SHRIMP BOATS! The marina at Panama City is part of the large docks for the gulf shrimp boats. They go out at night, trawl for shrimp and come back in the mornings. We got here about 2 PM and they were selling shrimp from the shrimp boats. Depending on size, they were $3.50/lb. $5.50/lb. or $7.50/lb. I got 2 lbs. of the $7.50/lb shrimp (see pix) and grilled them on the barbeque. YUMMMM.

We arrived at Panama City, FL this afternoon after an easy day coming from Destin. We were greeted by the local “dock pelican”, a very large brown pelican that walks the docks and begs for food (maybe shrimp from the shrimp boats?). I wasn’t about to give him any of my shrimp.

The “bad day” forecast for yesterday wasn’t that bad, but we did have 42 MPH wind gusts overnight on 12/3 with forecast rough waves, so we stayed at Destin an extra day yesterday. The trip today was about half in large saltwater bays and half in the ICW, frequently called “The Ditch” by locals because it is a canal dug between the bays and the protected waters behind the barrier islands. One part of the Ditch today was called the Grand Canyon because the hard sands of the walls of the canal have eroded to look like the walls of the Grand Canyon in miniature (like 20 ft. high walls).

We’re going to Carrabelle tomorrow, where the ICW ends until Tarpon Springs down the West coast of Florida. We’ll have to watch the marine forecasts carefully for a few days. I have about 7 days in the plan to do the 4 days we’ll be on open Gulf waters between anchorages or marinas at night, so 3 weather days are OK, but they’d take away from our ability to stop and stay at interesting ports of call like Tarpon Springs. We did get Florida fishing licenses at WalMart in Destin (only $35 for a year) so I might try fishing if we’re stuck in port one of the next days.