It was a short 3 mile trip up the Carrabelle River to Carrabelle. The wind had picked up last evening and that made pulling into our slip one of the most challenging landings ever. After 3 aborted tries, we were able to get into the slip by pulling up to a dock that was perpendicular to our slip and then have the dock hands pivot the boat into the slip by pulling a line around a post.

Once we were settled in the slip, we took the bikes out to explore the town. Carrabelle is a small town but they have a nice little historical museum and there was a very informative guide. Our guide took us through the history of the town. She provided little colorful stories about various exhibits. My favorite one was about the sinking of a coastal steamer in 1920. After the ship went down, a 15 year old survivor decided he'd swim to shore to get help. He thought it was about a 7 mile swim but in fact it was 25 miles away. About 7 miles into the trip, his muscles seized and he was drowning. He reported that a pod of dolphins came to his rescue and raised him up until he regained his strength. The dolphins then followed along with him as he continued to swim to shore, rescuing him again another 7 or miles later and then nudging him from behind till he got to shore. He was able to find help and about 15 other people were rescued.

The guide also said that she had 2 other visitors who told her that they had had similar experiences being rescued by dolphins! I knew they were wonderful creatures.

On our second day we took a bike ride to the beach and were sad to see some remnants of the big oil spill about 8 years ago. The sand on the beach had black areas and I saw a piece of coral that had washed ashore that was black with oil. The rest of our day was filled with chrome polishing, waxing and deck washing. This is a needy boat:(

Today is our final day in Carrabelle and it started raining last night and the rain stopped around mid-afternoon. Strong winds continue but are supposed to stop by morning. We've been taking advantage of the "indoor" time. Me...cleaning the interior and Kevin ...changing engine zincs. A nice quiet Sunday!

Update for day 180- The winds continue to be strong. We'll stay in Carrabelle for another day. Maybe go to the potluck dinner at the marina!