We got Panama City figured out. Paal and Betsy Hansen said Apalachicola was doable in one day.

We did it without even stressing the Admiral’s sleep schedule! 9:00am weigh anchor + depart, arrived just before sunset in Apalachicola.

It was almost a perfect cruising day in that the winds and waves were mild for all the bay crossings. However, the tidal current was against us for most of the day. So, not a perfect score today… But it was pretty darn close!

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The USAF must have Nebo or AIS because as soon as we weighed anchor they started flying all around us to show off their stuff. One dipped a wing to a waving Shelly on the sun deck. He or she was so close we could see them in their cockpit!

Later, as we passed Tyndall AF Base, they started to show us their dock landing skills.

This fellow was coming in too hot, so his angle of attack was modified to slow himself down. “Slow like a Pro, Fast like an Ass” that’s the docking rule all Loopers follow! LOL

Our position is the blue dot as a bunch of airmen (persons) finished their training missions. (Probably classified information: Apparently they don’t have the fuel capacity to go all day, like we do.)

With the Blue Angels HQ in Pennsicola, and Tyndall AFB here, near Panama City, the locals must get bored. But we marvel at this stuff.

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Ok, back to nature!

Shelly’s electronically stabilized monocular is used to help with navigation and spotting wildlife. (She has only one eye. Faith healers and doctors have not gotten the glass eye working yet.)

Unfortunately, most of today’s trip was devoid of wildlife sightings (and fortunately there were no bugs!). Not sure why.

But as we got closer to Apalachicola, several Bald Eagles were sighted.

Once secured for the night, the first human people-types we met were fantastic: Linda at the desk at Water Street Hotel and Marina, and Kate aboard Willow. Linda has a confused pet alligator named Thomas who swims up the river here, then turns back as if he is confused on where he is going. She watches him day after day. We’ll try to get pics of Thomas tomorrow.

Kate is a wildlife biologist, and she reports that as air-temps drop below water-temps, Gators start spending more time in the water than on land. (I told her we were very disappointed to not see any gators today coming here.) She offered no refund on our fuel bill.

My brother, a boater who used to live in these parts said “The Gators look like logs.” So I guess that means we saw several Gators today!

Walking up to the office, these were the first actual ‘signs’ I saw at the marina. I thought, “Good advice, taken in tandem.”

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Today’s stats:

56 nm. / 7.5 hours

This port is in Eastern Time Zone; we departed in CT. So, good luck trusting your chart plotter’s ETA calculation.

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