Brrr, its cold in Florida - Day 67 - Ft. Walton Beach to Panama City, FL

The temperature was 40 degrees at 8:00 AM when we set off from Fort Walton Beach for Panama City.  The wind was northeast at 10 to 15 with 1 to 2 foot waves, which I think they refer to as light chop in Florida and the weatherman was predicting a 20% chance of rain.  Today's journey had has traversing Choctawhatchee Bay, a man made 19 mile canal that a fellow boater referred to as "the ditch," West Bay and St Andrews Bay.  We covered a total of 69 miles in just over 6 hours in perfect comfort.

Today's trip involved using all of the toys.  The photo below shows the Sea Ray Navigator II and the Raymarine E120 with all systems visible and in use. 

The Navigator (unit on the left) was set to a waypoint with the autopilot in track (set it and forget it) mode (thus compensating for wind and current).

Navigator II tracking to a waypoint

The E120's left screen shows the big picture, which at this stage of the trip is most of Choctawhatchee Bay.  The Sirius Satellite Weather system, the upper right hand corner, shows our boat in relation to the heavy cloud cover.  The screen in the lower right shows our depth.

E120 with all systems visible on one screen

The AC/heat unit kept the bridge comfortable.  So for 6 plus hours I played with my toys and thoroughly enjoyed an overcast day.  Incidentally, the forecasted rain never materialized.

As we entered the ditch we passed two guys in an aluminum boat secured to the day mark with USAF markings on the bow.  They pointed across the canal to draw my attention to a very unusual vessel.  I have no idea what it was but about a half mile later I encountered a second aluminum boat with USAF markings.  Anything beyond this would be pure speculation.

Soldiers in boat secured to the green day mark

Unusual vessel headed west

Enroute through the canal (ditch) we observed interesting sand formations along the banks.

As we crossed the bays we encountered numerous dolphin, several of whom jumped almost completely out of the water.  I luckily captured one in a photo (not easy).

We arrived in Panama City at 2:45 PM and tied up at the fuel dock where we took on 152 gallons (at $3.21 per gallon).  Our last fill-up occured at Dog River Marina.  Since then we have traveled 183 miles.  For this four leg segment we got 1.2 miles per gallon, which is not bad considering wind and tidal currents that we encountered.

While this was all going on I got a call from my friend Andy Tangen who shared some wonderful news.  Andy's son, 1st Lt. Stephen Tangen, who we mentioned in an earlier article, received the Silver Star from none other than Secretary of Defence Robert Gates.  The Silver Star is the third highest military decoration.  It is awarded for valor in the face of the enemy.  This is a VERY BIG DEAL.  Stephen Tangen graduated West Point two years ago and serves in the 101st Infantry.  He is airborne, ranger and pathfinder qualified.  Here's is a link to the announcement that appeared in the press.

After securing the boat Diana researched the local restaurants and selected a nice one that was close to the boat, at least that what we thought based on the map the marina provided.  Turns our we/I misread the map.  The Shrimp Boat turned out to be about three miles to the west in the St. Andrews Historical District.  We learned this when we walked into a music store just outside the marina to get our bearings.  Fortunately, a lovely lady named Sandy gave us a ride to the restaurant.  I say fortunately as we learned later that it takes 40 minutes to get a cab.  The Shrimp Boat turned out to be a first class restaurant and we had a lovely meal.

Upon return to the marina we needed to take Kodi our for her evening walk.  Interestingly, the tide had risen making it a bit of a jump both in height (2.5 feet above) and distance (2.5 feet away)  to get off and on the boat.  Kodi continued to prove that she is the quintessential boat dog.  She climbed up on the gunwale, assessed the situation, went back into the cockpit, climbed back up on the gunwale and expertly jumped off the boat.  When we returned she assessed the situation, considered whether to jump down to the swim platform or up to the gunwale and chose the latter.  All of this at night.  She is absolutely a pleasure to have with us.

Note: My friend Ron Markovits commented on my mention of shallow water saying "get used to 5-7'."  I responded better to have 5-7' than no water if we were in Chicago.  Despite the tricky waters and cold weather (i.e., it never got over 45 degrees) it is still better to be boating than thinking about May 1.

Entrance to West Bay.  Note the 1s and 2s indicating shallow water

 Written by Les.