Niceville - North Lights Yacht Club

Sam and I shoved off from Panama City Marina at 8:15 and crossed well in front of a container ship entering the bay from the Gulf.  Within a few minutes the ship contacted me over the radio and asked that I move out of the channel (there was deep water),  he wanted to overtake me on my starboard side. As I was moving out of the way an actual battle ship was coming at us and split the difference. At this point Sam and I had only been on the water about 15 minutes. For the next 4 or 5 hours we progressed westward along the ICW and saw only a couple of boats, amazing how desolate these large bays and connecting canals can be.  While crossing Choctawhatchee Bay we saw a storm in the distance.... not knowing exactly which way it was going I kinda ran in circles until it became obvious that the storm new exactly where we were and was not going to let us get by.   As it bared down on us we realized there was no escape, we donned our cheap orange life jackets, cursed the mighty storm and kissed our asses goodbye as we plowed head long into the windy abyss. The tiny ship fought valiantly to keep her nose to the wind as the heavens battered her with gusts and surf. Waves crashed over the bow as the fearless crew manned the helm and spit into the face of danger (note to self: don't spit into the wind anymore). Within 10 minutes mother nature knew she had no more time to waste on us so she trolled on down the coast looking for other prey. Sam and I were happy to see her go. About two minutes later a loud piercing alarm sounded scaring the shit out of us. It was a Coast Guard broadcast over VHF warning mariners of a severe storm. Thanks a lot.
We finally arrived at our destination...  North Lights Yacht Club where we met up with some friends I've made over the internet. Roger and Pam Hennicke arrived at the boat with wine and beer and we had a long enjoyable visit prior to a tour of there 52 foot Jefferson.... beautiful yacht. I meet Roger on the website Trawler Forum and he's been very helpful with selecting my daily destinations.
Oh yeah, one other thing.... I had several complements on the effortless way I backed the boat into the slip. Plus several people came out of their way to tell me they really liked the boat.