Panama City FL, to Port St Joe, FL

Total Miles Traveled 1010

We left our anchorage at Shell Island November 18^th and traveled 8 miles to Treasure Island Marina at Panama City Beach.  We had originally planned to keep moving east, but friends from Terre Haute were arriving today and we have been toying with the idea of visiting family at Cocoa, Fl during the Thanksgiving Holiday.  Car rentals are far and few between east of Panama City along the waterway.

We had a great visit with Fred and Kathy here at Panama City Beach, then drove to Cocoa for Thanksgiving, we really enjoyed seeing everyone and look forward to seeing them again at Christmas. 

The weather was perfect for our departure from Panama City November 27^th, crossing St Andrews Bay and East Bay to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.  We are now entering a flat, less populated area of the panhandle.

After a 44 mile cruise, we arrived at the dock at White City.  This is a free dock along the waterway that is about half way between Panama City and Apalachicola.  We plan to make a side trip to Port St Joe from here. 

We back tracked a couple of miles to the Gulf County Canal.  In 1915 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers connected St. Andrew’s Bay to Lake Wimico and the Apalachicola creating the Intracoastal Waterway.  When the St Joe Paper Mill came in 1938, the Gulf County Canal was created between St Joseph Bay to the GICW to transport fuel and logs to the mill. This is a straight man made canal about 5 miles long.

We passed this power catamaran that has seen better days.

Entering Port St Joe.

We arrived at the marina November 28^th and entered the Eastern Time Zone on the way.  As I walked past the fuel dock, this steel homemade boat from Michigan was arriving.  I had to snap a couple of pictures; this is the first boat I have seen that not only has a dinghy, but a 16 foot pontoon boat on its deck.  I believe the owner said the boat weighs 160,000 lbs.

Pensacola, Fl to Panama City, Fl

Total Miles Traveled 947

We left Pensacola early 11-12-17 to get across Pensacola Bay before the wind started pushing up the waves.   We stopped at the city dock at Ft. Walton Beach, Florida with our friends on Viridian, George and Meg.  It was about 2 blocks to a Publix grocery so we picked up a few things and was greeted at the dock by one of the locals when we returned.

We helped Viridian leave the dock early the following morning, they are heading for Panama City and we are stopping at Niceville to visit friends from Terre Haute.  We left the dock around 9 a.m. and cruised across part of the Choctawhatchee Bay to the Bluewater Marina near Niceville, Fl.

When we arrived at the marina, we needed to do a little laundry; I think this is the first laundromat we have used that had a tree growing through the floor.

We had a great visit with our friends Brad and Nancy and an awesome meal at McGuire’s Irish Pub in Destin.  Thanks guys, we’re  looking forward to visiting you again in the spring.

Our next stop is an anchorage at Shell Island near Panama City, Fl.  This is one of our favorite anchorages along the panhandle of Florida. 

We took the dinghy to the island, if you look close on the horizon, you can see Moni Jean at anchor.

We walked the beach, ate lunch, and tried to find a few treasures with our metal detector.  We didn’t see another sole on the beach all afternoon.

On our first day I heard a loud noise, thinking it was a plane I was looking in the sky, then caught this out of the corner of my eye. 

Our anchorage is not far from Tyndall Air Force Base, home of the 325^th Fighter Wing of the Air Combat Command.  Tyndall is the home of the world’s first Raptor F-22A squadron.  We had some great flyovers, some pulled straight up vertical until out of sight.

Pensacola, Fl

Total Miles Traveled 827

We were lucky enough to be in the Pensacola area during the Blue Angels air show.  The Blue Angels are the United States Navy’s flight demonstration squadron.  The F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets are capable of reaching speeds of just under Mach 2, almost twice the speed of sound, or about 1,400 mph.  The top speed pilots are allowed to fly during a performance is about 700 mph, or just under Mach 1.  The jets are actually in more danger when they are flying in formation together; they maintain an 18 inch separation and are so close the wingtips of the jets overlap each other.  Amazing show!!

Also going on this weekend is the Songwriters Festival, an opportunity to hear top hits performed in their purest form by those who wrote the songs themselves. We listened to a couple of songwriters Friday, and walked through the streets of downtown.

Of course we had to stop at Shux Oyster Bar for oysters and a cold one.

Demopolis, AL to Roberts Bayou, AL

Total Miles Traveled 804

We arrived at Demopolis, Al October 31^st and stopped at the large commercial fuel dock located close to the Kingfisher Bay Marina.  This is a great place to buy fuel as they sell a lot of diesel fuel to the tug boats that move barges up and down the rivers.  It’s also usually the lowest cost for diesel fuel from Kentucky to Florida; we paid $2.58 per gallon today.

We decided to stay at the marina for two days.  This is the last full service marina for about 230 miles at Mobile Bay, so most boats traveling south stop here.  There are also very few anchorages between Demopolis and the last lock at Coffeeville located 100 miles from the marina.  There is a 100 foot floating dock along the river at Bobby’s Fish Camp 98 miles from Demopolis which does have fuel and a great restaurant serving local catfish dinners. Boats stopping here must agree to allow boats to raft up to them overnight when the dock is full.

When we arrived, the marina was almost full and several boats were departing the next morning and locking through the Demopolis Lock, about 3 miles from the marina. To avoid the congestion, and trying to find an anchorage the next evening we decided to stay the second day and take advantage of the courtesy car to stock up on provisions. 

After an hour delay waiting on a barge to lock through, we departed the marina November 2^nd with 10 other boats and entered the Demopolis Lock.  There are 10 floating bollards inside the lock and originally we had 10 boats locking through, but at the last minute another boat arrived so we invited “Sandman” to raft up with us inside the lock.  Most of the boats in this group travel much faster than us, so after departing the lock the group thinned out and we were traveling with Viridian and Sandman again. 

The three of us planned to stop at an anchorage in Bashi Creek, but Sandman was having trouble with his charging system and decided to pick up speed to make it to Bobby’s Fish Camp. He wanted to connect into shore power there to avoid running his generator all night.  With the delayed morning start, we made the 70 mile cruise to Bashi Creek about an hour before dark.  

We were surprised that we were the only boats in the creek, all of the boats ahead of us that we locked through with continued on to Bobby’s Fish Camp.  Just before dark, another boat “Dream Boat Annie” came into the anchorage.

Viridian anchored with us in Bashi Creek.

After waiting for the morning fog to clear, we continued south to Bobby’s Fish Camp.  It was only 26 miles, allowing us to arrive around 11 a.m. and being the only boats at the dock.  We secured our boats to the dock, and connected to the shore power then found that two large boats would be arriving late that afternoon.  One boat was 80 feet and the second was 52 feet, we would have to allow them to tie to the dock, and then raft to them as they were bigger boats.  Since we didn’t need any services, we decided to anchor  upstream of the dock and dinghy to the dock that afternoon for dinner. 

We planned to depart Bobby’s Fish Camp at daybreak as our planned anchorage was 70 miles away.  We had two delays, fog and barge traffic.  The fog started to lift, and as soon as the northbound barge was in the lock, the lockmaster notified us to start moving to the lock and wait for his call to proceed.  A second northbound tow was heading for the lock so the lockmaster was going to lock us through before the second tow arrived.

As we all waited at the lock the fog started to thicken.

Departing the Coffeeville Lock, the last lock of the waterway, we are now in tidal waters.

With the help of an above normal river current, we made it to our anchorage at the Alabama River Cutoff about 45 minutes before dark.  I was really looking forward to grilling chicken all afternoon, but after dropping the hook and getting the grill ready, the mosquitos decided to change that plan.  There were three other boats at this anchorage but plenty of room for us.

Like most mornings the last few days, fog has been an issue causing a later than planned departure. 

The fog finally lifted around 10 a.m. but I couldn’t get the anchor up, we were snagged on something on the bottom.   My “best mate” maneuvered the boat directly over the anchor giving us a vertical pull, but when we moved forward the bow of the boat actually pulled into the water a foot or so.  After several attempts at different angles, it finally broke loose and we were on our way. 

We arrived at our next anchorage at Big Briar Creek on November 5^th about 3 p.m.  Ahh, chicken on the grill tonight!  Another boat arrived at the anchorage about 45 minutes later “Binary” a sail catamaran from Toronto Canada; they are traveling with their two sons.  We invited “Viridian” and “Binary” on our boat for “docktails”.  We learned that this was the first “docktails” that either one had attended.  We started out on the fly bridge, but the bugs arrived just before dark so we went inside and had a great time meeting new friends and talking about our favorite subject…..boating.

After docktails, I checked for bugs and the coast was clear, even around the anchor light!  I grilled chicken under a full moon, a great day on the water.

Briar Creek is about 12 miles from Mobile Bay, and another 16 miles to Dog River at Mobile.  We departed our anchorage November 6^th and arrived at the Dog River Marina around noon.  The marina has a special deal that if you buy fuel, the first night transient dockage is free. I topped off our fuel tanks at $2.53/gal. 

We had our mail sent here, so I took care of some business, and then helped George from “Viridian” change his oil and filters on his engine.  We met our friends Tom and Bob from “Sandman”, they are brothers that have been traveling together on this section of the waterway.  Tom, the owner of the boat is going back home to Texas for a month and having work performed on his boat while he is home.  We went out to dinner with George and Meg from Viridian, and Tom and Bob from Sandman, we had a great visit during dinner.

We departed Dog River about 9 a.m.  November 7^th to cross Mobile Bay,  a very large, shallow body of water taking us about 3 hours.  The wind was light making our crossing to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway very comfortable. 

We stopped at the Wharf Marina on Orange Beach, AL, a distance of 40 miles from Dog River.  This is a large marina with several shops and even a movie theater. 

A cold front will be moving through in the next couple of days, bringing rain and wind, so we decided to anchor in one of our favorite spots, Roberts Bayou.  This is a protected anchorage and thought we would share this spot with Viridian.  Pirates Cove Bar and Grill is located here so we explored the area in the dinghies and ate lunch at the grill. 

We also took time to look for treasures with our metal detector. 

We will anchor here for two days, letting the weather system pass, then head for Pensacola Friday November 10^th.