Here are two of our jellyfish companions from Smack Bayou. They've got to be one of the stranger creatures our creator designed for our enjoyment!
Someone asked what a hurricane hole is: just somewhere to safely hole up while riding out a hurricane I guess! Since Dec. 1st was the official end of hurricane season, we haven't given them a lot of thought.
This is what one of the posts on the pier in Panama City Municipal Marina looked like. Barnacles are definitely something foreign to us. At night when it's really quiet, you can hear something like Rice Krispies in a bowl of milk: snap, crackle, pop! The harbormaster said it's crustaceans nibbling on the bottom of your hull. Hopefully all the work Paul did putting anti-fouling paint on our hull will prevent the little buggers from attaching themselves.
This is one of those nasty 50 ft. bridges that kept us off the ICW getting to Panama City. We figure we need 55 ft. of clearance to be safe. We went a whopping 4.6 miles on the water yesterday. We moved the boat over to Sun Harbor Marina, also on St. Andrew Bay just off the Gulf. They gave us a really reasonable monthly rate to leave the boat here while we're in Wisconsin for the holidays.
This is our slip. The finger piers are very short, maybe a third of your boat length. No cleats, just huge posts to tie to so your boat can move with the tides. We find it a bit more of a challenge docking by yourself. It also makes it a little tricky getting on and off the boat but so far no one's fallen in. (Ginger did once back in Tennessee but that's another story). That's Paul working on cleaning the salt off the boat. It's amazing how sticky it is and how quickly your boat looks a mess. (you know those Great Lakes boaters like to keep a clean ship!) He's putting a restorer and polish on all the rails to keep them from pitting.
There's a restaurant here at the marina but we haven't checked it out yet as we're trying to use up the food in the freezer before we go home. There's also a paddle wheel boat docked here, the "Betsy Ann". It's all lit up at night with holiday lights, quite festive. Last night a group went out for a holiday party, I can't imagine it's a very scenic ride in the dark but they seemed to have fun! I don't think I'll ever get used to the Christmas lights and decorations in 70 degree weather with green grass, flowers and palm trees. I feel like I'm in a foreign country sometimes. I'm sure the drive back to the land of cold and snow will bring me back to reality in a hurry!
This is looking across to the Betsy Ann from our dock. All for now - there probably won't be anything exciting to document for awhile but then you never know on this trip! Also, for any boaters looking for a fixer upper: the nice couple across the dock from us is selling "Nora B". Maybe they'd include the lounge chairs already set up for you on the foredeck!
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