the anchorage we were at Christmas time and where we met Dan and Audrey on Brynli. (who are currently in the Bahamas!) A few miles up the Apalachicola River the high temperature alarm sounded again. Same drill, get out of the channel asap and shut down the engine. This time the belt broke. Lucky for us, there was a spare on board. Ed replaced the belt and off we went. We tucked up into an anchorage in Saul Creek (Active Captain tip) and anchored, as it started to rain. The winds were much much calmer in the creek, it was beautifully quiet. It was a deep river in spots, up to 50 feet. We anchored in 12 feet. Only 1 other sailboat anchored a little ways down, other than that we were totally alone in the swamps of old Florida. NO PHONE OR INTERNET SIGNAL!! And its Easter....BUMMER!! The boat sat super still, no wind and not much current. We slept like a rock.
The following morning we got into Lil Bit and motored around, into the smaller little creeks, or I should say swamps. We turned off the outboard and rowed into the swamps, into smaller and smaller waterways and just stopped and looked around. It was so quiet, and yet so busy with all forms of wildlife! There were beautiful orchid looking flowers and lilies hiding in the underbrush. Easter flowers!
Ed spotted an alligator, about 8 ft. long, just floating next to a lily pad, as if to say, "I will stay perfectly still, and you won't see me or bother me". We didn't bother him, rowed on down and he was still there when we came back! He paddled over to the shore line and stopped right in front of a root along the shore, thinking he was camoflaugued.
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Can you spot the gator?
Lilypads
Cypress Knees
Gnarly roots!
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| Reflections |
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| Swamp trees, reflections in the water |
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| Seems to be the thing to have around these parts! |
Reviews on Active Captain for this anchorage talks about how it is a good hurricane hole. We saw signs of that; very old rope, wrapped around the bases of several trees, then cut free. If these trees could talk, they would have lots of stories of holding all kinds of ships, work boats, sailboat, who knows...from days past and boaters tying their boats to the trees and hope for the best.
A sign from many years past, the tree grew around the sign!
We spotted fiddler crabs along the shoreline and watched them for a few minutes
Fiddler Crabs
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| A lilypad flower! |
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| Manatee in the swamp |
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| Practicing the dinghy motor |
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| Cypress knees |
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| Old, old rope, hanging from a tree for some purpose at one time |
It certainly was a different way to spend Easter Sunday. It was great to see other forms of life going on.
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