A beautiful sunrise greets us as we head back out into Choctawhatchee Bay.
Our path is VERY well marked to get out to the ICW and a couple of pelicans bid us farewell.
Not far into our cruise, we pass under a bridge where a nice pier is set up for people to fish.
Soon the bay ends and the ICW turns into a canal.
You can see our path that heads North/Northwest, with rivers and oxbows merging.
Once in the canal, we see sand hills with many trees,
marsh,
BLUFFS?!,
a little bit of industry,
and even a few fall colors!
Ahead in this narrow canal, we see our first towboat of the day.
Needing to pass him, Captain Dave talks with the towboat captain, and then he
overtakes him on the tow's port side.
Look closely, you'll see our flag on the left and the towboat's on the right;
that is a VERY close pass, my friends!!!
A little further along and Dave and I are amazed at the terrain in the majority of this canal;
it's as if we're up North with all of the evergreen trees!
But then we pan out on our navigation screen and to our right, we see the Gulf of Mexico;
all is right!😃
Boy, this canal is getting busy; a towboat, cruiser, and TWO sailboats!!!😉
Finally we get to our next bay; St. Andrew's Bay.
Wait, what's this? A stuck barge in the middle of the ICW channel!
As we get closer, we see that this barge is taking up most of the channel, and more importantly,
his bow (to your right), is in TWO FEET of water!!!😲
In fact, as we check our navigation screen, for the next mile on either side of the channel is only TWO FEET of water!!!
Leave it to Captain Dave to be able to "thread the needle"!
Well done, Captain!😁
So, we just get going again, and now, what's this coming towards us?
Of course, this makes total sense! Two dredging vessels to help out our towboat friend!
At the beginning of Panama City, a freighter welcomes us.
As we pull into St. Andrews Marina, we stop at the fuel dock to take on some diesel. There I see more of the sea nettles; they are sooooo amazing!!!
After getting secured at the dock, we decide to get some exercise and go for a bike ride.
We come to a unique park with two unusual findings.
This oak is HUGE!!!
And what about this palm?!
Returning to the marina, we see two really unique items right here:
This 1877 sailboat is a National Historic Landmark, and . . .
this restaurant is on a boat in the marina and was once
featured on the cooking show, "Trending Bite"!
Since the restaurant we're going to dine at tonight, Uncle Ernie's, is right across this very small bay from our marina, we decide to enjoy the sunset from our boat.
These Florida sunsets are the BEST!!!💗🌇
As we head to dinner, we can see Dave's newest addition to the boat; underwater lights!
Thanks, Jacqui, for the idea!!!💙
Love the blue lights, What a great picture. You sure go out and eat a lot. What happen to cooking on the boat?
ReplyDeleteWell, we cook breakfast and lunch on the boat (and a few dinners), and this is a way to get out and experience the town (as well as stretch our legs). ;)
ReplyDelete