The screen shot shows Destin. Our dock is on the left side of the picture, just about in the middle, to the right of the bridge. The sand and water are gorgeous!
Choctawhatchee Bay was pretty rough due to high wind, but we made it across and into "The Grand Canyon" of the GICWW, which is really sand cliffs on each side of a canal. On the 20 mile stretch, we saw three birds, one jet ski, two boats and one shack. That is ALL. In 20 miles!
We had planned to anchor out one night before Panama City, but we came out into West Bay early and decided to keep going.
There was no pumpout at the dock in Destin, since it was mostly fishing boats, so we were looking for a dock with pumpout facilities. We found one in our guidebook at the beginning of the bay, called to make sure they had a pump out, and proceeded to head in. Danny looked down to see 1foot depth on the chart plotter, I looked up to see a guy waving us off. He showed us with a pole how shallow the water was, and they did NOT have a pumpout. I don't know where the lady was that I talked to on the phone, maybe still waiting for us on another dock.
Crossing the bay, we kept hearing a flapping noise. I finally got up to make sure a panel or buoy hadn't come loose, and found a dolphin instead, RIGHT BY our boat. HE was making the flapping noise. We had company for about half the crossing, sometimes as many as three at a time. It was so cool to watch them roll in our wake. I got some good pictures, and a great video. They are such beautiful, graceful creatures.
West Bay calmed down about half way across and became glass-like. It's amazing how fast weather situations can change. That's why we will always play safe and respect the weather!
There were many marina options in Panama City, but we chose the City Marina since it was within walking distance of old downtown Panama City.
The gentleman at the gas dock as we pulled in started up a conversation. Really, it wasn't me! He was retired and working two days a week for "social therapy." He said he had lived in Panama City all his life, so I asked him if he knew Bill and June Lloyd, our friends from graduate school at Georgia. Bill passed away a couple of years ago, and I had tried to contact June to see if we could get together. Well, Howard, our new friend, knew them and called his wife to get June's phone number for me. I love small towns!
We pulled into our slip and found four looper boats right around us, several folks on the dock ready to help us tie up.
Beautiful sunset, with my favorite captain silhouetted against it.
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