Mary Sowell-Panama City Fl Real Estate

The buzz question around town has been a toss up between who is going to win the presidential election and when is the Shrimp Boat going to open. Saturday at 4:30 it happened! The Shrimp Boat opened it's doors to the awaiting crowd of local diners.

Thursday Night I was pleased to have been a part of the pre-opening party and am pleased to report it was worth the wait. The interior decor was pleasing with touches of nostalgia in pictures of the original Shrimp Boat restaurant and its owner, Lowe Smith. The magnitude of the new building is realized when you first enter the front doors and gaze upon the old Shrimp Boat sign which once stood on the front of the original restaurant now hangs in the interior of the building over the bar. There is a sushi bar to the left of the large venue and the open kitchen immediately follows the sushi bar. Two floors of windows give great views of the water and marina which caters to the increasingly popular activity of boating to dinner.

The menu offers both steak and seafood dishes. The guests at our table tried the Grilled Grouper, Shrimp over Smoked Gouda Grits, Filet Mignon, and a seafood casserole which was great! There is plenty of variety to choose from and every dish which came to our table was tasty exceeding all our expectations. Thank you Shrimp Boat for a great evening!

We look forward to the opening of Gracie Rae's Bar and Grille, the seafood market, and the continuing success of new businesses in Historic St. Andrews!

Realizing that we have a playgound for adventure right in our backyard and only steps from the back gate, a group has formed for kayaking fun on the St. Andrews Bay. A kayak rack was built in close proximity to the South Gate for easy access to the beach. The water is shallow and sandy which helps in launching the boats.

We have several participants who kayak for premium fishing spots and the rest for recreation. Our group includes young and old, and even a dog.

A shrimp boil is in the works as a kick-off for our paddling friends along with a sunset and full moon cruise.

Residents interested in joining the group or anyone else who would like to paddle with us may call the Association Office 215-5252 for Melinda's number to get information.

It's wonderful to live in an area where people pay to come on vacation. We are on vacation everyday! It rang true again the other night when a group of fun friends decided to go kayaking on St. Andrews Bay launching from the St. Andrews Marina.

This is a convenient spot for us to launch from, The Canoe Shop is right across the street and rents kayaks for those that don't own one. Parking is easy and there is a small sandy beach great for loading the boats and launching as a group.

The sun soon begins to set illuminating the sky with shades of orange and pink with dark shadows of clouds along the horizon simulating a mountain range with majestic peaks. It was another fantastic sunset, no two being exactly alike.

As we headed east toward the rising moon, we realized that maybe our plans should have been reversed, paddle towards the sunset going west then return heading east towards the moon. We'll switch directions next time.

After watching the moon rise, we started back towards the marina in the darkness. The water calms down after sunset making the trip back smoother and we are enjoying having the bay to ourselves. At least so we thought, about that time I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and hear a pffffhhh sound. The light from the moon is more than enough to scan the surface of the bay but nothing is there. After a few minutes I begin paddling again and catch up to the group. Again I hear the sound but this time it is slightly in front of me and I see a dolphin roll in the water between myself and another kayak. The dolpin would disappear each time I stopped so when he reappeared this time I continued paddling with a steady pace with my fellow paddler. It was awesome knowing that the dolphin was choosing to swim with us at our pace, much slower than he was capable of swimming. After a fair distance he left as quietly as he appeared and we paddled on.

The dolphin experience took this moonlit trip from awesome to WOW! One of those experiences you hope for on a vacation but we get in our own backyard.

It just keeps getting better Bay! And this time the good news is the Bay County Public Library moved into a newly constructed building at 898 W. 11th Street. This new location is conveniently located next to the new Bay County Administrative Building Site and walkable from the Downtown Panama City, Garden Club, and St. Andrews areas. The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony was held on Friday, May 16th and attendees were treated to refreshments, speeches and a look at the new facilities.

The new location has over 5500 square feet adding much needed space to the crowded former facility on the Panama City Marina which had only 2700 square feet. All new shelving was purchased by the Bay County Commission which gave the library 50% more shelving. This allowed for less crowding and for collections to be able to be shelved together. The old shelving did not allow for oversized books causing them to be kept in a separate area. Now in the new library these oversized books will fit on the shelves in the section in which they belong.

Staff used ideas from the Suggestion Box to help make the new library more appealing to its customers. Two drive-up book drops were placed in front of the main entrance allowing for convenient book return at any time. A coffee café area was incorporated into the lobby and drinks can be purchased during book store hours. Other new editions include a Young Adult Room and Used Book Store.

There are 21 computer stations and WI-FI is available throughout the library. With summer on top of us, the opening of the library came at just in time for the summer reading season!