Exploring St. Andrews and Panama City Beach

Having two whole weeks to explore an area is a novelty for us, this will be our longest stop so far on the trip. We’ve got a long list of places to go and things to do, but we’re pacing ourselves. Lol. The weather has been only marginally cooperative too.  Don’t roll your eyes. I know we have nothing to complain about – but I’m an avowed weather wimp and I really want to kayak and snorkel – just not when both the air and water temps are in the 60’s. Lol. Maybe I’m part manatee and need the temps to be at least 68˚ or higher. (What do you mean you can see the resemblance??!!)  Anyway, we’ve put our water plans on hold for a bit, the forecast is for a warming trend AND we ordered wetsuits from Amazon. Merry Christmas to us. :)

In the meantime, we haven’t been totally idle. Saint Andrews State Park has a lot of area to cover. The park is 1,260 acres, with over 1½ miles of beautiful white sand beach with long rock jetties and several piers. There are dunes, fresh and saltwater marshes, scrub and pine forests, and a swampy area with a “Gator Lake”. They are also doing a dredging project, sucking up huge quantities of sand to deepen the channel and then piping it up to restore the beach.

Rock jetty creates a protected area for swimming.

A view of Panama Beach City behind the dunes.

Dredging the channel.

We’ve have spent a couple of days walking the trails and beaches here in the park. There is an old historical turpentine still on site. The water birds are fun to watch and you can just about trip over the resident deer.  We’ve done some beachcombing (love those shells!) and reconnaissance for kayaking and snorkeling next week. We've managed to get in our 10K steps!

Historical turpentine still.

Shore birds are quick to snag a tasty morsel.

Resident deer in the evening light.

Pretty girl.

I mentioned in my last post how much fun I had trying to photograph the leaping mullet. Well it seems word has spread among the denizens of the sea and now they are teasing me! We were chatting with a local guy fishing for shark from the pier (you should have seen the size of those hooks!) and he pointed out some rays leaping out of the water. He said they were likely being chased by a shark. Then a formation of at least five rays swam right near the pier and several of them leapt out of the water, literally flapping their “wings”. I did not get a decent picture, but it was an awesome sight and I’ll try to be faster next time!

Miles of beach and the city at dusk. 

The beach is nearly deserted.

Did you think I'd skip the sunset pic? Lol. 

On Wednesday, 12/21, we went to Pier Park in Panama City Beach. It turned out to be a giant outdoor mall with some local shops, but mostly the same chain stores we have at home. Rog used the wifi at Starbucks while I went swimsuit shopping at JC Penney’s. UGH! Nobody should have to try on swimsuits between Thanksgiving and New Years! The holiday treats are showing! Lol. After trying on more than a dozen combinations, I finally settled on a pair of swim shorts and tank top. Success! Much more practical than my one piece.

We also hit the mall theater and saw Dr. Strange. It’s the first (and only) movie we’ve watched since before we left home in July! We are soooo behind. If we want to see Fantastic Beasts and Star Wars: Rogue One while they’re still in the theaters we had better step up our game. Lol.

Not quite what we were expecting, but a fun day anyway.

Friday, we took the bikes to a city park to ride “Gayle’s Trails” a series of paved bike paths. The main path bordered a busy highway, so we’re weren’t too excited about that. Then we took a connecting trail to Conservation Park. Jackpot! The trails aren’t paved, but they are hard-packed sand and gravel and there are about 25 miles that meander through wetlands and woods. This is “off road” riding that even I can do! We only rode about five miles there in deference to my tender tushie, but we will be back. Our total for the day was close to 19 miles, which is plenty for me.

Off rode riding even I can do!

Happy to find some great biking trails!

On Saturday, 12/24, we plan to hit the local farmer’s market and then maybe do some kayaking. I’m just dying to get out to Shell Island. It’s supposed to be a beachcombers dream, we’ll see. I know, I know. Gotta pace myself.