We travel a little over 87 miles to Baytowne Marina, leaving Alabama behind and crossing the state line into Florida. We do not, however, cross the time zone and remain on Central Standard Time.
The first order of business, before our travels begin, is to fix our malfunctioning autopilot. The fault in the system, we theorize, is the result of a power failure which wiped its memory clean. Captain Tom hopes that restarting and recalibrating the electronics, the auto pilot capability will resume and operate correctly. While it is not needed to navigate the boat this morning, it definitely needs to be operational when we cross the gulf on our upcoming 200 mile open water run. In order to recalibrate the auto pilot, Captain Tom runs Prime 11 in circles on the Arnica Bay. The Bay, thankfully, is free of other watercraft this morning so we can perform our figure eights aimlessly. Hopefully, few observed our “drunken sailor” navigational moves! We did, however, catch the attention of some dolphins in the area who perhaps assumed it was playtime with all our crazy wake configurations?!
After several continual circle attempts, the auto pilot appears to be back in working order. We can finally stop going in circles and set our course straight for Baytowne Marina.
We pass the colorful houses of Perdido Key.
And also the sand dunes near Fort Pickens.
We also pass this strange tower. To discover what exactly it is, a little research was done. The structure is the Santa Rosa Island Tower and stands 300 feet tall. It is located on the Elgin Air Force Base. According to the Air Force, it provides 2 important capabilities which are: 1) open-air-hardware-in-the-loop testing for the development of precision guided weapons and the evaluation in the real world environments. 2) Improved line of sight in coverage for test missions in the gulf of Mexico. In summary, I have no idea of its purpose. 😉
We arrive to Baytowne Marina in Sandestin. It is quite the resort! While the dockage is a pricey $200 a night, they do have many amenities for your enjoyment during your stay.
A dog park for your furry babies and a treehouse for your two legged babies.
There are bikes you can use for free (2 hours a day) and plenty of bike paths to explore.
There is pickleball, tennis and golf. Tennis and pickleball are really the only places we see people. We had a court date set for a pickleball match with other boaters, but while we brought our paddles, we forgot our court shoes 😡 !
While a familiar sight to see, not so common posted on a dock finger!
Huh?
Now I get the reason for the 🛑! It is a virtual highway of golf carts racing up and down the dock fingers. Walking to your boat, you pray one does not bump you, taking you airborne for a plunge into the water. I usually wait, protected behind the piers, until they pass. Just for the record, no one obeys the 5 MPH posted limit.
If you can’t beat them, may as well join them! We get our own golf cart, free for several hours a day to transients.
Look at that smile! We are not pedestrian anymore!
We make our way to Publix, which happily, I discover, is attached to quite a few upscale stores and restaurants!
As the golf cart needs to be returned by 4pm, we head back to Baytowne Marina and walk to the nearby Wharf for dinner. The Wharf has lots of casual restaurants, shops and thrills for kids.
The Carousel and Adventure Zone
Carnival Games
Ice Cream Shop
Staying on theme, most places are closed. We do find one place open for dinner, and It suit me fine …as my family would confirm!
Their meatballs were delicious as were their chicken wings!
At least one of the dudes next to me at the bar behaved, keeping his paws off my meatballs!
🐶 + 🧆 = 😊
We had a fun time during our two night stay at Baytowne Marina, despite the cooler temperatures and lack of opened establishments.
We bid farewell to the one resident we did meet, Mary Ann, and set our sights on Panama City!
1 thought on “The Wharf, Orange Beach, AL to Baytowne Marina, Sandestin, FL”
Cute umbrellas!
Safe travels tomorrow