Shell Island

The last day of vacay, we decided to go to St. Andrews State Park in Panama City and rent wave runners. So I rode with Tdawg. Tdawg LOVED the wave runners. He had us going 47mph. Which I understand is a lot of fun on a lake...but in the gulf, it is a little choppy. I nearly flew off several times.

We had a guide and followed the group to Shell Island. The island is deserted and the water around it is very shallow and quite clear. We were able to find a lot of large sand dollars. It was quite hot and between the sun and the white sand, it is a little blinding. The pictures from the disposable waterproof camera did not turn out well. Too bad.




On the way to the gulf side, I did fall off once. I asked Tdawg if he wanted to do a doughnut. I was thinking a slow turn...he was thinking a big rooster tail. So, Tdawg turned the handle bars and gunned it. And both of us fell off...which wasn't so bad until you notice the inky water and wonder what else is in the water with you. Thankfully the wave runner stayed upright and we climbed back on.

Then we went around to the gulf side to look for dolphins. It was so cool to see dolphins swimming in the wild. They are amazingly fast. Since everyone wanted to see the dolphins, our group and another group and a boat were all in the same area. We also saw a dive flag. Raleigh turned around to avoid the divers and bumped into Cletus & Buddy. And they went for a swim in the gulf. Getting them up and going again was difficult to say the least. Their wave runner went upside down. Buddy was unhappy...but the guide was quite patient and calmed Buddy down, got the wave runner up and Cletus back aboard.

And then it was time to head back. It was a lot of fun. I think it would have been more fun earlier in the day, when it wasn't so hot. And next time, I'm pretty sure we will just take the ferry and hang out at Shell Island for a longer period of time.