Windy days at Baypoint Marina, Panama Beach.

Bay Point Marina – Panama Beach City

We are into our 5^th day here & look as though we will still be here until the winds drop. Every day the winds get stronger & stronger – today 20 knots + with gusts to 25 +& seas of 10ft.

We are waiting for better weather to continue west towards Apalachicola. This will be our launching off point to cross the Gulf of Mexico (about an 18 hour trip) to reach the west coast of Florida at either Dunedin or Tarpon Springs. We have to choose a good weather window to cross over leaving during the late afternoon, travelling at night to arrive about 10am the following morning. This straight across route as opposed to the Big Bend route of following close to the coast line is done to avoid the hundreds of crab pots and the shallow waters off the coast line. Even at the far end of the trip it is necessary to keep a close eye out for them.

The marina we are in is clean, tidy & safe but unfortunately away from all the shops & places to walk or cycle. Colin has repaired a flat tyre on my bike (it's even too windy to ride), made a bracket to hang the dinghy motor on (after skip diving to find a suitable piece of wood), rebedded the stanchions, and now polishing the stainless steel rails & fittings. We could do some revarnishing but the wind would blow the varnish right out of the can. We have filled in the remainder of the days with laundry, sleeping, docktails, reading complete books, and other Loopers blogs who are way ahead of us. Fortunately the Marina has cable TV with about 60 Channels, has Fox movies as well,best selection we have seen so far, although the news component is very poor as usual.

Another Looper here at the marina whom Colin became chatty with offered us the loan of his car. So we visited our bank to pay an account (for a $30 wiring fee) whereas at home I would just transfer via Bpay or direct to their account. Here they still use cheques a lot. We had a look at down town Palm Beach City where during spring break many students come to celebrate – a bit like an older version of “schoolies” - suffice to say we didn't have lunch there but at a more senior looking type of establishment – greyer hair & lower prices. We also topped up with some groceries & shouted ourselves some $1 ice cream sundaes from McDonalds (one of their few good food items). We escaped by car a second day & lunched out again. Seeing as though we will be here until Sunday Chuck & Vicky decided to pick up a rental car & go back home to Mobile to complete a couple of chores & collect a couple of items for the boat. It's only a few hours drive by road (about 145 miles) – always much longer by boat. If you want to get any where quickly don't go by boat. We now know of at least 5 boats waiting to cross the ditch ( Gulf of Mexico ), so we should have plenty of company for the long trip, once the weather lets up.