Dog Island

It was finally time to leave Apalachicola. We woke at anchor to glassy calm waters. The weather forecast was good for the bay crossing. We set off for Dog Island, just ten miles off of Carabelle, around 8:30 am, arriving at 1:00.

Leaving Apalachicola

The Georgia Queen passed us on our way to Dog Island

We found a beautiful spot to anchor in between a fishing boat and a set of jet skis. A family of four were playing on the beach; the two young boys running around naked, squeeling in delight as they played.

Dog Island Anchorage

We lowered the kayaks and paddled ashore then put out a blanket to relax a bit. There were sand pipers all over the beach. They are interesting to watch as they stick their long beaks into the sand and find delicious treats. They worked the shoreline, carefully turning back once they got within 20 feet of us. Dave went for a swim in the clear green water. I waded in just enough to cool off.

Dave Kayaking Ashore

We packed up our beach stuff and kayaked around the northeast side of the Island looking for a shell beach. We found a beautiful shallow bay but signs warned that we could not go ashore.

When we got back to the beach off of our anchorage we saw a pod of at least 30 dolphins swimming and slapping their tales right next to Mystic. We made a beeline out to the bay and got very close to some of them. We pulled the kayaks out of the water and made a late lunch out of the smoked mullet we purchased in Apalachicola. As we always do, we turned on the weather for an evening forecast only to find, as we often do, that the wind was expected to change to the north overnight. This anchorage was no longer a safe spot for us. We pulled anchor and headed for Carabelle, ten miles back in the direction we came.

Mystic Anchored At Dog Island

This was a wonderful day for us! The trip to Dog Island was easy. After all the miles we'd covered getting south, it was so nice to be at a beach with white sugar sand. We'd finally found paradise!