Les Cinq Misérables Miles 12-16

Well as we prepared to go forth unto Apalachicola we gave the Lowrance GPS one final try.  Power up, home screen, turn off.  It acts like an input is overloading or similar.  Perhaps the corroded 2000 input in the back is shorting out.  Anyway it is now an impending doom of repair costs.  It would be cheaper to buy a new smaller system.  We are looking into it.

This was my fourth time through this stretch of intercoastal.  I was hoping the last time was my final one.   No matter how nice White City Free Dock and the days we spend there are there must come the day we cross the miserable five miles of Lake Wimico.  This may be a freshwater fisherman's dream to have several species of salt water fish in his favorite bass fishing hole but,  the narrow little path that a sailboat can travel is a gauntlet.  The channel is dead straight once you are on the lake but the edges are very shallow and you have to watch that the cross wind doesn't put you off the center.  I dislike this section!

As we entered the lake of the dread we passed an on coming small cabin cruiser. Tortuga.  Tortuga was an Albin 27 and we took the moment to make a small conversation on channel 17.  They continued to stress "DO NOT TAKE GOVERNMENT CUT!  IT HAS NO WATER!"  We didn't even get where they were from or where they were headed, just "DO NOT TAKE GOVERNMENT CUT!  IT HAS NO WATER!" Our response of  "We have been through twice before" was met with "THIS INFO IS ONLY TWO HOURS OLD!  DON'T  TAKE GOVERNMENT CUT!"

Hmmm,  That would put a damper on our plan as going out to Dog Island is another 25 miles or so.  Taking the time to go all the way out there and planning on land fall at Clearwater cut was not logical.  That was assuming we could get through Government cut.  We would check on this tomorrow morning.

We were making way using the small Lowrance and occasion iPhone with Charts and Tides for our reference.  Dark fell before we arrived at Apalachacola but this being the forth time s/v Gemini Dreams has been to this town we knew the actual mouth to Scipio Creed is well south to the actual marker.  Cutting this too close leaves you up on the shoal with the crab pots.  Hint: if you go through the pots it is too shallow.     No matter what your chart says.

We normally tie up to the free dock just off Water Street.  This makes us have to deal with the rising and falling of the tides.  Another Vega owner said to just tie up to the dinghy dock and make it simple.  This worked out much better.  Just being able to step out onto the dock at any tide instead of climbing from the cabin roof up 4-5 feet to the dock.

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