Day 22 short (but nice) trip to Port St. Joe, FL

Left Panama City at 9:00 am, and arrived at Port St. Joe Marina at ??? The time zone change to Eastern Daylight Time runs along the Georgia-Alabama boarder, which means that it cuts across the Florida panhandle. We are docked for the night at Port St. Joe Marina, and depending upon which cell tower is being used, we arrived either at 2:10 CDT or 3:10 EDT.  Anyway, we had an uneventual trip of 45.7 miles in scattered clouds and light SW

winds. The first picture shows a typical view of an old meander (bend) in a river that was cut off to straighten the waterway. After leaving Panama City we went through a long bay before the waterway turned into a combination of ditch and old stream channels. So far in Florida, we have been in many long bays with deep water (30 to 40 feet) that are quite different from the similarly located bays in Texas, which are usually very shallow (a few feet). The shallow Texas bays are off limits to Lucky Us with our 4 foot draft. However, so far in Florida, our "road" is often miles wide with lots of deep water. Thus, if we had stayed for a period of time we could have gone to different locations way off the waterway every night for several weeks (or more). This freedom to wander has "some" appeal as future longer term cruising grounds for us...

...and yet another dolphin picture. I suppose that the dolphins frolicking in the clear water will become "old hat" but for now it is still very exciting.
     We are off to Radio Shack for an ethernet cable and then out to dinner for Mexican food. I know that sounds strange when we are travelling through areas where the seafood is fresh (and cheap), but we do crave a little variety. The original downtown is a short 3 block walk from the marina with 2 of the three blocks being only about 100 feet long.

We are docked along a long pier so docking was easy with no slip to back into with 10 to 15 mph winds out in the Gulf. The last photo is of the marina office, store and restaurant/bar along with a fuel dock. Since we actually started on the Great Loop in Mobile Bay, the accomodations have been great.  There is just not that much pleasure boat traffic west of New Orleans, and as a result, the marinas are fewer and further between.

This marina is actually on the Gulf of Mexico, but it was only about a half mile from the side channel that brought us to the Gulf from the Intracoastal Waterway, which is 5 miles inland here.
     Tomorrow is another short day continuing to head east to Carabelle, FL where we will take at least one day off to rest. The plan of 3 or 4 travel days followed by one or more days of rest still sounds like a good one.