Panama City Florida – St Andrews marina (Port #47) ; Nov 21-23

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.
On Tuesday, we moved from Destin Florida to Panama City Florida.
The update from Panama City Florida (72 & Sunny today, while we were indoors watching our Lions lose).

Tuesday – Nov 21
The first interesting thing on the ride to Panama City was MORE DOLPHINS, right next to the boat, it was so cool.
Dolphin Video = https://youtu.be/rcv8ZS4lX3o

The second interesting thing on the ride was a section of the GCICW called The Narrows, over 10 miles of what appeared to be a man-made cut between Choctawhatchee Bay & West Bay. It looked very narrow on the charts, but was actually a very easy ride.

We arrived at St Andrews Marina in Panama City about 2pm, and were greeted with tie up help from locals Mike & Bill, very nice friendly guys.

The marina at St Andrews is a combination of pleasure boats & working fish boats. There is also a large gazebo with swings looking over the St Andrews Bay.

St Andrews Marina is also home to a historic boat, built in 1877, called The Governor Stone. 
The Governor Stone is a historic schooner, built in 1877 as a cargo freighter (140 years old), and is the oldest active vessel in the country. In December 1992, the schooner was designated a US National Historic Landmark. She has had several ports listed as her home port, but in 2014 was moved to its current home at the St. Andrews Marina. The vessel is maintained completely by a volunteer organization (Friends of the Governor Stone), and she sails or motors every month during several community events during the year.

We are in the Historic Panama City area, not in downtown Panama City. The area we are in, features a bunch of restaurants & bars, but also has a real nice little park area, complete with Christmas decorations. We went for a nice walk thru the park after dinner Tuesday night.

Wednesday – Nov 22
It was a somewhat dreary day. We spent most of the day doing boat work.
While working on the boat I heard a lot of sizzle/ticking/clicking noise from the inside bilge area of the hull. I thought ” crap what issue is happening – some electrical issue, a leak” ?
But I came to find out that it was due to a bunch of little 4-5″ sucker fish, sucking/cleaning the bottom of the hull of micro-organisms (Thanks Mike & Bill for the education).

We went to dinner at a nice restaurant called Uncle Ernie’s.
Mike had ; Shrimp + Andouille Sausage & Grits
Nellie had ; Shrimp Tacos

We went for an after dinner walk and finally found a place that made us think of our son Daniel (note- there have been no boats named Daniel on the trip so far, only Ashley). Here ya go Dan !
Love Ya

Thursday – Nov 23 (Happy Thanksgiving)
We spent the day ; watching the Parades on TV, watching our beloved Lions lose to the Vikings on the Biker Bar TV (only place open at 1pm) , making phone calls & texts, and went for a walk around Historic Panama City.

Below is the same park walked thru on Tuesday night. We were able to see a lot more during the day. The park featured, what is supposed to be the only 4-headed Palm Tree in the World !

We also walked around an area called Finn’s Little Village. It was closed on the holiday, but it is known for being a waterfront shopping and grub venue, where you can trade in the sun and sand, for shade and serenity.  Little Village has items from around the world and from local artists.  It looked like a cool place, we should have visited on the dreary Wednesday.

Tonight, for Thanksgiving dinner we will eat at The Thai Basil Restaurant, a Thai/Seafood place, & the only place open for dinner on the holiday night. Maybe we will have to eat a Duck with the Full Head, and sing “Deck the Halls with Bells of Horrie”

We depart early tomorrow for Appalachicola Florida, where we will do 2 significant things.
1. We will visit with my FCA pal Dominic Ronzello & family on Saturday, while they are in route to Disney World.
2. We will stage & get ready for our 170 mile crossing of the Gulf of Mexico (a 16-18 hour ride over night).

That’s all for now, hope you all had a great holiday.

Late Add = Christmas Park Video 
We just went for another walk in the local park, it was beautiful tonight.
It’s now officially legal to start to get pumped up for Christmas.
Especially a 70 degree Christmas with palm trees.

Click the link = https://youtu.be/JTrRFc3p9JM