From Panama City to White City Along ICW

The rain we endured on our travels on Tuesday cleared overnight.  This left us with clear, sunny skies but not a lot of heat.  Once the boat was off shorepower, no more heater.  We had packed plenty of warm clothes so no problem.  The thing with traveling is the number of times you change your clothing configuration.  Thermal underwear with another 2-3 layers, warm hat and gloves give way to few layers to a whole different layer of lighter weight clothes then it all goes back on as the sun goes down.  Not terribly efficent but then neither is being so uncomfortable you long to be someplace else!  We had a great trip that took about 6 hours all along the east end of St. Andrew's Bay, along a series of creeks that have been dredged to create the intracoastal to sections that were created to link the creeks and finally to White City.  You can't actually see any city from the water but they have generously made their waterside park available to transient boaters.  There is no electricity but you can take jerry cans to the restrooms and fill them from a spigot.  Of course having a potty that doesn't flush into your holding tank is always a bonus.  As we arrived at just past sunset, we were glad to see Brenda and John on the dock waiting to help with lines.  Another great sight was a bunch of river otters playing right beside the boat.  Cocktails and snacks finished off a great day!

All along the Intracoastal there are shifts of the course from long and straight
passages to lots of curves.  Even when you've traveled the route many times
there is always something to see to delight the traveler.  Eagles, dolphins, osprey
jumping fish are just of few things you can expect to see over the course of a day.

A happy man makes for a happy boat!

More hardwood color among the pines.

All the rain has made the creeks feeing into the ICW mini-torrents.
We saw several of these throughout our trip.

One of those long straight sections.

 

The open water sections were a bit rolly due to the wind but Blue Moon
is heavy enough to allow for a comfortable ride.

The blend of marsh and forests is so strikingly beautiful.
  Even with deadvtrees, it always delights.

Outside of Panama City is a successful shipbuilding concern.  It
is always interesting to see what project they have going.

A fairly large vessel is currently under construction.  This is a real
jobs boon for the area.

Cypress knees show themselves at low tide

This rickety old dock leads one of the many fish camps found
along the way.

This cut is about 5 miles straight down to Port St. Joe. 

Sunset through the trees couldn't be prettier!

Almost at the end of the day.  This is the highway bridge leading to White City.

The dock is park of the city park.  Unfortunately, there was a large section
that had collapsed due to soil erosion.