Slow Boat to Panama

We had a good time in Fort Walton Beach.  On Thursday night we went to one of our favorite restaurants there, Fokkers, which moved across the street, with Naomi and Rob joining us from "Lorelei IV".  We were pleasantly surprised with our happy hour bill and the wings were on special.  Cheapest dinner we have had out in a long time! 
Chores were done like laundry, a few trips to Publix, a trip to West Marine which happened to be right next to Buffalo Wild Wings and it was lunch time.  I think the other four of us might have scared Naomi and Rob off for Friday night.  Not really.  They are doing the Great Loop on somewhat of a budget, so they didn't join us at the Board Room.
This morning "Lorelei IV" left the free dock first, then we untied "The Bar-B" from us before we could shove off.  Our 72 mile day took us almost 11 hours.  After the first couple miles of The Narrows, it was 30 miles of open bay across the Choctawhatchee, then about 20 miles of ditch before the last 20 miles of West Bay across the Panama City inlet.  Fortunately, even with the ESE winds today the bays were a pretty light chop although we did hit one wave just right to throw a few drops on the captain.  We bumped up the RPMs compared to usual but we still couldn't hardly get seven miles an hour all day against the tide and wind.
"Lorelei IV" was already in Pearl Bayou as planned.  They go a bit faster than we do, as everyone else does, and like to try to get their dog Sasha to shore by early afternoon.  They were nice enough to hail us on the VHF shortly before our arrival to check on us.  They were concerned if we got here after dark we would not see this "mooring ball" in the middle of the anchorage.  When they called though, we had our destination in sight and set our anchor at about 5:30 p.m.
Right after they hailed us on VHF we heard conversation with Coast Guard Station Panama City and a Good Samaritan, "Sea Screamer" who was helping another boater in distress.  I guess this other boat was taking on water but had not completely sunk or capsized yet.  However, there was one person in the water, but that person would not get on board "Sea Screamer" because he did not want to leave his boat.  The Coast Guard was supposedly going to be there in 25 minutes and asked "Sea Screamer" if they would stay on scene until their arrival.  "Sea Screamer" agreed, but we never heard any more.
As for "The Bar-B", they pulled off into St. Andrews Marina in Panama City about seven miles back.  Bob sleeps better tied to a dock and plumbers can afford it.