December 9th  to ?????

We left Niceville before noon and travelled across the remainder of Choctawhatchee Bay and then went through a narrow 20 mile cut called the “Grand Canyon”

and enter  West Bay.

We anchored for the night near Burnt Mill Creek  

When we went to shut down, the Starboard engine wouldn’t shut down, so we realized our electrical issues had not been resolved, and added to that we now seemed to have a fuel issue.  The anchorage was very tranquil, and there were at least 3 dolphins in the Bay, as well as Oyster beds, as indicated by the  floating markers.

In the morning, we ran the generator to charge up the batteries, and set off for Panama City.  We called a boat yard there that agreed to assess our boat and issues the next day, (Friday).    There is a list of systems that may have been affected by the short.  The xantrex regulator  alternators, battery starboard starter or key switch, as well as the fuel injector pump.  They will be looking into our issues in more detail on Monday and  we are hoping to have them all resolved this  week as the boatyard is closing for 2 weeks for Christmas. Otherwise we’ll be spending  our Christmas here.

We rented a car for the weekend, and will be checking out Panama City Beach, weather is in the  mid 70’s here.

I’ve included a picture of a Sea Ray that is parked beside us, for those of you who prefer this boat.

It’s a 2016 decorated for the Christmas boat parade, and asking price is 1.8 Million.  I had a tour, very nice with a washer/dryer, 3 state rooms 2 heads.  Didn’t see an ice-maker but it had 7 AC units.

Haven’t seen any Herons here, but lots of Brown and White Pelicans.

 

This posting is courtesy of McDonald’s wifi, as there is no internet at the boatyard.