On Hold in Steinhatchee

2/24-25/07 – Following my worst day ever arriving in Steinhatchee has been a blessing. We could have left again yesterday, but I seriously needed a breather from ocean travel. Besides the folks here are the nicest I’ve met in a long time, real down-home friendly – they make you want to stick around for a while. Saturday, Captain Bill of TowBoatUS drove us over 30 miles (to Cross City) to get a prescription renewed and since the wait would be over an hour we went out to eat at a real comfy little place called Cypress Inn with home style cook’n, it was simple and very good. We spent a good part of the afternoon walking around Steinhatchee and taking pictures. It’s not a big town, again only one grocery store, but it appears to be adequate for just about anything you’d need.
Apparently scallops are a big thing here; the season being July-Sept and most locals anchor out and go a-scalloping. Two fans of scallops are Norma & Joe, live close by and have two boats docked here; one being a houseboat, and they spend lots of time at the marina. Cap’t Bill runs the TowBoatUS service here at River Haven and boy does he have a gazillion stories to tell about his adventures. (He should write a book) Everyone we’ve met here is very knowledgeable about marine mechanics and boats in general; they all share their expertise and equipment without hesitation. There is a sense of giving and karma, "what goes around comes around" kinda stuff. The five of us had an enjoyable BBQ on Joe’s house boat Sat. night. The other folks that populate the marina are; Thomas - a young man (19) who works here and does just about anything and everything that needs doing, under the watchful eye of Bill – who actually does live here and Toni - the gal that works in the office/marina/store for Sheri the owner. There are also various dogs that come and go, which everyone knows, as well as two parrots that spend their days perched during business hours. Our weather watch told us that Sunday would not be a good day for the gulf, seas around 4-6’. Luckily for me its one more day docked in a safe harbor and one more day to settle my head and stomach before venturing back out. The only good weather window looks to be Monday for our last little jaunt across the gulf so we’ll be off tomorrow. I’m not sure if we’ll be anchored out or docked close to internet, but I will keep ya’ll posted when I can. On our last night here we took Bill out to dinner at one of the local restaurants "Roys". Bill has so many life experiences; we listened to interesting stories all night. Turns out another of Bill's talents is wine-making. He gave us a bottle of persimmon wine which we intend to keep chilled until we can celebrate our arrival at our home port.