Destin Harbor Florida

(Sat. Nov. 20 - Dist: 67.3 mi; Avg Speed: 9.4 mph; TTT: 7:30 hrs)


Alabama - Florida Border

We made it; Linda and I took our boat all the way to Florida.  Who would have thought?? 

It was a pleasant enough trip across the GICW with not much to really see and a few "No Wake" zones to slow things up.  

In these zones we have to go idle speed which in our case is about 6.4 mph or about "Mitch Speed".  (Other Loopers will recognize Mitch speed as the preferred speed that Serendipity travels... which is why we usually go ahead and then help them in for the night.)  We did pass by Fort Walton Beach with a free city dock in order to check out the town of Destin.  We had stopped in Destin for a day while visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Panama City Beach last February.  We were not disappointed.

Destin Harbor is spectacular, really, really, spectacular; a perfect postcard......unfortunately we did not take any photos.  I am not kidding about how neat the harbor is.  It is long and narrow with beautiful white sand on the barrier island across from the town.  There are dozens and dozens of charter boats, fishing boats and tour boats all backed in to the dock.  Many do not even have any fingers between slips so one has to disembark the boat from the stern.  (Are you proud of me, after 3 months on board I am starting to get the lingo down.) We were fortunate that we stayed at the Harbor Walk Marina which allowed us to use the fuel dock for the night.  A mixed blessing as it turns out.

All along the harbor there are restaurants shops and bars, a real tourist mecca.  We, of course, did partake as time allowed.  We arrived late, past Happy Hour, so after hooking up electric and water and checking in, we took off looking for a suitable establishment.  We found this neat place that got started with very humble beginnings, a family affair really, and grew thanks to the support and building prowess of its patrons.  Debby and Darrell would be proud (or envious) as this place was also featured in the TV show, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives".  You see D&D are planning on taking their antique (sorta) car across the continent to find places just like The Shed and Guy's Gumbo in Fairhope, AL.

Since it was still Song Writers Month there was live entertainment at many places along the harbor including the open air band shell right near our dock.  Linda wanted seafood so we settled on the Crazy Lobster; a poor choice in retrospect.  The food was only so-so compared to what we have been getting on this trip. I suspect that Harry T's or The Shed would have been much better choices.

After dinner and after listening to some of the entertainment, we headed back to the boat as it was nearing 10 PM.  We are starting to act like old people, no offense to my elders, and we were tired.  I am not sure when the music stopped or when boats full of party goers stopped dropping off or getting other equally loud party goers, on and off  their boats at the empty dock beside us but I do know when the Charter operators started preparing their boats for the day....5 AM.  At the very end of our bow was the ice house that fishing boats and tour operators used to obtain the crushed ice that they needed for the day.  It was like Grand Central Station.  Oh well, we had to be off the fuel dock by 7:00 anyway so we made our coffee and headed off.....forgetting to take any pictures.  Sorry.