PANAMA CITY to PORT ST. JOE / Monday, November 7 to Tuesday, November 8 (Days 290 -291)

Admiral's Log:   8:20 am, 11/7/6
                       Air Temp:   72     Water Temp:   71
                      Winds:   4 mph
                      Speed:   9.9 mph


Beautiful day for cruising, and no jackets! We arrived at Port St. Joe Marina at 2:15. Mike and I walked to Piggly Wiggly for a couple of basics and checked out the tackle store. 

                                      

Fellow Looper Jill Kristy from Frostproof.
Sweetest couple doing the Loop in that little 24 foot sailboat!

We called Apalachicola Marina to make reservations for the next day and were told they were full. There are so many Loopers making their way south right now, does make it hard sometimes. So we decided to stay here another night, there is more of a town here anyway.

Tyndall Air Force Base out of Panama City.

Fifteen fellow Loopers walked to the Sunset Grill for dinner. I had a shrimp and scallops in a creamy pasta sauce, which was very good. Mike had his favorite fried sampler. We took a couple of desserts home for later. 

Tuesday, Mike and several other Loopers met with Eddy Jonson the Weather Guru of the Gulf for Loopers. He and his wife Sharon live in Pensacola and he has a site called Eddy's Weather Wag. He gets up every morning at 4:30 and analyzes all the weather applications including NOAA. He then reports to Loopers what the Gulf looks like that day. Whether it's a good day or night to cross depending on the wind and waves. It was decided Thursday to Friday were going to be the days we will all cross.  Faster boats will leave Friday morning.

Port St.Joe Marina

Port St. Joe Lighthouse

Crossing the Gulf is one of the more anxious times for most Loopers. Some will go the "rim route", stopping at some of the smaller towns along the way, like Steinhatchee and Crystal River. Sometimes those areas can be shallow, and need several good weather days in a row. Most Loopers, including us, will cross the open Gulf. "Go fast" Loopers who run 15 mph or more can do it in the daylight hours. Depending on their destination; usually Tarpon Srings or Dunedin but can go further south in one day. Most Loopers, like us who run between 7 to 12 miles will start out about 3 in the afternoon and cruise all night long and get to their destinations anywhere between 8 am and noon the next day.

Mike and I walked to town, and bought a wooden buoy and glass buoy ball to put in our lobster trap table on our front porch. I went back to town with Suzan of Lazy Suzan, Sandy of Chica and Sharon of Blue Moon just for a little extra exercise.

Mike had oysters and beer and I had gumbo for lunch at Dockside grill at the Marina, which was quite good. We made a 15 bean soup with sausage to eat for the crossing. We had our last docktails of this journey. Going to miss them, it's always a great time to meet new boaters and share experiences. We discussed the crossing again with Eddy and his wife Sharon, and all agreed we were lucky to have the weather Guru along for our crossing. AND they are both Auburn grads. War Eagle!

Our last "Docktails" going to miss this camaraderie.