Panama City. It was a calm, beautiful morning when we left. Our friends, and local tour guides, Nancy and Steve Bachand joined us. We so enjoyed having them along. Not only for the help, but also as tour guides along the way! We stopped at St. Andrews Marina in Panama City and walked to Uncle Ernies for lunch. The wind picked up while we had lunch. Which made things interesting when we backed into the slip!! Ended the day at Baypoint Marina in Panama City where we will be leaving the boat for a couple of weeks.Heard a great place to eat while we were here is Captain Anderson's. Nancy and Steve have rented a car for their return trip to Niceville, so we have wheels! We arrived at Capt. Anderson's around 8 o'clock and were told it would be a two hour wait. What? You've got to be kidding!! ( we later heard from the locals you need to slip the hostess a healthy greenback to get a table) We headed across the street to a place called J. Michaels. Lots of locals and the parking lot was full. Always a good sign. Very reasonably priced and tasty. Nancy ordered a dozen Apalachicola oysters. She said they are sweet and the best. I must admit that these were the best I have tried.
After breakfast on the 14th Nancy and Steve helped us get the boat set to leave for a couple of weeks as we return to Minnesota tomorrow morning. Ross had Steve help him pull the
dinghy up on the front deck where we think we will strap it for crossing of the Gulf. Boy, was I glad 
for Steve's muscles. Otherwise I would have been struggling trying to help Ross. Which would have been a recipe for a disaster.Ross washed the boat to get as much salt off it as possible, we did up the laundry, packed and were ready to go by 4. A fellow boater on the dock offered to drive us to the hotel we had booked out by the airport for our early morning flight. It always amazes me how hospitable boaters are. You see many beautiful sights along the way, but the people you meet are the true highlight.
We will return to Florida to continue our travels the day after Thanksgiving.
