Bluewater Bay is really a lovely "Old Florida"-looking marina, with a fine casual sense of style.


We saw Ty and Kiki's "Shooting Star" there in its new slip (no Ty and Kiki, though):


We also met a wonderful cruising couple, Andy and Alice, from Contentment, a Hunter 42. Here we are, nose to nose (and yes, we know our boat's not white... that cream color is going to make it easier to find her, or describe her, anywhere we go -- that's our theory, and we're sticking to it.)


They had just gotten a full new cockpit canvas and plastic enclosure, what a nice job their guy did! It looks glorious. Here's Alice ready to get underway on Departure Day:


Contentment had their dear fellow-cruising friends over who very kindly arranged to drive us all to Red Ginger, a local Asian fusion restaurant, for a night out. What a great group! Ordinarily, they hang out together in Little Harbour in the Abacos. Small world! With luck, we'll see them there when we come through.

We started out from Bluewater Bay sheltered, then we exited the sheltered bayou and the wind gusted around 20 ENE straight down the bay and under the bridge, with the biggest swells hitting us just after we got under. No pictures of that, we had our hands full dealing with the boat, who rides amazingly well in chop but was sorely tossed about for a bit! Grant was riding it out on the foredeck with his foulies and a lifejacket on, enjoying the warm-water dousing he'd get when waves broke across the bows, until three big ones just after the bridge doused him completely!!! A few minutes later, he headed below to warm up (good idea!). We were motoring into heavy chop for a significant time (two hours?), then it calmed considerably once the bay started to narrow down a bit near the eastern end where the ICW gets ready to plunge into the ditch (what the tug captains call it).

The ditch (AKA Grand Canyon) was calm, with a chilly wind only when we were aligned in the proper direction. Derek was relieved to be coming "in" out of the choppy bay:


Here we are, saying farewell to the open waters of Choctawhatchee Bay and entering the ditch:


We practiced music and avoided barges and powerboats in there.


Meeting anything large was of course a little alarming at first, but they were very considerate and stayed slow long enough to not wake anyone else... you can see why some think of this as a canyon...


When there were long stretches with no traffic and no sign of mankind, it kind of looked like the Jurassic or something, if you could imagine those are tracks from large Jurassic beasts:


Coming out the other end into West Bay, we motored through a long stretch of what looked like open water but was actually a mile-wide knee-deep shoal with a relatively narrow channel plowed through it (the smooth spot is so shoal that small birds can wade in it!):


Then once West Bay opened up, we were hailed by Contentment, who had found a nice anchorage in 13' over sand and shell before the next bridge. A very peaceful anchorage they found:


They are bound outside tomorrow for a brief hop and will tuck in at Port St. Joe to continue to Apalachicola, while we will stick with the ICW since our mast height is much lower than Contentment's (remember the nose-to-nose picture?). So we left them contentedly at anchor with a vow to reconnect for a Games Night down the way:


and continued on to the Panama City Marina, arriving just as the sun was making with the peaceful tropical sunset:


Had to wash the boat off before I could take pictures, as I needed the light and she was pretty salty from the pounding earlier in the day. We'll stay here a day or two and fix a few things that need fixing.