Which is the best beach for a day trip? Any most go places along the way or while at the beach?
We always did St George back in the day.
We always did St George back in the day.
Best beach for a day trip from Tally?
- Thread starter ReliableOstrich
- Start date
For me it’s in this order:
1) Deer Lake State Park,
2) Grayton Beach State Park,
3) Gulf Islands National Seashore especially the beaches by the old WW2 gun batteries,
4) St George State Park,
5) St Andrews State Park,
6) St Joseph Peninsula State Park,
7) The freshwater sand dune beaches along the Blackwater River while tubing,
8) the little manmade beach at Morrison Springs,
9) Topsail Hill Preserve State Park,
10) Dog Island,
11) Blue Mountain Beach,
12) Henderson Beach State Park,
13) Camp Helen State Park,
14) Santa Rosa Beach,
15) Navarre Beach,
16) Okaloosa Island
17) Seaside Beach
18) Blue Dolphin Beach
19) Crystal Beach
20) St Teresa Beach
I’m sure there’s a couple I’m forgetting or haven’t been to that would make my top 20, but that’s pretty accurate. If you’re interested I can even go through my Facebook Feed and post pics from most of the above if not all.
How could you possibly have Navarre so low, Tribe?
That’s crazy talk.
That’s crazy talk.
Wow that's an extensive list, thanks!
No worries on the pics, I'll hit google maps / images.
Anywhere between PCB and Destin.
I think PCB is the closest.
Cape San Blas is a beautiful beach and faces more West than any other beach in the panhandle and has the same beautiful white sand as well. Might be closer to Tally too. You’ll have to map it out and see.
Be careful with beaches in Walton County. They have enforced the new private beach ordinance. Which means you are trespassing when behind a private residence, and the residences aren’t playing around when it comes to enforcing. There are only 5 beach accesses in that area. Unless your behind a resort/seaside shopping area, or at the state park, you will more than likely have to be behind a private beach. So beware before you make the drive.
My recommendation would be PCB behind Schooners restaurant. There is a lot of beach behind them, they have great food and drinks, typically a live band, they allow you to use their restrooms, and there is plenty of parking. There could be places just as good that are closer, but I do know you can’t go wrong with behind Schooners.
I think PCB is the closest.
Cape San Blas is a beautiful beach and faces more West than any other beach in the panhandle and has the same beautiful white sand as well. Might be closer to Tally too. You’ll have to map it out and see.
Be careful with beaches in Walton County. They have enforced the new private beach ordinance. Which means you are trespassing when behind a private residence, and the residences aren’t playing around when it comes to enforcing. There are only 5 beach accesses in that area. Unless your behind a resort/seaside shopping area, or at the state park, you will more than likely have to be behind a private beach. So beware before you make the drive.
My recommendation would be PCB behind Schooners restaurant. There is a lot of beach behind them, they have great food and drinks, typically a live band, they allow you to use their restrooms, and there is plenty of parking. There could be places just as good that are closer, but I do know you can’t go wrong with behind Schooners.
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Yea I saw the convo about that in another thread and was going to steer clear of anything there.
My food and drink money will be spent elsewhere.
Looking for some place semi quiet or at least to avoid the Floribama Shore crowd. Been way too long since I've been back, have no idea what stuff is like these days.
Smart man.
Here is a link to the live cams behind schooners. Looks pretty slow today, which I’m sure has everything to do with school starting back this week....just noticed it’s raining as well, that may have something to do with it too.
https://www.schooners.com/multimedia/livecams.htm
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This may not help you at all, but we drove from Tallahassee to the PC airport the long way last month just to see what the Panacea/St. Teresa area looked like...we hadn't been there since the mid-60s. We were shocked. There were once some wonderful (at least to us) seafood restaurants in Panacea (Faiver's was our favorite), but that little town looked like a war zone. The cottages in St. Teresa were great for college drinking parties in our day, and maybe they still are, but if you're looking for white sand, clear blue water, and decent restaurants, you need to look at least as far west as Apalachicola/St. George Island.
I'm prob gonna stick with St George, might do one of the beaches near Destin.
In case anyone is interested, I took most of tribe's list and added distance from Tally and relative locations.
Beach Distance Location
1) Deer Lake State Park, 2h30m Past PCB, before Destin
2) Grayton Beach State Park, 2h20m Past PCB, before Destin
3) Gulf Islands National Seashore especially the beaches by the old WW2 gun batteries, 3h50m Past Pensacola
4) St George State Park, 2h
5) St Andrews State Park, 2h20m PCB
6) St Joseph Peninsula State Park, 2h30m
7) The freshwater sand dune beaches along the Blackwater River while tubing, 2h33m
8) the little manmade beach at Morrison Springs, 1h44m
9) Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, 2h22m Near Destin
10) Dog Island, Near St George, need boat?
11) Blue Mountain Beach, 2h22m Near Destin
12) Henderson Beach State Park, 2h30m Near Destin
13) Camp Helen State Park, 2h18m Near Destin
14) Santa Rosa Beach, 2h18m Near Destin
15) Navarre Beach, 2h58m Near Pensacola
16) Okaloosa Island 2h43m Past Destin
17) Seaside Beach 2h22m Near Destin
18) Blue Dolphin Beach
19) Crystal Beach
20) St Teresa Beach 1h15m South of Tally
In case anyone is interested, I took most of tribe's list and added distance from Tally and relative locations.
Beach Distance Location
1) Deer Lake State Park, 2h30m Past PCB, before Destin
2) Grayton Beach State Park, 2h20m Past PCB, before Destin
3) Gulf Islands National Seashore especially the beaches by the old WW2 gun batteries, 3h50m Past Pensacola
4) St George State Park, 2h
5) St Andrews State Park, 2h20m PCB
6) St Joseph Peninsula State Park, 2h30m
7) The freshwater sand dune beaches along the Blackwater River while tubing, 2h33m
8) the little manmade beach at Morrison Springs, 1h44m
9) Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, 2h22m Near Destin
10) Dog Island, Near St George, need boat?
11) Blue Mountain Beach, 2h22m Near Destin
12) Henderson Beach State Park, 2h30m Near Destin
13) Camp Helen State Park, 2h18m Near Destin
14) Santa Rosa Beach, 2h18m Near Destin
15) Navarre Beach, 2h58m Near Pensacola
16) Okaloosa Island 2h43m Past Destin
17) Seaside Beach 2h22m Near Destin
18) Blue Dolphin Beach
19) Crystal Beach
20) St Teresa Beach 1h15m South of Tally
Agreed, but your boy needs to get some beach time in (and has been heavily pimping Tally area beaches to his girlfriend. I cast a fairly wide net with "area" it seems).
I think if you explain to the gf that St. George is in Tribe’s Top 4, she’ll be understanding and patient on the journey.
I do not question tribe's recommendations nor shall she.
He said “day trip”. I’ve taken many a day trip to Pensacola, Destin, Seaside/Grayton, Panama City, Apalachicola, etc... Because of how the Peninsula is shaped with the beaches at Panama City and Apalachicola far further away from I-10 and how you can really “cruise” at higher speeds on 10, it’s not really much more of a time crunch to get to Pensacola than it is PCB. Maybe 30-45 min difference in real life and an hour in Googlemap time.
Now if he said best beach that’s close to Tally the answer is St George followed by St Teresa (which is even closer but not quite as nice. I do love that you have great fishing from shore along with the white sand beaches as there’s lots of grassbeds within walking distance).
Worm Grunting Festival. And the championship worm grunting competition is usually shown on ESPN. Other than that, nothing.
And it is a festival worth going to from Tally, I do it about every 3rd or 4th year.
Blue Dolphin Beach is near Destin and Crystal Beach is next to Henderson Beach State Park.
That’s what the showers at every state, city and federal park are for. And bring a change of clothes.
Jebus, it’s like some of you have never left the house.
It’s a beautiful beach no doubt. But it’s built up with condos obscuring the pristine nature compared to my top choices which are all pretty secluded (obviously we’re not talking Miami or even PCB levels, but there’s still noticeable human intrusion). Now my list is based on serenity and vistas not on how many scantily clad women are laying on the beach. So if the latter takes precedence I would need to restructure and then the beaches I DON’T list (as too busy and covered in condos and resorts) would be at the top.
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For us, St George Island was the best if you were just wanting nice scenery and a beach, but there's not much on the island except for a few mediocre restaurants if you want any entertainment.
If you want more than beaches then I'd go with those along 30A, PCB, or Destin. But all of those are closer to 3 hours, although definitely doable.
If you want more than beaches then I'd go with those along 30A, PCB, or Destin. But all of those are closer to 3 hours, although definitely doable.
There are 59 beach accesses in Walton County and 5 huge ocean front state parks. There are a few HOAs enforcing the new law, mainly Vizcaya on 30a, but overall 30a is still 30a. Most residence aren’t enforcing like you are stating Dan.
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Because we don’t want to burn 4-6 hours driving to and from the beach we like to go to Mashes Island. It’s a one hour drive from our house off Buck Lake road.
Usually not crowded at all, we can bring our retriever, and when the tide goes out the water is knee deep for hundreds of yards on the sand bars, which the kids love.
Downside is being by the river and with the pines in the area the water isn’t usually as clear as you’d see on Okaloosa Island.
You can go on the other side of the bay and check out Bald Point as well.
So if you want to do a day trip, my rec for Grayton or Deer Lake is to grab some beer at Grayton Brewing before and grab some dinner (quite good seafood btw) and drinks at Red Bar afterwards. If you go to St George, then I suggest swinging by Apalachicola before or afterwards to Oyster City Brewing and one of the many good seafood restaurants (Papa Joe’s Oyster Bar, Boss Oyster, Caroline’s, Up the Creek, Hole in the Wall) plus grab a Sundae, malt or “phosphate” at the Old Soda Fountain. For Gulf Islands National Seashore (which doesn’t take 4 hours to reach, I’ve never taken more than 3 in real time), I ALWAYS eat and drink at McGuire’s on the way out.
Laces out...Dan!
But for real, I looked up. There are definitely more than 5 access. I was told differently by someone who I thought would know for sure (he owns a civil engineering company and does a lot of work in the area). As far as the residents go, I simply said beware. There’s plenty of news footage out there showing residents calling cops of folks.
Well, if you’re going to do that the make sure to swing through Marianna and see the caverns.
Oh okay thanks, While you're at it, would you mind giving me some recommendations on your favorite soaps to use? Do you go body wash plus shampoo or do you separate? Argan oil in the conditioner or no? What sunscreen do you recommend? Post sun exposure lotion? What style, brand, and color beach chairs should I use? Thread count on the towels? Snorkel gear endorsement? Frisbee or football? Do you have a particular style kite that you feel would work best in the August winds of the gulf coast? Can I take my dog? Heck do you even feel that I should own a dog? If you like cats better I can switch no problem. Your guidance on casual beachwear for the evening meal? I'm assuming you are a head to toe linen guy. How far down do you unbutton? Gold chain with anchor or nah? Oh and maybe how much tip to leave and I'll be good, thanks again.
I'm a bit surprised that no one's mentioned Bald Point (State Park) or Alligator Point...both of which are located on the same peninsula merely about an hour's drive from Tally. The beaches there are very nice, but there's not much to do there besides strictly outdoor activities. However, there are several quality (especially seafood) restaurants to stop at for dinner on the way back. You'd need to pack a cooler for lunch & beverages though.
We went to St. George for a day when we dropped off the kid at FSU for Summer school. Had a great time, got about 3hrs of fishing in at the State Park and had lunch at the Blue Parrot. May go back there when we take him for the fall semester or may try PCB.
Smart choice. And for the love of all that is holy, swing by Paddy’s for lunch.
Menu has:
Oysters
Beer
Sure you could go to Doc Meyers with their longer menu and liquor. And yes, the bathrooms there do get cleaned, and even the tables get wiped down. And your server is familiar with personal hygiene. And there are TVs. And fans.
But who wound want any of that?
Bald Point/Alligator Point/Mashes Sands and Angelo's (Mad Anthony's if we have the dog) sounds like a decent day trip to me.
If I want to go a little farther I'd do St. George then Up The Creek in Apalach for a couple dozen.
If I want to go a little farther I'd do St. George then Up The Creek in Apalach for a couple dozen.
Very true. I've heard a ton of talk and hand wringing, but no actual change or enforcement all summer. It's the same laid back beauty as it's always been. But hey, if it keeps some visitors away so I can enjoy it like I do in the off season......
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