Florida Panhandle

It was 37 degrees when we (4 boats) left Orange Beach heading to FL. I started off on the flybridge but went down to pilot from inside the cabin. We traveled through Santa Rosa Sound.

Smoke from a distant fire - hopefully this was a controlled burn. 

We passed by an interesting looking military test tower and radar dome. We continued through the Narrows.

  










    
A large barge traveling west bound.

It was an eight hour day and we stopped overnight at Legendary Marine on Santa Rosa Island (the Gulf Islands National Seashore).The water tower was nearby. Two of the boats from our group continued on ahead.

The next day the 2 of us left at 6am and entered the Choctawhatchee Bay passing by the town of Destin.

There was moderate chop on the bay with a few white caps. Needed to use the wipers today from the spray.

It took 4 hours to cross the bay and get on the ICW. There was no other boat traffic.

 

The sand formations on the coastline were interesting.

We took the ICW to West Bay creek which then empties into West Bay. West Bay flows into St. Andrews Bay. It was another 8 hour day on the water when we arrived at Panama City, FL. There are some interesting boats in the marina. 

St. Andrews marina at sunset