Day 195 continued Thanksgiving in Apalach Pt 2

Continuing with our picture tour of Apalachicola. The first photo is of the old sponge exchange built in 1831. I mentioned the sponge trade in an earlier blog. This is now a lady's boutique, but still a beautiful building. Pic 2 is an oyster tumbler cleaning machine that is behind Boss Oyster Republic. We had beers at Boss when we watched a football game but no food. We were warned that none of the locals eat here because it's supposedly unsanitary and had been closed by the health department multiple times. Next photo is of the back of the Tin Shed. This place has tons of cool nautical surplus as evidenced in the picture, but is quite pricey. The forth pic is of the shrimp docks. A shadow of what use to be here. An old timer told us there were 160 shrimp boats on these docks. They had to raft 3 deep. Times have changed. What has caused the decline in shrimp, crab and oyster harvesting? According to the Riverkeepper organization - loss of life-sustaining freshwater, loss of floodplain and wetland habitat, pollution, and unrestrained growth and development. The last picture is of the restaurant, Caroline's River Dining, where we will have Thanksgiving dinner with all our Looper friends who have been waiting out the weather with us. If we can't be surrounded by family and long loved friends, then this is the next best thing. To gather with new friends who have shared this amazing odyssey with us. They are not all here and we will miss the ones that are in different ports today. We have been truly blessed on this journey. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.