Bainbridge, GA to Keaton Beach, FL

Trip One River Oaks Landing (Home port) Bainbridge, GA Woodams Docks Port St. Lucie, FL. On June 7, 2002, Friday: The weekend before we started our trip we took the extra suitcases and the boat trailer down to Mom’s place. We are going to trailer the boat back home after the trip. June 8, 2002, Saturday: We went garage sale shopping with Mom while we were there. Went to lunch at Arbby’s, afterwards Deanna and I went swimming in Mom’s pool. June 9, 2002, Sunday: We went to church, came back to Moms and packed the truck. Left Mom’s about 0900, (she stood on the porch teary eyes). After we got home we went shopping for the boat trip (there is always something that you forget to pick up). June 10, 2002, Monday: Two days before our trip Gary and I worked on clearing the water way of the weeds and grass. At that time we only had one way out of our backwaters, the south end. Will finish tying up all the lose ends of our shopping list and then this afternoon will pack the boat. June 11, 2002, Tuesday: Day before our trip, today we took the big dog to the kennels, and pack the rest of our stuff and went to bed early because 4 a.m. comes awful early. BHW First Mate June 12, 2002 Wednesday Day One Departure Point: River Oaks Landing Bainbridge, GA (our dock) Arrival Point: Keaton Beach Marina Keaton Beach, FL. Start time: 0400 End time: 2000 Total time: 16 hrs Distance Traveled: 220 miles June 12, 2002, Wednesday: Day one of our trip. Like I said 4 a.m. comes awful early, I feel like I just got to bed. 0400-We left River Oaks Landing (our dock) with a crew of three, Gary-Captain, Beverly-First Mate, Deanna, Navigator, and two small dogs (belonging to the first mate) Santini, and Poco. 0455- We passed Wingate’s Lodge entrance at the mm 10.2 on the Flint River, port side. It took us 55 minutes to get to this point from our dock. The May Flies were awful, both Deanna and I were covered with them. That is because we were on the front of the boat with the spot lights so the captain could see the buoy markers. You could also see the gator’s red eyes as the light hit them. Not only were the bugs bad the water surface had steam rising from it and made going a little hard. By 0535, we arrived at the lock, called Tony the lock operator on duty. We enter the lock at 0555; every thing went fine, but a little to slow for Gary. Left the lock at 0615 and enter the Apalachicola River.

Shortly after the lock we passed under the Hwy. 90 Bridge. There will be a few more bridges to go under before we make it to the coastline. Around 0638; we went under the I-10 Bridge. Our next bridge will be the Hwy. 20 Bridge north of Blountstown. West of Blountstown is where Poco came from. NOTE: We tried to stop on a sandbar and now we are having some problems with the engine. 0845- Gary checked the oil, still no water coming out of the intake system. We are hoping to make it to Scipio Creek Marina (our stop for fuel) Left our dock with 76 gals of fuel. NOTE: We were able to call the Mercury Marina Service because we were not getting any water stream from the engine. Talked with a guy named Gary and he walked us through and every thing is ok now. Will flues out the engine when we get to Scipio. At 1000; we stopped on another sandbar to let dogs out. Gary and I had to push off. I almost did not get back on board and left the sandbar at 1015.

Around 1130; we passed by two groups of tugs and barges with dredging equipment on them. The second group had four barges tied side by side. Later on we saw the Potaka Tug (COE) pushing two more barges. The Chipola River (27.9 m. m.) is among some of the rivers, and creeks that join the Appalachia River as it flows down to the coast line. In the old days even the steamships and paddle wheelers traveled on this river system.

We arrived at Scipio around 1330, were we got fuel, ice, and took the dogs for a walk. We also used the stores AC to cool off ourselves. It is fine when you are moving but as soon as you stop the heat hits you like a brick wall. Around 1400, we left Scorpio’s heading out to the bay area. It was still early and we decided to keep on going. Spotted Marker #20 pass Alligator Point; our plans was to make a stop at Alligator Point for the night, guess what? Keaton Beach here we come. It was getting close to 1800, when Gary radio Keaton Beach to let them know we were coming. They told us to come on and tie up were we can. They would see us in the morning. At 2000, we enter the Keaton Beach Channel, had some trouble going into the Marina. Their channel is not well marked. We ran up on low ground and got a crap trap caught onto the propeller. Luck for us we were able to get it off with no damage done. We made it to the marina with out any more problems, found a place to tie up too, and washed the salt off us the best we could, get the dogs settled, had something to eat and settled in for the night.

Keaton Beach Marina entrance NOTE: We saw two groups of dolphins today. CAUTION: When coming into the channel for the marina stay close to the pier and white markers so you don’t run aground. BHW First Mate