The Handle of the Pan of Florida

Wharf Marina

We left Homeport Marina/Lulu’s after having lunch at Lulu’s. It wasn’t very far to the Wharf and we arrived in good time. We had a bit of a struggle getting into our slip as the wind had picked up. But Tim managed to enter our slip without too much trouble. We moved to the Wharf because there wasn’t anything around the Homeport Marina and the Wharf had many options to offer. We stayed 3 nites as we knew a storm was brewing and we wanted to be safe. Tim walked to West Marine (1.5 miles each way) 2 times for boat projects and I enjoyed getting my retail therapy at the mall that was part of the marina complex (only bought 1 thing). We also enjoyed a chic flick (my choice) at the theater in the mall. We enjoyed a lunch outside while enjoying the warm temp. in the area.

Holiday Harbor

On to the Holiday Harbor Marina for a side tie on the wall. Not a very protected area, but the weather was mostly calm, and the sunsets pretty spectacular. We were able to use their laundry facilities which were nicer than most places. Also enjoyed 2 long walks from the marina checking out the area. We ate at the marina restaurant and enjoyed watching championship volleyball matches–soccer was playing on the other side of the restaurant too. Tim checked out the surrounding area on his Adirondack Guide Boat. We were treated to a flyover by the Blue Angels….not something you see everyday.

FW Free Dock

A couple hours travel to the free dock in Fort Walton Beach. Two other looper boats were tied up on the dock so one of the wonderful loopers offered that we could raft up to his boat for the overnight stay. Their dog wasn’t very friendly, so we had to walk around their boat and jump down 2 feet to get on the dock. The area around the Fort Walton Landing offered good restaurants and the best donut store we have ever been to (we visited it twice during our quick stay). It was nice to be rafted to the other boat so we didn’t have to be concerned about unwanted guests in the night.

Two Georges Marina in Shalimar—just a pump out and then headed to our free dock

Jerry’s Place / Christmas Trip–Christmas is just around the corner and a friend of a friend from our days of sailing the Weta at WetaFest offered the use of his dock while we went north to celebrate Christmas with our kids. We had use of this dock for 2.5 weeks for a very nominal fee. What a blessing as this saved us more than $500 dollars which we would have had to pay at a marina. We arrived Sunday at the dock and spent Monday getting ready to head north. We were on the road by 6:30 am Tuesday morning in our rental car headed to Marion, Indiana. What a wonderful family time we had even though the bomb cyclone affected some of our activities. We did manage to get family pictures before the snow fell. We even played a round a TopGolf in the blizzard. It is so good to see my kids and my mother’s heart is full.

After Christmas we made a quick trip to Grand Rapids and stayed with Rick & Nancy. We saw George & Sharon Meyer, Gary & Kathi Barber, Mom & Dad Wieringa, Dr. DenBoer and spent time with Jane & John at Customusic all in 2 days. We then headed back to Kailey’s on Wednesday and drove back to the boat in Ft. Walton on Thursday. I enjoyed the use of the car on Friday for errands and provisioning our boat. Funny, not funny….the car we rented out of Fort Walton had the windshield fluid freeze up so we traded it in at the GR airport for a mini-van. Lots of room for all our stuff. It amazing how fast one can travel in a car vs. our boat.

So Friday, Tim worked on the boat while I ran errands. Saturday was New Year’s Eve with lots of firework displays around the lake as well as the fog covering most everything. We even walked to McAlister for what we thought would be our last meal in Fort Walton. We had planned to restart our travels on Sunday, but the fog was very dense on the lake on Sunday, New Year’s Day. Monday started out with more fog, but as the day progressed the fog lifted in places and we decided to make a run for the next marina.

Niceville–Our journey to Niceville was uneventful, but we did run into more fog. Thankfully not many people were out on the water, so we motored slowly thru the fog until we reached Niceville. We pumped out and filled our water tanks at the fuel dock before tying up in our slip. We stayed 3 nites and enjoyed the company of 2 other loopers as well as the harbor host at this marina. A big storm went thru in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Crazy to watch the storm from the comfort of our boat….lots of thunder, lightening, wind and rain…and feel the boat rock in the wind. I was very happy we were tied up securely in a marina versus anchored out somewhere. It was a beautiful day after the storm as all the humidity was gone and the sun was shinning. Too bad Florida can’t be like this all the time.

Panama City–our next stop was Panama City. We left Niceville with the two other looper boats from the marina at first light. We traveled thru a cut on the ICW on our way to Bay South Marina. This marina has their act together and was a top-notch marina. The deck hands were available to guide us to our slips and help with the lines. Laundry was “free” but included in the fees we paid I’m sure. Several well-known loopers/speakers were using this marina as a home base so rubbing shoulders with them was extra special (Momwithamap–Bowlin family & Kim Russo-AGLCA president to name a few. We also spent more time with a solo looper, Nagui (a fellow Michigander). Nagui is a great conversationist and full of stories–always a pleasure to interact with him.

Apalachicola–We left Panama City as soon as it was daylight. The trip was uneventful (thankfully) with 4 looper boats traveling together.

We arrived in Apalachicola and docked at the Ice House on the river. The tides are really starting to be seen as at low tide it was a huge step up from the boat to the dock. Tides are something to be mindful of in our travels around Florida and the east coast. Apalachicola seems to be a sleepy non-tourist town trying to reinvent itself after losing its fishing industry. We ate a meal at the Gibson Inn (best ribs per Tim) with Nagui (his birthday). We had planned to stay 2 nites, but were were encouraged to take advantage of a weather window for the crossing to Clearwater by a fellow looper. So the next day we started the CROSSING.

Bonus photos of Apalachicola

I thought is was a cool old town, although some of the other loopers weren’t impressed.

Getting ready for the crossing—ready or not we are going. The weather window is ready so we need to be ready too.