Catmandu On The Loop: Panama City for Christmas?

Our course is charted...we need to get to Panama City before Sunday so we can catch a rental car to Orlando for a flight home to Midland for Christmas. The weather gods are in agreement...the predicted rain has slid both North and South so with a prevailing North wind we are out of Pensacola. Our only challenge is a 48 ft bridge at Fort Waldon Beach. My 'b-estimate' measurement of the mast when down at Hammond was 39.5 ft + 7.5 ft from the waterline to mast step = 47 ft not including antennas. Hmmm...how accurate was that measurement?? Kevin and I remeasured and estimated 46.5 ft not including antennas...we should make it right?! First lower bridge was the Naverene bridge at 50 ft...should be a good test. So as we approach the bridge we notice there is construction going on with a platform below the high point of the bridge. A worker comes out to meet us in a boat to say the platform is 48 ft over the water...can we make it? Well, maybe! He suggested going under outside the channel, and construction, where the bridge is 51 ft high (though the water is only 10 ft deep). Under we go!! I see our clearance as a couple of feet. The guy in the boat says we wouldn't have made the 48 ft center and just cleared by less than a foot. Hmmmm! So now what? On we go! The Ft. Waldon bridge is some two hours away...lots of time to think about the possibile outcomes. We approach dead slow...and make it clearing without even touch the VHF antenna! No Prob!!!!! As we go through we see the clearance scale on the other side indicating a 49 ft clearance. A lower tide and North wind helped give the edge. Fhew!!!

One more look at the Wheel of Excellence.

Ft. Waldon Beach Bridge

No Problem!!

We anchored up in Joe's Bayou just East of Destin. It felt like we were camping in the backyards of a couple million dollar homes. Nice evening but it got down to the upper 30's at night. Good thing we lots of covers and our Little Buddy propane heater!!

Joe's Bayou

The next day we headed out into a large bay...and guess what...we could put out one of those white things we've been carrying around for a few hundred miles!! Wow!!! About mid-day we ran into fog so thick it was tough to see 100 ft. Good test for the radar and AIS...picked out a couple of small tows as we were going into the 'ditch.'

Next stop, the Christmas home for Catmandu, Bay Point Marina, Panama City Marina.

Our first order of business was getting tied up in time for a Looper Party on Lady KK (65 ft Viking). There was a mixture of Loopers we've seen along the way with some we've met for the first time. Most were planning to spend the holidays here. The next couple of days have been spent cleaning up, organizing, packing and completing some projects.