Memsahib's Voyage

We made two long hauls last week, Pensacola to Fort Walton Beach and Fort Walton to Panama City, but they were not too bad given the sand-and-shore scenery, beautiful homes on the waterway and, of course, the dolphins.  In almost every stretch of open water they come up to hitch a ride on the wake and look you over:  “Hey, is that boat made of WOOD?”  You just can’t get away from it.

After hours of trying to capture them with the camera, John finally made a video.

We stayed a couple rainy days at Fort Walton Beach Yacht Club — nice facility, good inexpensive food, and very friendly members.   Expected it would be dead in January, but there was a pretty lively bar scene of members who make me feel like a stripling knocking back the manhattans and old fashioneds.  Lots of interest in the boat and voyage, and I’d encourage any Loopers out there to make it a stop.

We are know at Bay Pointe Marina, part of the Wyndham resort at Panama City Beach.  Very fancy with a hotel and Jack Nicklaus golf course, but for the same $1 a foot as everywhere else, why not?

Panama City itself is this giant, interesting  contradiction:  beautiful beach homes and golf courses, upscale shopping, cheek by jowl with tacky, touristy junk and the barracks that house a quarter-million spring breakers every year.  In 2006 during the worst of the bubble the town fathers took the prohibition off high rises and to my way of thinking, just ruined large parts of the area.  These are almost all rental units and so overbuilt that most of them are empty most of the year.  (I get my information from the Enterprise rental car drivers, who generally have a very good take on what’s going on in the areas we’re passing through, and are a loquacious bunch.)

Had a great meal last night in one of those cheap strip-mall, formica-table joints that you dream of finding.  Dee’s Hangout was at the top of the Trip Advisor list, and it was fabulous — the best Creole/Cajon seafood outside New Orleans.  I am finding Trip Advisor and Urban Spoon pretty reliable and am going to start posting myself.

Driving to Easpoint tomorrow to get poor Sparta neutralized at the animal hospital.  Having a cat in heat on a small boat has not been fun.  She is up all night wailing for her husband Tom.

Friendly and inexpensive Fort Walton Yacht Club

Here’s what the water looks like AFTER the dolphin goes away — I have about a 100 of these pictures

You always wonder — “What does their REGULAR house look like if that’s just their beach house?”

Beach Houses, Fort Walton

Bay Pointe Marina — some big iron in here

Bay Point Marina — Mississippi had its charms, but this ain’t bad either

Ripley’s even tackier neighbor Wonder Works

A Ripley’s Believe It or Not puts a lot of points on the Tourist Tacky meter

This is what you see on Beach Road in Panama City Beach — not a grain of sand

Here’s how Panama City absorbs 250,000 spring breakers every year — build ’em big