Monday, Jan. 7, 2019

Traveling from Panama City Beach to Apalachicola was eye-opening. Hurricane Michael’s devastation from just 3 months ago (10/10/18) was heart-breakingly evident. The destruction of the natural environment, plus the community and personal damage, have left us in awe of the spirit of those who have lived through the trauma yet fight through each day to return to some sense of normalcy. I’m certain the same goes for those who experienced the destruction from Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas last September. Be proud of your emergency squads who have gone to FL or elsewhere to assist those who have lived through a disaster such as these hurricanes. By observation alone, there is no way to return to the previous normal, yet there is a way to work toward a new normal and move forward. From now on, when a natural (or otherwise) disaster occurs, we will be more attentive to the assistance needed beyond that of an immediate response and will continue to help as recovery proceeds.

Off the soapbox. (It’s just that the emotional effect from what we have seen of the devastation and destruction is indescribable. I can’t imagine the feelings we would experience if we’d had an opportunity to speak with any of the people involved! … A picture is worth a thousand words… a personal view is worth even more… living it – unimaginable.)

As we moved from outside the center of the hurricane landfall, to 3.5 miles inland from Mexico Beach, and to the outer eastern edge near Apalachicola, we observed the varying levels of damage. Upon reaching our destination at Apalachicola Marina, we were in awe of the natural beauty of the bayou. Having been informed that bald eagles could be abundant, we were disappointed that not one had been seen along the way. 

After arriving at the Marina, low and behold, there was a bald eagle! It was low tide and it was standing just off the channel on some kind of broken boat or pier in the midst of the bayou watching the water for a dinner treat. It was beautiful!  On our second day at Apalachicola, another smaller bald eagle stood on a channel marker post for over an hour. We assume it was keeping an eye out for breakfast.

Apalachicola (which has the same sing-song sound as Gary, Indiana … for those that are not familiar with old show tunes – check out The Music Man, which was also made into a movie, and Ron Howard made an appearance in it!) is a nice little tourist town with antique shops and other typical tourist stores with clothing, souvenirs, and the occasional bar or watering hole. Due to H. Michael, there are only two marinas left operating here. With so many local boats in slips that used to be used for transient boaters, we were lucky that Apalachicola Marina could accommodate our request for two or three nights as the other marina could only take us for one. Our marina previously had docks out along the channel that were destroyed in the storm, but their wall dock located next to an old warehouse (and across the street from the Ice House Company bar) was still operational.

The location was interesting as we overlooked the very scenic bayou where the river is relatively calm. As we walked along Water Street (at the waterfront) we could see a number of old warehouses and buildings in various states of distress, yet some are still functioning. There is a very active seafood processing business a few hundred yards from the dock next to a nice waterfront park which Bo greatly enjoyed! A shop called the Tin Shed sells all sorts of items that must have been scavenged from ship wrecks: ships bells, port holes, life rafts, brass fitting, etc. as well as other nautical items.

We learned from an old-timer, that Apalachicola had once been the 3rd busiest port on the gulf coast exporting cotton. Then it became a major exporter of sponges. Eventually, the shrimp business became its booming industry with shrimp boats tied up 3 deep along the docks in the early 1970s. Sadly, the majority of the shrimp production has moved overseas and we only saw a few shrimp boats coming and going during our time there.  A couple of these boats saved us from a potential ship wreck as we ventured onward! More details to follow in our future post. (…feel the suspense building…)

The town has done such a great job cleaning up after the storm sometimes it was difficult to tell how bad it must have been. The Ice House Company bar had water up to top of the main bar; many of the shops had a couple feet of water/mud inside. From a Looper perspective, we had a sturdy dock, power, fresh water, interesting bars/restaurants within walking distance, a variety of shops, and friendly people. The only thing holding down the 10-point rating on this location was the need to overlook the obvious damage to some of the buildings and the occasional pile of storm debris still waiting to be picked up. 

We could have easily stayed a couple more days in Apalachicola, but we needed to move along. There is a good weather window opening that should allow us to cross the big bend area of the gulf around January 16, so we need to get positioned in Carrabelle for “the crossing,” as it is called. Carrabelle update coming soon!