Brown Eyed Girl: Pensecola, Sandestin, Panama City

We spent a good couple of days in Pensecola in a great marina and a very nice city. It is full of history and beautiful old buildings so we took a walk the afternoon we came in. The next morning we took a cab to breakfast and then on to the Pensecola Navy Air Museum. The museum is on the Navy base and our ID's were checked at the gate. I broke my $10 tee shirt rule and paid $18 for a shirt so I will have to wear it twice as long.

We left Pensecola on Thanksgiving Day and went 60 miles to Sandestin. We left early so we got in pretty early. Bob and Patti decided to go to a local restaurant and have a turkey buffet. They said it was good. We stayed on the boat and then we went to eat pizza for dinner with "FREE TO B" and "Something Special". This was the first time we have ever been away from the family for Thanksgiving and it was a little sad.

We really liked Sandestin and decided to stay another day. When we got up Sid and Evelyn on "Something Special" decided to move on without us. They wanted to get Apalachicola, leave the boat and visit New Orleans. I can't tell you how much we will miss them and hopefully we will see them down the line. An old friend of mine, Bill (and his wife Carol) keeps his boat at the marina and he let us use his golf cart to tour the property which is huge (4,500 acres). Bill and Carol met us for breakfast and gave us the lay of the land which was really nice. We took the golf cart to the grocery store and then the beach.

We left Sandestin early this morning headed for Panama City. The wind was up and was supposed to get worse - which it did in spades. By the time we got to the marina it was gusting to 30MPH. Getting into the marina was a little dicey. We were lined up to dock on the starboard side but by the time we spun around in the wind (without hitting any of the nearby boats) we ended up on the port side into the wind. We have a lot of lines and fenders out so we should be alright. It is supposed to be windy the next few days so we will see if we run tomorrow or not. With any luck we will be able to cross the Gulf early next week but that is up to the weather gods. Panama city has a 25 year tradition of a lighted boat parade. There were about 15 boats decorated with christmas lights and they went by the marina where the judges were. I don't know who won but it was good fun.