M/V ILLUSIONS                              TX TO FL CRUISE   TRIP 2 LOGS At Panama City, FL July 2 – 12, 1999     This part of our TX to FL Cruse was really a family reunion and vacation in Panama City, FL.  Angela and I flew to PC early on Friday, July 2, accompanied by my son, Chuck, and his wife, Marina.  We rented a car, dropped off our luggage at the boat, and had lunch at an open-air restaurant on the beach.  It rained during lunch, but didn't rain again during the day for the next 7 days.  We bought groceries and moved aboard the boat.  We met my sister, Martha Ann Cooper, her friend, Jo Anna White, and Martha Ann's daughter, Audrey, for dinner at Capt. Anderson's—the best place to eat in Panama City Beach, FL.      On July 3 we met up with my brother, Will, and his wife, Tammy, and their two young boys, Mathew (7) and Mitchell (3), at the beach at Edgewater Beach Resort.  That place had over 1,000 condos, and they were all rented for the July 4 weekend.  Tammy's mother arrived by plane from MS.  Will and Tammy had driven 12 hours from Greeneville, TN.  Martha Ann & company had come from Birmingham, AL, about 5 hours drive.  We sunbathed, swam, got a suntan, and ate some shrimp and played some board games.      On July 4 we all gathered at the boat and went a short distance to Shell Island.  We anchored on the North side of the island and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers.  Chuck took the dinghy and ferried almost everyone to shore to look for shells and to walk over the island to the Gulf side. The white sand beach was nice, and the emerald green water was very appealing.  I stayed on board because I was nervous about the anchor.  We had had a hard time getting the anchor to dig in to this soft sand, and I was worried about "dragging anchor".  It was very windy.      Marc and Cindy Snowhite were nearby on NORDIC.  They arrived by plane on July 1, and began their boat trip back to Clear Lake on Monday, July 5.  We were glad to be able to see them for a short time.      When we returned to the marina we stopped at the fuel dock.  The relatives all got off, since their cars were nearby at that point.  We pumped out our waste tanks and filled up with fuel, 219 gallons @0.829 per gallon.  The boat had not run well-not getting full RPM or speed.  We returned to the slip and dressed for dinner over at Edgewater.  Plans were changed, however, as Edgewater had a power failure which lasted almost 24 hours.  Can you imagine all those people in condos without power, and the water supply only worked at times?  Will and Tammy moved the next day to the huge Holiday Inn next door to Edgewater.      On Monday we took Chuck and Marina to St Andrew State Park because we heard you could snorkel there.  The area was between the ship channel jetty and the sandy shore (beach), and it really wasn't too bad for a safe novice experience.  There was some marine life on the jetty rocks, and the depth there maxed out at 5 feet or so.  After that we met Martha Ann and family at Canopies, which claims to be the best restaurant in Panama City.  It was good, but the waiters acted like they were doing you a big favor.  I would go back there, though-nice view and good food.  We then took Chuck & Marina to the airport for a 8:10pm flight and went to Edgewater for games with Martha Ann and Audrey.  Jo Anna drove to Birmingham after dinner.  Will and family retired early.      Tuesday, July 6, we went to the Holiday Inn to see and visit with Will's family.  We ate leftovers at Edgewater and enjoyed each other's company.      All the relatives went home on Wednesday, July 7.  I decided to change the Racor filters and CAT fuel filters to see if I could improve the engine performance.  We went out to Shell Island to do this, and we looked for shells afterwards.      If anyone has a wonderful solution to getting the smell of diesel out of a boat, please let me know.  After changing the filters and adding Biobore to each tank, we had a diesel smell in the boat.  The boat didn't run any better, but I felt better about our upcoming Gulf crossing.  I concluded we probably had picked up barnacles during the month the boat sat in the marina there.  The next day, July 8, we paid a couple of guys $50 to scrape the running gear and some of the bottom.  That solved the problem.  We would need a bottom job sometime soon.      Then we went shopping.  We went to West Marine and bought two sponge-type air cleaners which were supposed to remove the diesel smell, and they did improve it a lot.  We went to Boaters World and got poor service.  We went to Sears in search of an ion generator, which we bought and later returned because it was the wrong unit.      We met John and Marion Fahnestock from Ocean Springs, MS at their trawler in the marina.  They had recommended the ion generator, having had good success with their own model.  We enjoyed visiting with them.      We then drove to Destin, FL, through the Sandestin Resort where we had spent a night at the marina, about another mile or less to Silver Sands Factory Outlet Mall.  This was a pretty upscale place where you could spend some real money if you weren't careful.  Martha Ann had told us about it and visited it twice while she was there.  We bought some clothes for Angela and for me.  We bought a bedspread set we hoped would work out in our stateroom, but it didn't match some existing colors.      There was a big party going on at the marina when we returned.  The annual Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament was beginning, and almost 80 boats were participating.  Extra slips had been constructed over the previous few days, and the boats had been coming in from FL, AL, MS, etc.  Most were 50-65 foot sportfishermen, probably averaging $1 million apiece.  It was quite a spectacle.  They all pulled out between 11:30pm and midnight for two days of fishing for blue marlin and other trophies.  See the video for a flavor of the wild party atmosphere.      The next day was Friday, July 9; and we went scuba diving.  It was interesting, but not very good diving.  Their water is pretty but not very clear, so visibilities of 15-20 feet were all that they ever get.  We dove once in 80 feet of water, 5 miles or so off the beach.  The second dive was closer in and more shallow.  We couldn't find the anchor rope to return to the boat.  They came to pick us up where we surfaced, as they had said they would if we couldn't find it.  Our dive master paid no attention to us at all; he was trying to get two new divers certified.      We checked four dive shops, and I believe three of them used the same dive boat operated by a separate company.  Their prices were different and generally higher than we've paid in St Thomas, Antigua, etc. It paid to shop around.      Then we went back to Destin for more shopping and bought some more clothes for Angela.  Also, we found some nice lamps for our boat, so we bought 5 of them.  We threw away two of ours (by placing them on the dock by the garbage cans-all but the shades were gone in a few hours) and put away two more to bring back to Houston.      On Saturday, July 10, it was rainy and overcast for the first half of the day, so we did cleaning and laundry chores.  When the fishing fleet returned that evening the weather had cleared, but it was humid and hot.  The number 1 marlin brought in weighed 548 lbs, fourth largest in the history of the tournament (the previous year's winner weighed over 700 pounds).  The prize for no 1 was $100,000 cash.  Number 2 blue marlin weighed 478 pounds, worth $75,000.  The entry fee for the tournament was $7,500, and we were told the typical weekend cost for each boat was $25,000.  The party that night went on all night.      On Sunday, July 11, we took John and Marion's advice and motored offshore 13 miles east to Crooked Island for some more shell gathering.  We found some nice shells.  I liked the really little ones.  To me, it's hard to believe that something used to live inside something that small.  The wonders of nature!      We ate leftovers, cleaned up, packed up, and caught a flight out at 9am on Monday morning, July 12.  We had met my cousin, Donnie, in Atlanta at the airport on July 2.  She lived in CA and had spent the July 4th weekend with her daughter in Atlanta.  Our layover in Atlanta this time was not as interesting, and we arrived in Houston about 25 minutes late.  It seems we always come into a weather situation when landing in Houston.      Panama City has traffic problems, and you do not want to travel on Front Beach Road if you can avoid it, and you can.  The crowd was young, drunk, and loud, or families on a budget.  Other than that, the area's weather was somewhat nicer than Houston's (nice breeze sometimes and cooler nights).  The people were very friendly.  There was a lot to do and quite a number of good restaurants.  The water and sand were fine.  Edgewater charged $26 cash per day for a couple of lounge chairs and a beach umbrella, which seemed steep after paying $1500 for 5 days in their condo, but otherwise prices seemed not too bad.  Bay Point Marina charged $535 per month for a slip, which was the highest monthly rate we'd ever paid.  Overnight it was $1.50 per foot, which I thought was high.