Me, my husband and one of our friend's family left the house at around 1pm for Panama and Destin tour. We filled up gas at a nearby station, bought some mouth fresheners, water bottles and left for the journey. It was May 25th, a warm sunny day but as soon as we reached Mississippi, it started drizzling. God started pouring more and more water even when there was 60 % chance of rain predictions that day.
There were happy as well as apprehensive faces inside the car. We were happy as we got a relief from the heat and hoping that our trip should not get flop due to rain. Then we took a driveway at Love's Travel Stop for quick refreshment. Panama is 420 miles away from where we live so it took 8.5 hours of tedious drive to reach our hotel in Panama. The beach view and the sea took all our fatigue at the whip of our finger.
We decided to go to Destin the very day. We sailed into the beach just like a new dolphin. We played with splash of waves for a while but the waves got stronger so we left the beach within a couple of hours. Then we went for a walk at the bridge, at the end of it we saw people fishing and having a good time. Wind was blowing heavily and making noises. We spotted a father who was pushing her daughter up to face a sandpiper (shore bird), it was indeed a happy moment to see people happy.
Then it was time for some alligator spotting so we moved to a nearby lake. We spotted a baby alligator too. Then we went back to the hotel and took refreshment.
The next day, we planned to visit Gulfarium at Destin and then move to panama. We spotted several beautiful and endangered species there. Sharks, Sea lions, Star fishes, Seals, Dessert Penguins and giant tortoises were to name a few. They all were amazing and well kept too. Dolphins and sea lion understood what the trainer is saying. They enacted whatever was asked to them. You should not miss Dolphin and Sea lion Chat show if you plan to visit Gulfarium.
We then went to Panama. We saw amazing crowd there. The people were so friendly and the whole streets were filled with people singing and wooing to their music.
I got hair beads with sea shells. Then we went for a helicopter ride and took an aerial view of the whole panama beach. It was just breath taking... like literally! I was all smiles on helicopter.. but my husband was too scared, he didn't let me click his photo when we were up in the air. Dear husband, don't kill me now! Haha :D Then we tried authentic seafood at Jackacuda's Seafood and Sushi, it was cooked well and the nachos were also yummy.
Then we did Go Karting, which was fun too. But this time, I was scared as the road had several twists and turns. I enjoyed the most when i gained grip on the last lap.
On Day 3 we were planning to catch whatever scenic place we could. But we received alarming news of sub tropical storm warning flashing on the TV screens. We verified it through multiple sources on phone. Finally we have to drop the plan and recalled that because of this reason people refrained from entering deep into the ocean and there was less crowd lying down on the beach. We spotted few brave surfers who were enjoying the high waves. Also the previous day, paragliding was cancelled because of that. So we left the hotel and thought that we cannot cover Pensacola forts now. It was drizzling on intervals again on our way to home.
But we had no regrets. We saved ourselves from uninvited storm hovering over the region. We are satisfied with our short yet adventurous trip! We reached home safely.