This Southern secret’s out of the bag. What was once a regional spring break destination now draws revelers from around the country. The sugar sand of Panama City Beach, Florida (it really does squeak under your feet) used to be trod almost solely by southerners. Now, northerners have discovered it – this thanks to discount airline Southwest and a brand new airport.
Southwest flies either nonstop or one-stop to Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport from a slew of cities: Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Nashville, Orlando. Delta Connection gets you there from Atlanta.
That sugar sand they so prize down here started off life in the Appalachian Mountains. Along the way down river to the coast it was bleached, ground, smoothed and polished by Mother Nature. There’s nothing like it. Anywhere.
One of the best beaches can be found at nearby St. Andrews State Park. Over the years, it has won kudos as the World’s Best Beach.
Subsurface pleasures abound just off Panama City Beach too. Among its unofficial titles is Wreck Capital of the South – and we’re not talking about Saturday night stock car racing. Hard core scuba divers know some of the continent’s most accessible shipwrecks lie just off this slice of Gulf Coast.
Farther down the coast, on the Florida Peninsula, is perhaps better-known Clearwater Beach. There you can:
– Take wing with the seabirds at Sky Screamer parasail.
– Be SUPerman or SUPerwoman and take to the water on a Stand-Up Paddleboard (SUP). No lazy piddling about on an SUP. You work your core muscles and come away from the watertreck properly relaxed.
– Land the big one out on the Gulf aboard a charter boat from Queen Fleet. A day out on the water builds an appetite, some of which can be addressed by the fish you catch. For the rest of meal might we suggest:
– A trip to Nature’s Food Patch Market & Café. The offerings are naturally organic, the beer and wine quite unlike the stuff you’ll find at the corner gas station. Red Fish, some cheese and olives, and a chilled bottle of good Chardonnay will go nicely at the end of a full-tilt day.
We don’t want to sound like an advertisement for the area, but after hurricanes and oil spills, the Gulf Coast really is back in business. Big time.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: spullara)
