At Panama City, FL

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January 2-5, 2023: I spend a few days at a funky marina where I get to relax, wait out a storm, walk around a historic downtown, and fly my drone.

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(continued from Santa Rosa Beach to Panama City, FL)

I wound up spending three nights at Bristol Harbor. It was a funky little place tucked into the corner of a bayou with all the comforts of a marina that might cost a lot more: restrooms with showers, free laundry facilities, and do-it-yourself pumpout. I had originally planned to spend just one night, but I extended it to three when I saw weather coming in and realized I could get a lot done on the boat while I was there.

I was in the only transient spot at the marina. All the other boats were tenants. I’d say that at least 25% of them had people living on board at the marina. Two of the boats — including the one right next to me — were Airbnb rentals, although I didn’t see anyone staying at either boat while I was there. The live-aboards all knew each other and were generally pretty friendly. But I have to admit that I felt like an outsider most of the time I was there.

A Trip into Town

I made it into town the day after I arrived. It was a short walk, but I put on my socks and hiking shoes anyway. I think it might have been one of the first days that I wore shorts.

I took my pups along, all leashed up. It was the first time I’d taken them on a formal walk — with leashes for more than just a pee break — since coming back to the Loop after Thanksgiving.

Panama City had a nice collection of restaurants and a handful of shops all along Harrison Avenue. They were doing some road work on one end of the street, so it was closed to traffic and fencing kept pedestrians out of holes in the ground. It was noisy.

I’m a real fan of Art Deco architecture so I had to get a shot of the Martin Theater, which was closed. The two signboards were video screens and flashed ads.

One of the live-aboards at the marina had recommended at least a half dozen restaurants and I found them all. Somehow, however, I wound up at Tom’s Hot Dogs (which I don’t think he mentioned), probably because they had outside dining in the shade. I went in and ordered a bacon cheeseburger. I got a table in the shade with my pups and waited. When it arrived, it turned out to be the best bacon cheeseburger I may have ever had.

Or maybe I was just really hungry and it tasted that way?

We walked back on a different route that took us through the middle of Mackenzie Park. There was no one around and no traffic, so I took the girls off their leash but kept them close to me. We went past Bayou Joe’s Marina and Grill, which is mentioned in the Waterway Guide entry for the marina. I thought I might stop there for a late lunch or early dinner one night, but I never got around to it.

Here’s a look at Bayou Joe’s Marina and Grill from my boat across the bayou late one afternoon. You can see the nearly full moon in the sky.

Then I made the mistake of leading my girls through an empty, weed-filled lot. It turned out that the weeds had burrs and the burrs were getting into their feet. I had to keep pulling burrs out. I eventually got them back on pavement, checked their feet again, and put their leashes back on. That whole incident caused a problem: for the next few days, they were afraid to walk on grass.

Although I did get to take another walk in town a few days later, it was only to pick up a few things at the Dollar General in town and have lunch at the Mexican place that live-aboard had recommended: Maddie’s La Casita. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything special, either. I’m spoiled when it comes to Mexican food, having lived in Arizona and Washington state’s farm country for so many years. Mexican food on Florida’s panhandle? Not quite the same.

The only other shop in town I visited that’s worth mentioning was the seafood store across the street, Tarpon Dock Seafood Market. I’d stopped by the very first evening I was there and didn’t need to buy anything. I think a lot of what they had was already sold out or put away. They told me that nearly everything they sold was caught by their own fishing boats, which I’d passed on my way into the marina earlier that day. I wanted to go back — I really did — but simply forgot to. I had plenty of food on board and was tired of throwing away stuff that I didn’t cook on time, so I was being careful and only buying right before I planned to cook it. Dealing with perishable food like fish and meat would be a lot easier with a bigger, more reliable freezer, but I had to make due with what I had.

Doing Chores at the Marina

I spent much of the time I was there at the marina, cleaning things up on my boat, doing laundry, and managing storage.

The marina had two free washers and dryers and although there was stiff competition from the live-aboards (as well as a few folks who apparently knew about them and came in to do their laundry for free), I managed to wash all of my sheets and blankets and other laundry. It was good to get everything washed and fresh.

Whenever I wash my sheets, I also get under the bed where there’s some storage. I put stuff away that I don’t think I need and take out stuff that I do. That’s when I decided to stow the custom fitted bedspread and keep things simple with just sheets and blankets on the bed. I also put away my reference books for the inland rivers and dug out the ones for Florida and the Keys.

I’ll admit here that after Alyse left, I wasn’t shy about using her empty sleeping space for storage. Little by little I began accumulating items in there, including the jewelry making tools and supplies I’d brought along, thinking I’d have the time or inclination to make new jewelry while I traveled. I started realizing around then that bringing all that had been a huge mistake and I still had to get it all home for the summer when I would have the time and actual need to work with it.

I also pumped out the black water tank, using the DYI setup the marina had. A lot of the marinas in the south have a centralized pumpout system that you can connected to at a port near your boat. With the guidance of one of the live-aboards, I connected the hose to the port and then the other end of the hose to my boat — using that adapter I’d bought in Orange Beach. She turned on the pump and I emptied the tank. I then added about 20 gallons of clean water and pumped that out. The hardest part of the whole thing was lugging the very long hose from where it’s stored at the side of the main building to where I needed to use it and back. Everything else was a piece of cake. I was becoming good at taking care of these things for myself and not having to rely on marina staff to do it.

I also washed off the back deck, vacuumed the floor, and did what I could to best organize my space. I realized that the “airtight” containers I’d brought from home weren’t airtight at all. Dry food in them, like cereal and crackers, got stale or, worse yet, buggy. I needed a better solution. I bought a few containers at Dollar General in town, but they weren’t quite right. I placed an order on Amazon for a big set of real airtight containers that would stack and had them shipped ahead to Steinhatchee, where I expected to be within a few weeks.

It’s embarrassing to admit that the one thing I didn’t do that I certainly had time to do was try to update this blog. I didn’t write a single word here, although I’m sure I wrote plenty on social media, the world’s biggest time suck. (It really bothers me that I’m so far behind. You can motivate me to get up to date by simply leaving a comment on this or any other post.)

Weather

The weather came early in the morning on January 4. Heavy rain and high winds. I was warm and snug and dry inside the boat with my pups, who absolutely hate going out in the rain. The boat was secure; the bayou was very protected. When the rain ended, it got warm and humid — but not bad enough to be uncomfortable. I didn’t mind spending that extra day in Panama City, even though I didn’t really do anything extra there.

 
Rosie (left) and Lily (right) slept on my bed while it rained.

The Drone Flight

On the morning I left, I launched my drone and flew it for a while to get some photos of the marina and my little boat among the much bigger ones. Some of the shots revealed not only Saint Andrew Bay to the southwest but also the inlet to the Gulf of Mexico. It was a completely calm morning with no wind and there were great reflections on the bayou. (You can see all this in the header image for this post.)

I shot a handful of drone photos from over Massalina Bayou before leaving on Thursday morning.

Moving On

By that time, I was ready to move on. The weather was great and I’d spend another morning driving from up top, this time to a brand new marina that wasn’t quite ready for guests.