More Stuff from PSJ

Lynda and I will cute, spoiled Scochi.

Since they came by car, we took them around to the other side of the bay where they
had never visited before.  The county has a great park there with a very
long walkway over the sensitive marsh area.

The end of the bay is covered with these small islets.  Before the area was
grossly over harvested, it was full of oysters and scallops.

Our friends Lynda and Bill came out for the day and brought me this
adorable birthday cake!

One of the creeks feeding into the bay from a city park.

I'm not sure what type of bush this is but is was gorgeous.  The blooms
looked like tufts of cotton candy.

The full bush in bloom.

Ride to WindmarkThe

When the St. Joe Paper Co. decided to switch from making paper to developing their vast tracks of land they conceived of the idea of an upscale area surrounded by the beauty of nature a few miles from Port St. Joe.  They invested what had to have been millions in solid infrastructure in roads, bridges, paths and numerous beach walkovers.  They also built a town center complete with pool and other buildings.  They even managed to talk the state and county into relocating a large chunk of Hwy 98, the main artery in this part of the state, and designating it as a non-motorized trail. This was all before the crash in the real estate market hit Fl.  Since then, there has been very little signs of life in the community until this trip.  We saw several new houses under construction but no signs of anyone who might live in them.  The new houses all seemed to be the popular-to-rent mega party houses.  They specialize in maximum number of bedrooms per square inch.  I can't imagine living near one of these things but I think that's the point, no one will ever actually live in them for more than a week or two.

The weather had really cooled off and we were riding into a strong north wind
so I layered up as much as possible and still be able to peddle.

Tougher David, wore shorts.  This is on one of the many
walkovers in the dunes.

We had to ride upwind going but the trip back with the wind at our backs was
much faster!

The view up the govt. Cut from the bridge.

The jetties from the water.

We were the only ones on this old section of highway.  Barriers at each end
assure nothing bigger than a bike or pedestrian gets in.

This section of old 98 was in the development area.  They only maintained
half of the roadway but the double yellow stripes let you know what it used to be.

We didn't have to stick to the shoulders since we were the only ones there.

Beautiful sky and water from the bridge.

The Southeaster Ship Builders is proposing to build a drydock
repair facility along this old seawall .  It would be a huge boon
to the town since they lost a lot of jobs when the paper mill and it's
attendant chemical plant closed about 20 years ago.

The shore just off of Widmark.

Shoreline from the bridge.

We think these are either condos or a hotel.  We saw no signs of life.

One of the manicured pathways within the development.

Town Center but mostly empty.

What a lot of wood to maintain.

More Port St. Joe

Since we had decided to stay for a full 8 days, we had plenty of time to get out and about.  We met some great new friends and other friends came out from Navarre to spend some time with us.  We also ride our bikes around to the Windmark development to check on progress since our last visit a few years ago and just generally have a great time relaxing.  There are several new restaurants in town and we never had a bad meal out.  I also celebrated my birthday and enjoyed every minute of our time!

The first Florida State Constitution was signed in PSJ.  Once upon a time,
before Flagler and his railroad and hotels, This part of the state was the most
populous and developed. One reason the capitol is in Tallahassee instead of farther south.

There has been huge investment in the city's parks and recreation areas.
This pavilion overlooks the bay and can accommodate a large party.

The town also moved the lighthouse from Cape San Blas to prevent
it's loss to the ravages of hurricane and moving sand.  They also
brought the keeper's houses as well.

A view of the marina from the pavilion.

This pond with fountain is in one of the parks along the waterfront.

We are definitely the smallest boat in our row.

The jetties protect the marina from waves.

Old bollards stand as sentinels from the days of the paper mill.

The old electrical conduit winds among the rusted pilings.

Part of the old and very decrepit seawall.

The old marina seawall and the new.

A full view of the monster  vessel ahead of us!

Along the PSJ Trail

One of our favorite things to do in Port St. Joe is ride the trail that runs through creek bottom parkland.  It covers about 4 miles and has a lot of parks, nicely landscaped backyards and other places.  This time, we spent the extra time to explore a pioneer cemetery from the early 1800s.  There was a terrible epidemic of a fever brought in from South America by a merchant ship.  Sometimes entire families were either wiped out or severely decimated.  A sad reminder of harsh times before antibiotics and vaccines.

The cemetery had a combination of above ground crypts and graves.

These beautiful azaleas had grown up around this grave.  An always fresh
bouquet in Spring.

Several of the stones indicated the settlers originated in Ireland.

Apparently the cemetery filled quickly as it was only open less than 20 years.

These headstones were worn smooth by time and the elements.

A view along the trail.

A well protected and very pretty trail.

Port St. Joe

The trip from St. Andrew's Bay to St. Joseph's Bay was so much better than anticipated.  We started off with a reefed main, solent blade and no mizzen and ended with full main, full jib and the mizzen.  We sailed fairly flat, rarely over 10 degrees for heel and fast.  We made the 32 km trip in a little less than 6 hours.  That included raising anchor and tying up at the dock!  Super nice trip.  We are at the Port St. Joe City Marina.  Always a great place to stop and the town is worth exploring.  Since we have a few days of nasty weather coming as well as my birthday this weekend and a long list of "want to dos" we've decided to become dock people for a week.  That will allow us to do and see all we want without a time crunch nagging at us there is a nice place to celebrate for a birthday dinner.  So I caught up on laundry and went exploring after Church. David washed the boat while I was walking and looked for other chores to keep him happy like varnish touch ups.  Now it's catch up the blog time.  Enjoy.

This boat is on the same dock as we are.

This is a really big boat.  That's Blue Moon in the background.

It was scary for me to dock in front of this monster!

The beach on the Peninsula across the bay form us.

Looking out my backdoor.

This park and trail winds along the waterfront for
almost a mile starting at the marina.

This huge, old anchor is on display in the park.

The welcome arch to the Old Downtown .  Lots of cute shops and eateries.

City welcome sign

Across the Way by Tyndall AFB

We knew the weather was shifting so we moved across the water to be on a better shore protection from the wind.  Across from the island is Tyndall AFB.  We have enjoyed being there before and had a great First Friday fish fry  at the marina club.  We were looking forward to the dinner out and went ashore to make reservations only to discover that the club was under renovations.  Oh well.  We were ashore so we walked to the shopette just to walk and see if there was anything we needed.  Turns out aspirin and a Frappachino.  There is also a great nature trail along the water that was well worth the time.  We went back to the deck of the club in case any of the base yacht club members came around and we met a super nice lady and saw a spectacular sunset from the upper deck.  We didn't stay too long as the no seeums came  out in force.  For bugs you can barely see they have such huge teeth!  Back to the boat for our own fish.  We were there for the full moon and the sky cleared for a truly beautiful view.

Sorry, I can't remember how to make it change directions.  This is the raised
trail on Tyndall through a marsh.

The full moon  in the clouds.

Gorgeous light on the water.

We had a long way to go so we were up with the sun.