We cruised here yesterday from Panama City in calm waters. The dolphins picked us up a few times but didn't jump very much. I got this short video of a nice jump when I increased our speed to make a big wake, which they enjoy more. Click on it to see the 4 second video.
A lot of the day was spent "running the ditch" in the ICW which is a dug channel through miles of sandy barrier island type terrain. Some people call this a poor man's grand canyon due to the 20 ft high walls of crevasse eroded sand.
"Loose Stones" followed us most of the day but turned off to go to Port St. Jo Marina for the night while we went on to Apalachicola. They'll catch up to us today and we'll make the crossing together.
We did pass by the shipbuilding facilities East of Panamma City. I don't know how they get the huge ships out of here through the ICW to the Gulf after they're completed.
When we got to Apalachicola, the town square was full of people for their annual "Santa Claus Comes to Town" event and all the stores were decorated for Christmas. We wandered around until dusk, when I took this picture. There was a line that had to be an hour long to take your kids to sit on Santa's lap. The Santa still did appear quite jovial for the kids though. I just don't know how long he'll last.
We're on a nice, new, long dock by the local shrimp boat fleet here. The wave and wind forecast for crossing the Gulf tonight is excellent. We'll probably leave about 4:30 PM and go at 9.3 knots overnight to arrive at Clearwater Beach about 9 AM. This will be our first all night overnight crossing, so it should be interesting. Leaving at 4:30, we should be out in the open waters past all the crab traps by sunset, running on radar and being watchful all night, to arrive after dawn so we have daylight to see crab traps as we get closer to shore at Clearwater. It's nice to travel with Loose Stones as a buddy boat. One or two other boats may catch up with us from Carabelle, FL on their way to Clearwater.
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