Florida: Panama City

Day 152
NM Today: 58 (67 statute miles)
NM Total: 3216 (3700 statute miles)

Cold!!! So very cold!!!  The temperature outside this morning when we woke read 34 degrees with the temp in the salon of the boat at 48 and our state room a brisk 45!  Cold air sinks and the state room is down three steps.  We had four blankets on the bed, but still the sheets felt like ice.  I wrapped the sheets around my head during the night to simulate one of those mummy sleeping bags. I really needed one of those old-time sleep caps to keep my head warm.  My nose felt like an ice cube because I left my nose and mouth exposed so I could breathe.  I told Clark today that I never want to be that cold again when I am trying to sleep!

Because the sun was shining brightly, it actually felt warmer outside than it did in our state room. After we made our visit to the park washrooms, Clark decided to wander the park grounds and found some interesting photo ops.

Girl and Her Dog Statue on Park Bench

He also found a preservation area remembering an Inn that once occupied this area as well as an Indian Midden Mound dating back to 500 B.C. to 1000 A.D. built on that site and cannons dating from the Civil War.

Remains of Indianola Inn, An Indian Midden Mound,
& Civil War Cannons

After picture taking, Clark chatted with Elizabear before we said our farewells and pulled in our lines.  They left just about an hour before us headed in the same direction but to a different endpoint for today's travels. Our agenda took us a bit further east to Panama City.

As noted in the daily stats above, today was a long travel day.  It must have been a math error because the estimated travel time calculated out last night as 5.5 hours, but at 4 hours into the trip, we recalculated and still had over 3 hours to go to reach our destination.  It started looking like we would arrive after sunset and that just did not cut it, so Clark ran up on plane at 15 knots for a while and took about 2 hours travel time off our trip before dropping the speed back to our fuel-usage-friendly numbers of around 8.5 knots.

I set way points on the chart plotter to assist with the open-water portion of the trip today.  Once we reached the GICW the markers were more frequent and much closer together. On the open waters Clark spied more dolphins.  (I did not look up in time.) When we entered the "Grand Canyon" of the ICW as it is called, the view along this 20 mile stretch changed drastically from the open waters we had just crossed.

Sandy Shores of the "Grand Canyon" in the GICW

Opposite Sandy Shore

Like yesterday, we spied another bridge that appeared to be a tall replacement for an older drawbridge with the remains transformed into a fishing pier.  Note that the old bridge sits between the twin spans of the new bridge.

Old Bridge - New Bridge Combo

After the narrow passage of the "Grand Canyon", we once again came out into open waters where the channel markers make excellent perches for birds as they fish for their dinners.

A Trio of Birds on Their Marker Perch

A Bird Convention on a GICW Marker
(Note: the gold square indicates this marker as belonging to the GICW)

 Thanks to Clark taking the boat up on plane earlier, we arrived at the Panama City Marina at 3:45 with plenty of daylight remaining.  Since the docks here are the worst ever to tie a line to, it was a very good thing that we could see what we were doing.  The docks are fixed at a very tall height, and cement pillars are the only object that a line can be tied to since there are no cleats.

The finger dock that is the means to go ashore has a cement pillar sticking up in the middle with just a few inches on either side to walk around.  Each time I get on or off the boat I worry I will trip and end up in the water.  Our friends on Always Home told us that they have been here for a week and have seen fluctuations in tide ranging anywhere from 1.5 feet to 4 feet depending on wind direction. We had to borrow chafe guards for a couple of our lines so that they won't be worn from being dragged across the wooden dock repeatedly from the pulling and pushing caused by the wind and tide.

The best part of this marina so far was the sunset we could see from our boat.  The second best part of being in a marina is that we have electricity which means we have heat for tonight! Yay!

Sunset Seen From the Panama City Marina