Spring Break Mecca

 Panama City Beach

So for many of us who passed thru college Panama City Beach was only second to Daytona Beach for spring break. Although Sue made it to the iconic Daytona Beach I managed to be head down trying to become some type of Dr so spring break did not line up with when I had break. Now you all know why I am on this “extended Spring Break” so I can make up for lost time with interest!. We actually took Anna and her friend to Panama City for a high school spring break. The thing that stood out from our memory was the blazing white sand and the emerald colored water. The thing we forgot was the fact that it was Panama City Beach really had no soul. It was just a long strand of high rise condos with a number of widely spaced restaurants and T-Shirt shops. Besides that it was a bit tired looking. Well it turns out the weather had been anything but beach weather so we only spent a couple of hours walking the beach. Florida to this point has not lived up to up to its sunny warm reputation. In fact we have experienced the coldest temps and most cloudy days as anywhere else on the Loop. Oh well, it had to end sometime. We only had about 5 miles to travel to get from Panama City to the South Bay Point marina in Panama City Beach. Our plan was only to stay one night but base on the weather forecast for crossing the Gulf it looked like we could be there for several days stretching over Thanksgiving. The marina was very nice and a lot of Loopers we there waiting for the magical weather window to open. There was a very nice neighborhood connected to the marina along with a golf course. We did manage to take a Dinghy ride up a small river that parallels the backside of the beach. We had a captains meeting on Monday to discuss the weather and all were in agreement that a good window for crossing would not likely open until Monday or so. So everyone planned to stay over Thanksgiving. Tuesday evening I checked the weather and found that a window would likely open on Friday. Wednesday morning my hunch was confirmed so we hurriedly readied Next Chapter for departure. If we were going to cross we would have to cover over 100 miles to into position to leave on Friday.