We arrived back in Panama City late Tuesday evening. As we exited the car we could see the boat rocking and rolling – I think the nautical term for this is “acting like a mixmaster”. The winds were coming directly from the south in gusts of up to 40 mph. We unpacked the car just before the rain started. Knowing that we would not be going anywhere tomorrow, we crashed, and fell asleep very quickly to the wonderfully rocking movement of the boat.
We both awoke Wednesday morning about 8a to the sounds of the Blue Angels practicing above the city. Now what is really funny about this situation is that Mark started grousing about how “a guy just can not get any sleep around here” and he was really serious. What makes this so lame is that I have seen this guy stand in rain and/or heat in excess of 100 degrees to watch the Blue Angels perform at the Chicago Air and Water Show and here we can watch them and other fighter pilots each day and all he wants to do is sleep…
The wind and the rain continued most of Wednesday. During the night the rain stopped but the winds have continued. We have been intently watching the weather situation and it now appears that the wind should calm down tomorrow (Friday), so this is when we will plan to leave Panama City and travel to Apalachicola.
We have decided that instead of spending a month in the Bahamas this spring that we will spend more time in the Florida Keys before heading up the eastern coast of the US and onto the Chesapeake this summer. Next fall we will then turn around and come back down the eastern US coast and head over the Bahamas in December for the remainder of the winter and spring of 2009. This way we will have plenty of time to spend in the Bahamas. There is just so much to see and do/not do (relax) in the Bahamas that neither of us want to miss the experience. That is the wonderful thing about being retired – we can do whatever we want, whenever we want.
