Tuesday, November 22, 2011

We were both tuckered out from our trip into town yesterday and all the walking we did before we discovered the bus system, so we both practically collapsed into bed last night; the temperature dropped to the high 50s and it was comfortable sleeping.
We woke to a beautiful morning with the temperature already in the 70s.
Joe wanted to head into town early so we set off in the dinghy at 9:30 to catch the 10 o'clock bus at the marina.

While it was a beautiful morning, there was a bit more wind than yesterday and we were kind of bouncing around on the waves but I stayed dry even though I was sitting in the front.  On the way home, however, I got sprayed several times and was so full of salt water that I had to take a shower and put on clean clothes before I did anything else.





The municipal marina is quite nice

and Panama City's civic center and

city hall are right next to it.











We caught the bus and got dropped off in front of Wal-Mart.  We found everything on our list within 15 minutes, so after checking out and repacking our purchases in our own sturdy cloth bags, we still had 30 minutes to kill before the bus returned.  We walked out to the shaded bus stand and sat people-watching and enjoying the breeze.

We made it back to the marina at Noon and headed for the dinghy.


Uh-oh, mermaid crossing...

This motorsailer caught our eye--I sure would love to see the inside of it.









We got back to Paradise and unloaded all the groceries and we have all we need for our Thanksgiving dinner.

Late this afternoon Joe noticed activity out in the water (I tried to capture it with the camera, but I couldn't get much of the action because it was so fast).  Some dolphins were herding fish to catch and eat.  Some of the fish would leap in the air to escape but the dolphins seemed to be doing doing better than their prey.

While we were enjoying happy hour on the aft deck, this Nordhavn trawler came in to anchor near us in Smack Bayou--what a beauty.

After sunset tonight we had pouring rain sweep through twice within an hour and more is coming later tonight.  We had the back door open to the aft deck and the rain was really loud.  Although it's humid, the temperature is comfortable, so we still have the back door open and we don't need to turn on the A/C.

We've made a slight change in our plans because of the weather.  There's a cold front coming from the west (it's over Texas right now) which will bring winds from the north within the next day or two that will last for a few days--not good conditions for making a Gulf crossing.  So we're thinking we'll stay here by Panama City until Friday, then go to Apalachicola.  The winds should return to their normal pattern from the southeast by Monday and we're figuring we can start the crossing to Dunedin on Tuesday afternoon.
Tomorrow is supposed to be nice again, and since we're going to be sticking around here that means that maybe we can make a return trip to Bayou Joe's, in which case I might get that Dunk and Ugly peach dessert after all.  =0)

Monday, November 21, 2011

Photos added (11/22/11).
Today was a Florida Chamber of Commerce day--the sky was blue and the temp was already at 69 degrees when I got up at 6:15.  Eventually it got up to 81 degrees.  Just perfect!

We decided to take the dinghy over to Panama City.  Joe did a scouting run first while I did some house boatkeeping tasks.  He picked up a map of the area and ice for our cooler as well as checking out "Bayou Joe's" on the waterfront.  It's a local dive...you know, as in "Diner's, Drive-Ins and Dives".

After he got back we had an early lunch, did a couple more things, then I got to ride down to the swim platform on the davit,

and we headed to town in the dinghy. 

We went to Bayou Joe's first and pulled right up to the covered seating area with its open walls, you can see the tables and people in this photo.  The other customers watched as we tied the dinghy to the pylons that hold up the front of the restaurant, and I handed my crutches to Joe who had already climbed inside.  I climbed up on the inflated "tube" part of the dinghy, turned around and sat on the deck of the restaurant, then swung my legs up onto the floor, got my knees under me, and stood up with some help from Joe.  As Joe handed me my crutches, I noticed that all these other customers were watching us, so I smiled, spread out my arms, and said "TA-DA!!" It must have been pretty comical watching the whole process, and one of the women there said she felt like she should applaud after seeing the effort that went into my getting out of the boat and up to the seating area.  =0)
Since we had already eaten lunch we only intended to have a beer, but we ended up each having two beers and an appetizer.  While we were enjoying the excellent onion "strings" that were enough for 4 people, we noticed that many of the patrons were locals--always a good sign.  We could tell they were locals because of the ID tags from various businesses that we saw them wearing.  Reading the menu made my mouth water and wish that we hadn't already eaten lunch.  I'd especially like to go back and try this dessert--"Drunk & Ugly – Gently stewed peaches in a splash of rum topped with a cheesecake topping and baked in a graham cracker crust…served warm with ice cream…may not look pretty but it's to die for!!! $6.99"   Oh, and their LandShark on tap is only $2.00 for a big frosty mug!!  We'll certainly be making this place a regular stop when we're in the area.

Panama City has a good bus system that runs from the city hall which is located right by the municipal marina through

the historic downtown shopping area and out to the community college and shopping malls.  We had hoped to use it today to get some supplies, but we stayed too long at Bayou Joe's and we wanted to get back to the boat before dark.  Now that we know the routes and bus numbers, we're going back tomorrow to pick up groceries and the device I need for transferring our photos from the camera to the PC.

We got back to Paradise and sat on the aft deck having happy hour and relaxing until it was time to make dinner.
Air force jets fly over all the time during the day--they're pretty fast and pretty loud, but it's fun to watch them.




We will stay here until Wednesday morning, when we leave for Apalachicola.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Photos added--take a look (11/22/11)
We woke early and enjoyed our coffee and the on-line edition of the Sunday paper. I'm really loving these quiet, peaceful mornings on the river, even the ones when we don't have internet and can't read the paper.

 We were ready to leave our anchorage by 8:30 but the starboard engine wouldn't start.  Since it turned over, Joe said the most likely culprit was a clogged fuel filter so he went below, shut off the fuel line

and changed the primary filters on the engine. 

It still wouldn't start.  So he changed the secondary fuel filters and that took care of the problem.

While he was at it, he decided to also change the secondary fuel filters on the port engine too, so we shouldn't have that problem again for a while.  Now we're out of spare fuel filters so we need to make sure that we get some ASAP.  One of the things all the cruising books agree on is that you have to carry multiple spare parts for just about everything that can be replaced on the engines because you never know where you'll be when Murphy's Law kicks in. 

By 9:50 Joe was smiling and we were once again ready to go.  

Joe hauled up the anchor and at 10:10 we were on our way.

Before long we came to a canal that leads to another, somewhat smaller bay.  We've found that traveling on canals has been relaxing and interesting; relaxing because the ones we've encountered have been quite straight with calm water and you just have to stay in the middle, and interesting because we get to see things we're usually too far from shore to notice.

We passed a sea wall made out of what looked like giant Lego blocks. 

When we were about mid-way through the canal, the water was like glass.

There was a lot of erosion in many places along this canal, with trees and other vegetation just barely hanging on.

A small cabin was right at the edge of the water (cue the music from "Deliverance").

 We've seen lots of dolphins ever since we left Mobile Bay, but mostly they just happen to be in the vicinity of our boat.  Today we had two dolphins following along side us for a while as though they were playing a game with us.

We saw what we think is an oyster boat.

We're anchored for the night across from Panama City Beach in Smack Bayou.  We're just one day away from Apalachicola so we'll hang around here for a few days then leave for Apalachicola and wait for a weather window to make the 24-hour crossing from there to Tarpon Springs.

Tonight we made fried oysters with salad and rolls for dinner.  We're really going to have to show some self-discipline and eat the chicken and ground beef that we bought before we went to the seafood store!

Tomorrow we may take the dinghy over to Panama City Beach and see what interesting things we can find. 

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Take a look at our photos that I added today (Tuesday, 11/22/11).

When we get someplace where we can buy a replacement device for transferring photos from our camera to the PC, I'll add the photos that go with this narrative.
 
We woke to 61 degrees, and grey skies with occasional light rain but once again, we're not traveling too far today so it's a leisurely morning.

After coffee and reading the (on-line) Star Tribune, Joe starts planning our route for the day.  He uses a brass compass to calculate distances on the charts.

It was a bit windy, so we enlisted the aid of a local fisherman on the dock to hold one of our lines until Joe was back on board Paradise and we safely pulled out at 10:15.

This is a photo of the park that I forgot to post yesterday.

About an hour after we left, we saw another boat a long way behind us so we kept an eye on her so we'd know on which side she'd want to pass us.  Soon Joe's cellphone rang and it was Capt Randy Boler--it turns out that the boat following us is the Lady Chateau from Stillwater on her way to her winter home in Fort Lauderdale.   Randy has cruised these waters many times and he starts earlier in the morning and keeps going later in the day than we do; he also cruises a bit faster than us so he soon passes Paradise and continues on.  Lady Chateau is scheduled for a dinner cruise in Fort Lauderdale the first weekend of December, so she has quite a few miles to cover in the next 2 weeks

We're crossing Choctawhatchee Bay today, a relatively large but shallow body of water that is part of the GIWW system.  Although we're going into a headwind there's just a moderate chop so it's pretty easy traveling.  When we do the 24-hour Gulf crossing from Appalachicola to Tarpon Springs I hope we have conditions as easy as this because that crossing can be rough, and often has to be delayed due to storms and/or high winds.  My brother, John, has agreed to help us do the crossing the week after Thanksgiving; it was John who helped Joe bring Paradise back to Minnesota from Michigan after I broke my leg.

Just east of the Mid-Way Bridge across the Bay from Niceville to Destin we headed in towards the southern shore to anchor for the night.  Southeast winds are predicted so anchoring on this side of the Bay will offer us some protection from the winds during the night.

Pretty soon, the occasional light sprinkles turned into a steady rain but the temperature remained in the high 60s.

Tonight's dinner included fettuccine Alfredo and the frozen lobster tail that we bought in Fort Walton Beach yesterday--OMG!  The only thing that could have been better is if the lobster was fresh right out of the water.
Tomorrow we plan to make it all the way to Panama City and stay there a couple of days.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Got the doo-hicky for transferring photos from the camera to the PC so we're back in business and I've added the missing photos!
No photos again.  If you've been following this blog you know that a while back our card reader quit working and I couldn't download photos from our camera to the computer.  A couple days later the darn thing decided to start working again so I've been using it for the last few weeks without too many problems.  We wanted to buy a new one, but we haven't been to able to get to any stores that carry them.  Tonight it quit again so I'll just do my posts without photos until we can get replacement equipment or it spontaneously decides to start working again.  Technology can be so agravating!

It was 41 degrees this morning when we woke up, but by 10 it was up to 58 degrees and temps eventually hit the mid 60s with mostly blue skies for a while, then it turned mostly cloudy.

Our plan for the day was to go to the municipal dock at Fort Walton Beach where we can stay over night for free and get a free pumpout and water, although there's no electricity provided.  The free pumpout facility is provided by the Florida Clean Boating Partnership. Since the distance is only 12 miles or so, we had a relaxed morning and didn't pull out of our anchorage until 10:15.

It was nice cruising without too much wind today.  Santa Rosa Island, part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, seems to go on forever.

We passed military radar domes located on Santa Rosa Island that are used by the the Navy and the Marines in Pensacola and Eglin Air Force Base near Fort Walton Beach.

Speaking of military, in my blog yesterday I forgot to mention that all last evening we heard what at first I thought was thunder, but Joe said it was military war games being conducted.  I wonder if real estate agents in this area tell prospective buyers that they can expect that sort of thing, and I wonder if it’s on a regular basis.

As we approached Fort Walton Beach, we saw a cemetery right on the waterfront—they’ve got a nice view. I wasn't quick enough to get a photo, though.

 We saw lots of really nice houses.

There was a house with a swell pool...

 ...I'm guessing that it's one of those infinity pools.

We saw a fancy-schmancy boat house that looks like it’s fully equiped for entertaining and maybe even overnight guests.

We’ve been seeing and hearing loons for a few days and I finally got a photo of one.

After we were settled at the FWB city dock, I noticed a pelican on one of the pilings close to the boat so I went out to get a photo of it.  When he turned his head I was horrified to see that there is a water bottle attached to the poor thing.  We couldn’t tell if there is something around it’s neck or if it swallowed something that was attached to the bottle.  Before we could think of anything to do, he flew away.

The city has a huge fake Christmas tree up set up in the park adjacent to the docks, so we used the self-timer on our camera and got our portrait. 

We walked a couple of blocks from the waterfront and found a number of charming shops and restaurants.  Many of them were decorating for Christmas.  We didn't have to go far to find a place selling seafood, so we picked up some red snapper for our dinner tonight and a Florida lobster tail for tomorrow night that we'll share.

After we got back to the park, I found a bench overlooking the water and planted myself there while Joe went to put away our seafood.  He came back to join me and we watched the squirrels, ducks and seagulls.  One of the ducks appeared to be a cross between maybe a mallard and a domestic white Pekin; hanky-panky in the park!

There were schools of little fish that were swimming close to the surface of the water and a flock of seagulls were having a feeding frenzy swooping down and snatching them out of the water.

About 4 we went back to sit in the cockpit and enjoy happy hour while we watched some fisherman on the docks by us.  Unlike the seagulls, none of them were having any luck and they soon left.
By 4:30, the wind died down completely and the water was like glass, but about 8 the wind started picking up and now it's blowing about 15 mph and the lines and docks are creaking and groaning; that's the problem with a tie-along situation.  When we're in a slip, we have lines from two sides keeping us in place and when we're anchored out somewhere, we might swing around from the tide and the wind, but at least we're not banging into anything.   
Sure hope we can get some sleep tonight.