SHALIMAR, FL TO PANAMA CITY, FL

Friday, November 21st, 2014

Day 109
Miles Traveled: 65
Total Miles Traveled: 2223


  We left again at daybreak, but got to see a beautiful sunrise as we began our trek across Choctawatchee Bay.  The temperature was a little warmer this morning - about 45 degrees.  This was a big improvement since most recent mornings have been in the lower to mid 30's.  The wind had started to blow a little in the morning creating some small chop (waves on water), but that would change later in the day.  This bay is about 30 miles long and by the time we got off of this bay there were some white caps starting to appear.  We did enjoy watching dolphins swimming, but try as we might, we weren't able to catch them on camera    

Sunrise on Choctawatchee Bay

  We have experienced two types of waterways on the Gulf ICW.  One was the expansive bays like Choctawatchee and the other is the narrow channels that were made to connect the bays.  The channel connecting Choctawatchee Bay with West Bay is known as "The Grand Canyon".  These channels tend to be fairly narrow.  We are not sure why this particular channel is referred to as "The Grand Canyon" since it is not wide and there are no high cliffs or hill along its banks.  The water here was calm because of the protection from the wind, which was very welcomed this day as the wind increased all day long.   

"The Grand Canyon" of the Gulf ICW

  After leaving the channel, we entered West Bay.  The wind had increased and there was more chop and white caps. Seahorse handled these seas just fine.  We then entered St. Andrews Bay and turned into following seas (waves that are moving the same direction as the boat) which made steering a little more difficult.  Floating in St. Andrews Bay was a very interesting looking ship.  After talking with one of the locals, we found out that it is a naval training vessel. 

Navy training vessel

  Our final destination for the day was St. Andrews Marina.  We arrived in the early afternoon.  Our plan was to arrive before the wind really began to blow and create large waves on the bay.  We succeeded.       

approaching St. Andrews Marina

  St. Andrews Marina is home port to many professional fishing boats, including shrimp boats.  We watched as several shrimping boats came into port at sunset to unload there catch for the day.  This is a very interesting process.  They use a large suction machine, like a vacuum, and suck the catch out of the holding tanks of the ships.  The shrimp are in large baggies and are put in large containers that are then fork-lifted onto a semi. 

shrimping boat coming in at sunset

off loading the shrimp catch of the day

  We have started to see our first palm trees which let us know we are in the warm south despite what the weather is telling us.

palm trees at St. Andrews Marina