What is it about Panama City Beach/FL Panhandle as oppose to the rest of FL, from a metro Atlanta native perspective? (Jackson: hotel, living in)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
W
I have grown up with the same bias as far as the beach. Just visited St. Simons for the first time in my life this July. Everything about St. Simons excels away from the beach... the marshes, tidal inlets, monstrous live oaks draped in spanish moss... that low country ambiance is hard to beat. But on the actual beach itself... both on St. Simons and on Jekyll, when one compares to the gulf, the more dingey color of the sand and especially the murky color of the water, well the gulf coast can't be beat.
And the gulf coast from Mobile Bay west thru Texas is not the same in any regard... until one goes all the way down to South Padre Island. There is something special about the water and sand in that stretch from Gulf Shores, AL over to PCB and even east to Apalachicola.
Well said. Those are exactly the things that make Lower South Carolina and Georgia's coast so great. It isn't the sand and surf... it is the whole ecosystem around it that makes it so unique.
DID YOU KNOW? Georgia can actually claim credit for the blindingly white sands of the Florida panhandle, which washed down from the mountains via the Chattahoochee River!
Yes, it's absolutely 100 percent true!!
The Beaches ... are made of clear quartz sand eroded and washed down rivers from the Appalachian Mountains. Quartz, a hard, durable mineral, survives transport by fast-moving streams, while softer minerals break down and dissolve, or remain suspended in the water. Sedimentary particles available for deposition along the Gulf Coast are thus pure white quartz. A sand dune today was once, thousands of years ago, a mountain top near the Georgia-South Carolina border. Swept into the Gulf of Mexico, powerful currents pushed the quartz sand westward.
DID YOU KNOW? Georgia can actually claim credit for the blindingly white sands of the Florida panhandle, which washed down from the mountains via the Chattahoochee Rived!
Yes, it's absolutely 100 percent true!!
The Beaches ... are made of clear quartz sand eroded and washed down rivers from the Appalachian Mountains. Quartz, a hard, durable mineral, survives transport by fast-moving streams, while softer minerals break down and dissolve, or remain suspended in the water. Sedimentary particles available for deposition along the Gulf Coast are thus pure white quartz. A sand dune today was once, thousands of years ago, a mountain top near the Georgia-South Carolina border. Swept into the Gulf of Mexico, powerful currents pushed the quartz sand westward.
DID YOU KNOW? Georgia can actually claim credit for the blindingly white sands of the Florida panhandle, which washed down from the mountains via the Chattahoochee River!
Yes, it's absolutely 100 percent true!!
The Beaches ... are made of clear quartz sand eroded and washed down rivers from the Appalachian Mountains. Quartz, a hard, durable mineral, survives transport by fast-moving streams, while softer minerals break down and dissolve, or remain suspended in the water. Sedimentary particles available for deposition along the Gulf Coast are thus pure white quartz. A sand dune today was once, thousands of years ago, a mountain top near the Georgia-South Carolina border. Swept into the Gulf of Mexico, powerful currents pushed the quartz sand westward.
I'm surprised no one's tried to tax Florida yet for the sand!
Actually, the Spring Breakers did not move from Ft. Lauderdale to PCB. They stopped at Daytona Beach for a few years first. That didn't last long before Daytona decided they didn't want them there...though who knows why, the area certainly isn't what I would call classy even without the Spring Breakers, and they seem to still welcome Bike Week, so go figure.
Anyway, Spring Breakers didn't invade PCB until the early 90s.
But you know, it's just a couple of weeks. My favorite time to go to PCB is in late April/early May. The Spring Breakers are gone, but kids are still in school so families aren't there yet. And everything is open, so you have all the amenities but none of the crowds. PCB gets cold, so it is seasonal. A lot of beachy type businesses close shop during the winter months. But they're all open by March, so no worries in April or May (except some years, like this past one, it may not be reliably warm outside yet!)
As far as dumpy motels go, whoever says that obviously hasn't been in a very long time. Most of those were torn down to make way for luxury condos, which were built during the real estate boom hoping to attract money from a wider reach. That never happened. The benefactors of that failure are all of us, who get to rent luxury condos for pennies on the dollar since demand never reached supply.
Traffic is only a problem if you don't know what you are doing. It's like going to New Orleans and complaining Bourbon Street is too congested. Of course it is. So you travel around the French Quarter using Dauphine or Royal Street and then take a side street to Bourbon when you are within a block of your destination. Same thing with PCB, only fools take Front Beach Road everywhere. Use Middle Beach Road or 98/30A only crossing to Front Beach when you are nearing your destination and you won't have any trouble.
If you absolutely hate high rise condos and want to be on a quieter beach with more expensive restaurants and better (more expensive) shopping, Destin fits that bill. Frankly, I never understood that mentality, because when I go to the beach, I want cheap fresh seafood, dumb souvenir stores, and a bunch of entertainment options. PCB can't be topped for that.
If I was stuck in Destin for a week, I'd kill myself from boredom by the end of day 2. But I could spend all summer in PCB and probably be fine. I'm not trying to disparage Destin, a lot of people like it. Just understand that they are the same exact beach and I find the culture of Destin to only be slightly less redneck than PCB, more for people who just think they are "better than PCB." Well, I like to soak up the culture....but that's not for everyone. My favorite place to go in NYC is the Bowery, after all, and I take all my out of town guests to the Clermont Lounge. So my opinions may not be for you if you are conservative and/or lame.
I don't know how you get disappointed by Maui. Fabulous place. Who notices whether the beaches are "perfect"? Think y'all must be glass half empty kind of folks!
I loved visiting Maui, but finding the beach we were staying at a slight disappointment has nothing to do with seeing the glass half empty (if you knew me, you'd laugh at that statement. I'm the exact opposite). Having visited Florida all my life and many Caribbean areas is why I felt this way. We had a condo right on the beach. I could have jumped off my balcony into the water. But the sand was packed down brown and the water was almost like being at a lake. Just not what I had envisioned (condo visit was a gift from my father and I had no input or research into that part of the trip). We took one snorkeling trip and even that paled to some Caribbean spots I've been to before. I'm fully aware that we only took in a slice of the islands and am not bashing Hawaii. I'd like to go back again.
Actually, the Spring Breakers did not move from Ft. Lauderdale to PCB. They stopped at Daytona Beach for a few years first. That didn't last long before Daytona decided they didn't want them there...though who knows why, the area certainly isn't what I would call classy even without the Spring Breakers, and they seem to still welcome Bike Week, so go figure.
Anyway, Spring Breakers didn't invade PCB until the early 90s.
But you know, it's just a couple of weeks. My favorite time to go to PCB is in late April/early May. The Spring Breakers are gone, but kids are still in school so families aren't there yet. And everything is open, so you have all the amenities but none of the crowds. PCB gets cold, so it is seasonal. A lot of beachy type businesses close shop during the winter months. But they're all open by March, so no worries in April or May (except some years, like this past one, it may not be reliably warm outside yet!)
As far as dumpy motels go, whoever says that obviously hasn't been in a very long time. Most of those were torn down to make way for luxury condos, which were built during the real estate boom hoping to attract money from a wider reach. That never happened. The benefactors of that failure are all of us, who get to rent luxury condos for pennies on the dollar since demand never reached supply.
Traffic is only a problem if you don't know what you are doing. It's like going to New Orleans and complaining Bourbon Street is too congested. Of course it is. So you travel around the French Quarter using Dauphine or Royal Street and then take a side street to Bourbon when you are within a block of your destination. Same thing with PCB, only fools take Front Beach Road everywhere. Use Middle Beach Road or 98/30A only crossing to Front Beach when you are nearing your destination and you won't have any trouble.
If you absolutely hate high rise condos and want to be on a quieter beach with more expensive restaurants and better (more expensive) shopping, Destin fits that bill. Frankly, I never understood that mentality, because when I go to the beach, I want cheap fresh seafood, dumb souvenir stores, and a bunch of entertainment options. PCB can't be topped for that.
If I was stuck in Destin for a week, I'd kill myself from boredom by the end of day 2. But I could spend all summer in PCB and probably be fine. I'm not trying to disparage Destin, a lot of people like it. Just understand that they are the same exact beach and I find the culture of Destin to only be slightly less redneck than PCB, more for people who just think they are "better than PCB." Well, I like to soak up the culture....but that's not for everyone. My favorite place to go in NYC is the Bowery, after all, and I take all my out of town guests to the Clermont Lounge. So my opinions may not be for you if you are conservative and/or lame.
Many folks prefer the vacation areas with more activities. Old farts like me? I want quiet and solitude.
I loved visiting Maui, but finding the beach we were staying at a slight disappointment has nothing to do with seeing the glass half empty (if you knew me, you'd laugh at that statement. I'm the exact opposite). Having visited Florida all my life and many Caribbean areas is why I felt this way. We had a condo right on the beach. I could have jumped off my balcony into the water. But the sand was packed down brown and the water was almost like being at a lake. Just not what I had envisioned (condo visit was a gift from my father and I had no input or research into that part of the trip). We took one snorkeling trip and even that paled to some Caribbean spots I've been to before. I'm fully aware that we only took in a slice of the islands and am not bashing Hawaii. I'd like to go back again.
In my opinion, stick with the Caribbean. Most beautiful beaches I've ever seen this side of French Polynesia.
I was similar to you. When I was in high school, I heard some people talk about it. I wasn't in the "in crowd". I was more of a loner type. For that reason, I never really had any interest in going to PBC. I wasn't interested in the rest of Florida for that matter because in my mind, it was too much heat and humidity for my taste. I was more fixated on the west when I was a teenager. What got me curious about Florida was the pirate legend of Tampa Bay, Disney World, and reading about Key West (mainly the stuff of Hemingway). I will have to see the Emerald Coast for myself, and the rest of Florida for that matter. I might very well be shocked as well.
A lady that works with my wife is from Germany. She goes down to Destin all the time for vacation. We use to show her pics from all the many places we had been in the Caribbean and she would always commit it reminded her of Destin. This lady has been all over the world herself, so I thought it kind of strange she would say that. Then she showed us some of her pics from her vacation and I had a hard time believing we had anything like that in the U.S. Boy was I wrong. Here are a couple of pics I snapped on my IPhone Last Sept while we were in Destin. Pics can only do a place so much justice....
That's me in the middle of the sandbar with the umberella. I should be on the beach somewhere right now.......
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That's me in the middle of the sandbar with the umberella. I should be on the beach somewhere right now.......
