Day 6 Panama City to St. Joe Bay

After hanging around the ships store watching the weather channel for a while, I pulled out of P.C. around 1030. The wind was 10-12 out of the SW, and it was kicking up some serious chop in the pass. I fielded a handful of 4-5' waves, with the majority being 3-4'. Once I got out into the gulf, they were more like 2-3, but coming on my beam (side to side), so I had a pretty rocky ride to St. Joe Bay. It wasn't near as far as my previous trips...about 30 miles from marina to anchorage. I entered the bay around 3:30, & anchored near 5 or 6 other boats by 4:00. It took me 2 tries to get the anchor set good, but now I'm pretty sure that it's in deep now.

I'm anchored just east of St. Joe Peninsula, which supposedly offers good shelter from Westerly winds like I've got tonight. The NE, E, & SE however are wide open & there's a fetch of 11 miles. For some reason, there's a steady chop coming from the East, & it's making for quite a bumpy night at anchor.

The scenery, however, could not be any more beautiful. I'm facing an amazingly unspoiled beach & huge dunes, as far as I can see. There are more stars out than I've ever been able to see before. I even sat out in the cockpit for an hour or so & used my constellation chart to identify constellations I'd never been able to pick out. It's so peaceful...Every now & then the sky lights up with lightning out of the North. Nothing short of amazing. I can see the faint glow of headlights over near Port St. Joe, and you couldn't give me a thing in the world to trade places with any of them tonight.

Tomorrow looks to be a short run up the Gulf County Canal...a 5 mile ditch that connects St. Joe Bay with the Intercoastal. I'll then hang a right & either anchor in Saul Creek, or in Apalachicola. It should be another 25-30 mile day. After that is Carrabell, & preparing for the haul across the Big Bend, to Tarpon Springs.

I'm hearing something about possible tropical storm activity in the Southeastern gulf, but hopefully that won't materialize. Have to wait & see.