Days 184-185

Fort Walton Beach FL - Panama City FL

• Start 6:05 AM
• End 2:00 PM
• Underway 7:50 Hours
• Distance 60 miles
• Total Miles on Trip 3849
• Av Speed 7.1 knots
• Weather Cloudy , 62 Degrees, Wind 3 Knts NNW

What a difference a day makes. As much as yesterday was the hardest time leaving a dock, leaving Fort Walton was probably the easiest. We were tied off to pilings, and all the lines were run back to the boat, and our slip was right on the canal. Everything worked in our favor leaving the dock. We left before sunrise and were greeted by dolphins as soon as we reached the channel. Sixty miles is longer than we like to travel in one day, but unless we want to anchor out there really is not any other choice. We will be doing several long days until we reach Tarpon Springs. I really really hope by then it will also be warmer.

Panama City was very disappointing. I do not know if it was because of where we were docked, or just the season, but there wasn't anything to do. When we go in on Saturday we did go out for lunch/dinner. There were very few people in the restaurant.

Sunday we started our day with a grocery store run. The Win-Dixie was less than a mile away and there was a bike lane the entire way. We did not need much, but we planned to host dinner on our boat, and we needed to get ingredients for beef stew. We also decorated our Christmas Tree. It is an 18" artificial tree, but it is a tree! I normally would get a real tree either potted or cut, but I did not think it would be a good idea while we travel.

We spent the afternoon exploring Panama City by bike and then Mark & Karen (Kay Dee), Amy & Rommel (Happiness Is) and Kate & Tim (Sweet Day) joined us for dinner.

Tomorrow we are off to Apalachicola.