The time change didn’t help and we slept until after 9:00 today. Wow! Bob took Auggie for his walk. They have a really nice dog-walk area just across the road from our campsite.
By noon, it was 94 and people in the campground were heading to the beach. We did a few chores around the bus that needed to be done. After lunch, we took a 25-minute drive on Highway 98 to Apalachicola. We took our raincoats as Bob said the radar showed some storms in the area and there were dark clouds overhead. Bob wanted me to drive today. This would be the first time in 2 1/2 months that I’ve driven the Jeep any distance. Bob has driven 100% of the bus-miles we’ve driven and 98% of the Jeep-miles, so I guess it would only be fair to give him a break from the driving today. As we left the campground, it started to rain lightly.
We stopped about 1/2 mile from the campground to check out the Crooked River Lighthouse just down the road. We have seen this one before, but I love to see lighthouses.
The museum was closed today. I have climbed up into most of the lighthouses I’ve been to, but we realized that this one might have a ladder on the inside of the center post. If that was all there was, then that is something I WOULDN’T do.
There was an observation platform at the top, but getting there would be a trick for someone.
Highway 98 first took us through the town of Eastpoint. It started to rain a little harder for awhile, but then it stopped. Outside of town, we had to take the causeway over the East Bay. Bob knew that at the end of the causeway, there was a steep bridge. Now I know why he wanted me to drive.
The Gulf waters looked as blue as I remembered and it was pretty calm on the Gulf this morning. I was so tired of seeing all the brown water in the lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams almost everywhere we’ve been on this trip.
As we got to the end of the causeway, I could see what Bob was dreading.
From the top of the bridge crossing over the Apalachicola River, we could see the outskirts of Apalachicola below us, as we entered town.
The town wasn’t too busy with people walking along the streets, but parking was an issue.
We turned on “D” Street and found a place to park near the Hole in the Wall. We are lucky that way! We have tried to get into this establishment before, but couldn’t get through the door. They do a phenomenal business with raw oysters and other seafood. The prices are really good too. This time, we got in the door and found a place to sit at the bar. We sat there and observed that the room was full and they were understaffed. The little staff there was seemed overworked and unable to handle the volume pf people. No one even acknowledged that we were there, so after 10 minutes we left…oysterless and thirsty. We drove to another restaurant that we’ve frequented before—the Up the Creek Raw Bar.
They have a great view of the ICW from the second floor.
We went inside and discovered that they had increased their prices to almost double of what they were at the Hole in the Wall. Ridiculous! We left there and Bob googled another place for oysters that was just down the street. It was the Half Shell, but it was closed.
We discovered it was located at the same marina that we stayed at when we brought our 46′ Ocean sportfish from Wisconsin down to Florida in 2008. We had come down the ICW from Mobile, Alabama, were headed to Clearwater with a stop in Apalachicola, and then Carrabelle before crossing the Gulf of Mexico. It brought back some good memories of that special time.
Outside of the restaurant, we saw piles of oyster shells in many locations.
They are used as a base in parking lots, sidewalks, etc., kind of like we use seashells. With all the oysters they serve there are a lot of them and they put them to good use.
We decided to leave Apalachicola and see if we could find a place to get oysters in Eastpoint. I drove us back over the bridge to Eastpoint while Bob googled what restaurants in Eastpoint served oysters. He found the Red Pirate.
Bob had his raw oysters and a scallop basket. They were the bay scallops that we used to go scalloping for in Homosassa a few years ago, not the sea scallops. I had the chicken wrap. We were happy to finally find the oysters Bob was looking for.
On the drive back, we noticed a lot of the damage along the shoreline that remained from the last hurricane that hit this area in 2018. We saw some houses along the shore that were damaged. There was a lot of rubble and some foundations still there.
Large trees had been uprooted and washed ashore.
Docks were missing and never replaced. Seawalls were damaged.
As we approached the campground, we could see that the public beach was busy.
It was warm, but sitting outside with Auggie at the campsite, there was a nice onshore breeze. Auggie spotted a gecko and proceeded to track it down.
In a bush at our campsite, I discovered an abandoned nest. It was quite a beautiful creation.
When we all got too hot, we went inside to cool off in the AC. We didn’t have dinner since we had such a big lunch, so we took Auggie on his walk a little earlier tonight. It started to cool off when the sun went down. Tomorrow is our last day here, so we made plans to go visit the town of Carrabelle.