Saturday morning was time to depart Panama City and move out from the Grand Lagoon into St. Andrews Bay into West Bay into West Bay Creek - what is commonly referred to as Florida’s Grand Canyon.  We are thankful that we took the inside route as advised by a few boaters, as the scenery and ride were delightful.  After a few bridges (we’ll have the Florida Bridges Photo Album coming out in Christmas!), it was all about nature, with our daily dolphin guides leading us we entered the pine and sand bluffs of the canyon.  They are not tall canyons, but beautifully formed edges with large roots from pines falling into the water making the scene somewhat surreal. We passed a few other recreational boaters but not one commercial vessel, as we were told that the slow economy had all but shut down the marine trade during weekends.  By time we reached Choctawhatchee Bay (say that three times) we were eyeing the last bridges before our destination of DESTIN.  Let me say that there was no signs of an economic downturn here.  In fact, since our start of the trip, we have not seen so many franticly maneuvered pleasure craft, some with skippers seemingly still in diapers. The hot spot during our arrival was a sandbar located just inside the HWY 98 bridge.  Now, something about this bridge. As a youngster, we would wait for hours on our trip with Pops and Lil (my folks) and five kids in tow for the bridge that would signal the entry into the “beautiful waters,” as Lil called them.  So, as we approached the area, I signaled to my engineer, Juan, that he was soon to see the beauty of DESTIN.  Sure enough, right before the bridge the murky waters of the Bay were met by the crystal clear aqua waters of the Gulf, with a very clear line of demarkation.  In the 50’s and 60’s, there was but a mere motel in DESTIN, but now you can see the Cajun influence all around the bridge area.  A super development called “HARBORWALK” has opened within the year and the New Orleans’ extensions are obvious, no less than a Pat O’Brien’s, Commander’s Palace, and, yes, a Camellia Grill on premises.  We had lunch at a joint called “Harry T’s” named after a circus high wire man, who did something great during a bygone war in Turkey and bought land here in the early 1900’s (local lore that is hard to figure).  The menu was sport’s bar huge but, once again, we headed straight for the fried grub, with oyster and shrimp poboys.  This followed a long string of fried food outings during this trip, leaving us in a fried food coma for much the rest of the day, vowing to stay away from the grease for a while.  The place was jumping and we made our way up and down HARBORWALK, handing out information on Louisiana’s vanishing coast and making sure the kids had Captain Eddy and Pierre the Pelican action heros to remind them of the importance of America’s WETLAND.  The canal near the area remained one of the busiest see and be seen parades of boats we have encountered, sometimes with five or six boats passing at a time, meandering all over the place.  Our marina was at HARBORWALK, so the views were many late into the evening when the harbor became alive with dancers to the live bands canceling each other out from the vast decks of the eateries.  Our neighbors in this marina were a large fleet of sports fishing charter boats, who brought happy fishermen home with proud catches and the fish stories to match.  Late night rains closed the evening with a more cloudy forecast for the Sunday voyage.  Happy Sails!

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