Apalachicola? ...Does He Know How Much There is NOT To Do In Apalachicola?

When Mrs. FC mentioned to her friend Libby, that we were going to Apalachicola on a little trip, Libby responded in her sweet southern accent, "Does he know how much there is NOT to do in Apalachicola?"

That is classic Libby, she says the neatest things and could easily be a southern dame off of Steel Magnolias or Fried Green Tomatoes.

She's right in a way, but that was part of the attraction of Apalachicola. I needed time in a fishing town that was still a fishing town.

I got it.

We ate at THE BOSS OYSTER since it was recommended by a girl I know, who knows her seafood.

You can't very well go to the center of the oyster universe without having a few, so we started with six plump steamed oysters.

Here's a plump Apalachicola Bay oyster all dressed up with a splash of Tabasco.



I went with the fried shrimp.

These delicious decapods were big and fresh tasting and I believe they truly were local and not farm raised somewhere far away.

The fact that shrimp boats were either passing by on the river or tied up nearby added to the validity of the restaurant's claim of fresh, local seafood.



Mrs. FC went with a combination of crab cake and grouper filet.

The one thing I would change would be the corn nuggets. There should be hushpuppies on that plate, not corn nuggets.

Ugh.

Who invented those nasty things?

It was just a day before the official "SUPERMOON", so the "SORTASUPERMOON" was pretty darn big.

Here's a zoomed in shot of the moon taken while braced against a power pole.

Along the docks, there are all kinds of buildings related to the processing of seafood from the Gulf. Some are active and some are tired and worn out. This one had a "For Sale" sign out front and looked vacant.

Let's hope for renovation and renewal, not demolition.

This old trawler was on display and was obviously an older model of a shrimp or sponge boat, but I could not find any historical marker explaining the life of this tired old boat.

 We walked around town after dinner, savoring the perfect spring evening and the quiet, sleepy downtown area next to the docks. Some restaurants were open and a few bars spilled music on to the street, but mostly it was quiet.

The "regular" shops were closed, but we did find one hold out that was open. It had a nicely odd mix of antiques, cookbooks, junque, and custom made T-shirts featuring old seafood companies from Apalachicola's past.

We talked with the owner for a while. He said he owned the town newspaper for years, so he turned out to be a great source of local info.

We left his shop after a pleasant conversation which included a tip about a good restaurant for breakfast. Nothing outside had changed much during our time inside his store. 

The quiet streets were almost empty save for restaurant/bar patrons or small clusters of tourists wandering by with overheard comments of, "Well, I guess nothing is open" or "We'll come back tomorrow, maybe these shops will be open then".

In the end, Libby was right when she asked that question. The shortage of things to "DO" made Apalachicola exactly the kind of place I had been looking for.

We did come back the next morning for breakfast ... but, that is another post.

In the meantime, here's a few scenes from our outdoors, riverside table at the Boss Oyster.



Any recently abandoned table was attacked by the dock grackles and gulls.




A shrimpboat heads out the Apalachicola River on its way to a night of shrimping.




Most pilings sported a laughing gull or pelican. A corn nugget tossed their way created an instant gull-grackle cacophony.