02-13-2019 Finally at Indian Pass, Port Saint Joe, Florida

Current Location: Indian Pass Campground, Port Saint Joe, Florida

Overcast breaking up to sun, breezy, and only 49 degrees F at 9AM

We are here.  We are in Florida.  We are camped surrounded by large palmettos and wetlands on one side, sand and a beach on the other side.  It is a good place to be, even if the weather isn’t exactly cooperating with our kayaking plans.

I first saw Indian Pass in 2003, stayed here at one of the little cabins with Bel.  Then later, when Mo and I traveled in this part of the world in 2014, I brought her here to check out the campground and put it on a possibility list for some future date. 

The biggest draw here for me is proximity to St Vincent Island Reserve, a magical place accessible only by boat, listed as possibly one of the wildest places left in Florida.  Well, maybe not, there are always the Everglades.  Still, a wild barrier island with a mated pair of red wolves among myriad species of wildlife and birds is an incredible treasure.

Walking on the beach with St Vincent Island across the channel

The channel between the campground boat launch and the island is narrow, maybe half a mile at most, but there is a strong current, and the channel is deep enough that it is a fishing ground for sharks.  So I think we will wait for a bit less wind to cross over to the island. 

Instead, on a sunny but windy Sunday afternoon we took a drive east along Highway 98, through Apalachicola and Eastpoint to drive north into Tate’s Hell State Forest.  I have a great Florida Paddling guide that listed several boat launches in the upper reaches of Apalachicola Bay and the Apalach, as they call the river around here.  The river is big, wide, and fast, and not so much to our liking, but the smaller tributaries look inviting.  Just the kind of winding estuary creek kayaks that we love.

We wandered a bit through the forest, not actually lost, but not quite sure where we were in relation to the Cypress Pygmy Forest Boardwalk that was signed at the entrance road.  We never found the site and later when we stopped at an information kiosk for the forest, we discovered that we had passed very close by.  No signs at all out there in Tate’s Hell, and the forest site isn’t anywhere on Google Maps.  I had downloaded the map for offline use, but that didn’t help a bit.  It did keep us from getting really lost, however.

We especially loved the brilliant red springtime flowers of the cypress maple.  They were somewhat dull in the overcast, but when the sun shone they lit up like wildfire.  Gorgeous.

We found a nice dry camp at Cashie Bayou boat launch, and decided that when it was windy at Indian Pass it might be nicer here a bit inland and put it on a list of possible kayak launch locations for the coming week. 

As I looked closer at the launch site, I discovered that this is what is called a “blackwater river”, with organic staining of the water that makes it look like dark, strong tea.  There was also a nice picnic area, and two of the campsites were open, however they have reservations required stickers on them.  Might be a nice place to be, but then again there were also some kids around running 4 wheelers in and out of the muddy creek approaching the launch site, so maybe noisy at times.  Especially in good weather.

We returned home across the long bridge across Apalachicola Bay,  glad that the kayaks were securely fastened in the winds that threatened to lift us off the bridge.  Neither of us was in a town shopping mode, so we skipped the charming downtown in favor of wandering a few side streets of Apalachicola. 

The houses here are so lovely, true Southern gems. We saw some evidence of storm damage, but nothing quite as awful as what we saw in Mexico Beach.  A fellow blogger is in town right now, and we will be meeting for lunch on Thursday.  Really looking forward to that treat, as the two of them are people we have followed for a long time, and who actually hail from our part of the world in Ashland.  More to come on that one after Thursday!

On our way back to the campground, a 16 mile drive along the coast, we did see a lot of debris along the roadway, waiting for pickup, but much has been cleaned up and the road is still damaged a bit, but not impassable.

Home to our comfy house, with yummy smells from a crock pot of pulled pork greeting us was a perfect way to end our first day at Indian Pass.