Day 33 - Destin to Panama City – Parade of Boats

After breakfast, we left Bluewater Bay Marina at 9:45am.  It was the first morning in days that I haven’t been cold.  There was not a cloud in the sky and temperatures were in the 50s already.  Today we will be travelling about 60 miles.  We cruised by downtown Destin and there were lots of fishermen out and people walking the beach. 

 

Captain Randy decided that we could cruise on the Gulf today, rather than the ICW, as the winds are light and there are only 1-2 foot rollers on the Gulf.  It was so beautiful the whole way to Panama City; white sand shores, beach homes, hotels and that blue, blue water.

 

 

  

We passed by the Whale’s Tail, where we stopped yesterday, then more homes, sand dunes, more homes and hotels.  About 7 miles from Panama City we cruised by Florida City.  We passed by several long fishing piers that extend into the Gulf and they were filled with people.

 

Next we passed Panama City Beach.  Panama City Beach is often referred to under the umbrella term of “Panama City”, despite being a distinct municipality from the older and larger inland Panama City to the east, making Panama City and Panama City Beach two separate cities. Panama City Beach's slogan is “The World's Most Beautiful Beaches” because of the unique sugar-white sandy beaches of northwest Florida.  Panama City Beach has been a popular vacation destination, especially among people in the Southern United States. The city is also a very popular spring break destination, sometimes being referred to as “The Spring Break Capital of the World,” due to about 100,000+ college and high school students who  arrive during the months of March and April.  This surge in activity led to a building boom from 2000 -2008, during which time all the large hotels and condominiums were built.

 

Soon we arrived at St. Andrews Bay, where we left the Gulf and headed to Panama City Municipal Marina.  St. Andrews State Park is on both sides of the channel, on a strip of land called Shell Island.  We pulled up to the fuel dock at 1:20 pm.  We checked-in and were invited to the “V.I.P. and Judges Reception” for the boat parade being held that evening at the marina.
  

 

After filling up, we got settled in our slip, where the boat will stay for almost 3 weeks.  This is our last night here until December 18^th, as we leave tomorrow for Chicago.  We watched the sunset over the Gulf and then the boat parade while enjoying a nice outdoor buffet dinner.  We mingled with the judges and met Jeffrey Ryan, a Coast Guard Officer and his two young sons.  He invited us to contact him with any questions or issues we might have as we travel through the area.  The parade reminds of us Venetian Night in Chicago, a parade of lighted boats through Monroe Harbor that was held for years until the city cancelled it about 5 years ago.  The theme for the parade is “A Hero’s Christmas – A Holiday Salute to our Troops” and all the boats have holiday lights and decorations.  I think the holiday theme outweighed the hero’s theme, with lots of Santas, Christmas trees, wreaths and candy canes.  There were about 15 boats in the parade, led by the Betsy Ann Riverboat.
 

 

 

After the parade, we watched a few minutes of the Iron Bowl – Alabama v. Auburn – on a big screen TV that was set up in the marina’s parking lot.  Most of the crowd that was there to watch the parade of boats was now watching the game.  There were also food vendors and earlier, a live band.  We left and headed back to the boat when it looked like the game was going into overtime.  I guess we were really wrong about that! In any event, back on the boat, we watched replays of the last second of the game and trimmed our Christmas tree.  This is the first time we have been able to have a Christmas tree on the boat and it was the perfect start to our holiday season!