We tracked our Garmin's progress through the mail daily and just before Thanksgiving it seemed to get stuck somewhere in Illinois and the USPS didn't know quite where it was. Oh no!! Is it lost somewhere in the vast expanse of the post office?? We needed to wait a number of days to know the answer to that question.
Thanksgiving Day came and we were invited, along with any other loopers in the area, to Greg and Carl Vernon's home in Panama City. Everyone brought a dish to share and the Vernons supplied the meat. It was quite a spread and was thoroughly enjoyed by about 24 of us. It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the mid 60s so we were able to spend time outside on their patio overlooking Watson Bayou. Here is a picture of the group.
We wanted to be able to attend church on Sunday so we decided to rent a car from Enterprise using their $9.99/day special for the weekend. We paid a little over $40 for a three day rental and we thought that was great. We saw an ad in the local newspaper about a southern gospel concert that was being held at Fellowship Baptist Church so we thought we would attend morning services there and then go to the concert in the evening. We were thoroughly welcomed and made to feel at home. The concert in the evening was put on by The Perrys, whom we had heard many times on the television, and we felt they were even better in person. Here is a link to one of their songs:
The marina is part of a larger Marriott-owned resort and they were getting ready for Christmas by decorating anything that didn't move. We were able to ride our bikes through all the surrounding communities of single homes and condos and were put into the Christmas spirit by enjoying all the lights and decorations. It is a little hard to photograph lights at night but we wanted to show you how they took the lights all the way up the trunk of their palms and out each of the fronds. We're not sure how they did it, but they must have used a bucket truck.
Our Garmin finally came back from repair and we were able to leave Bay Point Marina. We were headed for Port St. Joe Marina, which is owned by the same company as Bay Point, so the month's stay that we paid for was going to cover our stay there. Any way we can save a buck or two is very welcome. We needed to wait for good, calm weather to arrive before we could move further east because we were going to cross the Gulf and you never want to be out there in bad weather. It has been really cold here, which is unusual for this time of year. The wind was also blowing a gale so we stayed put for a few days. The town was right there behind the marina so we had all the shopping possibilities we could need.
Finally the day has come that we can leave and head for an anchorage at Dog Island, which is near Carrabelle, FL. The weather report looks good for an overnight Gulf crossing for Friday to Saturday. We are traveling with three other boats, but there are probably many more that we will see once we get to the anchorage. There has only been one "weather window" each week so all the boats in the area need to take advantage of it when it comes. If you think about it tomorrow night, say a little prayer for our crossing. We are a little nervous (Flint is a lot nervous) but many, many boats have done it without a problem and so can we. We will let you know how it went in our next post.
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