Today we were not absolutely certain of our destination - we thought Fort Walton Beach might be a good stopping point, but we were thinking of the next day when we had to go for about a 100 miles or so without stopping because most of the marinas in Panama City area were out of commission as a result of Hurricane Michael barely two months prior on October 10. We headed south out of the Palafox Marina south towards the Gulf Breeze land's end and into the GICW into Santa Rosa Sound, passing by the condo blocks of Pensacola Beach to the south. Santa Rosa Island borders the GICW from Pensacola Inlet to Destin - it is extraordinarily thin, so much so that in some places you can see the Gulf on the other side. It's narrowness notwithstanding, it provides a very meaningful protection from the wilder waters out there. In addition, we saw as we had been seeing glimpses of dolphins - which about everywhere, but are hard to take photos of because they are so close to the water and disappear before you can focus.

Left: Dolphins swimming in front of boat; Right: Baytowne Village in Sandestin


We passed the marinas on Fort Walton Beach - somewhat glad that we weren't staying there as they were fairly exposed to all the wakes and traffic on the waterway. We then entered Choctawhatchee Bay, which was fairly choppy due to the winds and the fetch that the Bay provided that allowed build of of significant swells. Passing the Destin Inlet, we travelled a further 12 miles to Sandestin, where the Baytowne Marina was located. We radioed in and tied up close to the edge of the marina behind a huge excursion vessel. On the Loop, we always had the impression that Salty was an enormous vessel, dwarfing the majority of the Looper boats - now in Florida, every place we went, we were amongst the smallest vessels in our dockage area.


Unlike the Wharf the night before, Baytown only had fixed pilings to tie up on - which was not so bad, but that the marina was exposed to swells and promised to make the night a bit bouncy. After tying up, we strolled around the grounds of the Sandestin development which includes a Hilton, hundreds of condos, golf courses, a beach on the Gulf and the Village of Baytowne Wharf. The Village was a somewhat artificial town with about a dozen restaurants, a number of stores and attraction - all very colorfully decorated for Christmas. Again, there were not a whole lot of folks around - clearly this was pre-season Panhandle, but seems to be a great place to spend a summer holiday when the weather is warm.


The Village was so pretty, and the complex promised so many activities to undertake that we thought we might consider staying another night. At the front of our minds was the Big Bend crossing - the Big Bend is the part of Florida where the coast turns southward, and requires 180 miles or so of open Gulf water travel - as the shallowness of the water and lack of facilities on land prohibits hugging the coast for any meaningful distance. The weather wasn't looking promising for another week or so for a crossing - so we figured we might as well take our time on the Florida Panhandle, and enjoy it - even with nights in the 30s!