A GREAT COTTON AND OYSTER TOWN

December 4, 2011  Dateline: Apalachicola, FL USA

Josh, Carol, Rich and I left Panama City for the 55 mile trek to Apalachicola at about 8:30 this morning.  Somewhere along the way we lost an hour as we came back into the Eastern Time Zone.  By 3:30 I pulled into the fuel dock at Scipio’s Creek Marina to take on fuel.  Because it was late in the day, the dock master let me stay at the fuel dock for the night.

The trip was boring and while there was some open water, generally the trip was in a canal and the sides were like this picture.  I went past a spot where there were a number of small fishing boats.  Each boat had a pelican sitting next to it waiting for some chum to be thrown in the water or a hooked fish that could be stolen from the fisherman.  One pelican out foxed himself and got his wing caught in a fishing line.  The fisherman was trying to pull him over to the boat to cut the line, but of course the pelican did not understand he was about to receive help and kept fighting.  The fisherman finally cut the line and by then I was on my way.

I saw this boat along the way. It reminded me of what could happen if I ran out of fuel in this desolate place.  I then thought Rich would never let that happen to me.

Apalachicola was once the third largest cotton exporting city in the US.  Cotton would come down the various rivers from as far away as Georgia and be shipped from the wharfs here.  The town has not been hit by any hurricanes so it is pretty much the same as its early days.  This house certainly is one that has survived all these years.  The city is now the oyster capital of the United States.  Approximately 90% of the oysters harvested in Florida come from Apalachicola and they represent 10% of those harvested in the United States.

There is a veteran’s memorial park and it contains this statue dedicated to the veterans of Vietnam from the Southern States.  While not large in size it is never the less very impressive.

One of the shops had this carved mermaid outside of it.  Rich thought that she was really nice, so he asked if he could take her picture.  She did not answer, so Rich figured that was a yes.

Rich bought a tee shirt at this shop.  The gentleman who runs the store, John Lee, sells all of his tee shirts wrapped in a Styrofoam tray like the ones found in the meat department of a grocery store. By using this packaging, John says that the shirts have not been handled by snotty kids or drooled on by adults. Inside each package is supposedly placed some mojo which is released when the package is opened and will give the wearer extra good fortune. Rich said he will wear the shirt when I cross the Gulf—I hope it helps me as much as it does him. Everything that John sells is priced so that when the tax is added the price is a whole dollar amount. That way, he says, his very old manual cash register doesn’t have to deal with coins.

Here is a picture of the tee shirt package that Rich purchased.  The picture on the shirt is of Pearl Messina.  At the turn of the 20^th Century, Pearl’s father, Joseph Messina, owned the Bay City Packing Company which distributed oyster, shrimp, fish and roe throughout the United States.  One of his labels, which is printed on the shirt, was the pearl brand, named of course after his daughter.  Interestingly enough Joseph Messina’s house is now the location of Pearl Dentistry.

Tomorrow, I am off to Carrabelle and a ride of some 27 miles.  Rich tells me we will drop Josh off, rest for a day and then on Wednesday maybe head across the Gulf, weather permitting.