Who in their right mind would drive 475 miles to one of Florida's premier beaches and only stay two days? The answer is...we would! This was a last minute trip to see Kristi (daughter) and Sean (Grandson), and we were lucky to get two nights at St Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach Florida with such short notice.
St Andrews is one of Florida's most popular state parks. The park boasts sugar white sandy beaches on the Gulf of Mexico, sugar white sandy beaches on the Grand Lagoon, camping, swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, canoeing, and you might even get to see a few gators in the swamp! It is located on the far southern end of Panama City Beach and lies just north of Shell Island. Shell Island is only accessible by water and has no facilities, but we didn't make the short boat trip this time.
Kristi and Sean
Site 107 was much easier to get into than the site we had the last time we were here in our 5th wheel. You can view that blog date April 6, 2014 by clicking on 2013 in the left column. Most of the sites are small but private with natural growth on three sides. This time, we are across the street from the Grand Lagoon.
Here's a couple of shots from near our site looking across the Grand Lagoon.
This was taken from the Gulf Beach looking north towards Panama City Beach.
A storm a few days earlier washed up a bunch of sea weeds on the beach. In a few days, most of that will be gone.
This is one of several board walks that connect the Gulf Beaches to the Grand Lagoon Beaches. You can see the Grand Lagoon and a small strip of Shell Island in the background.
The Grand Lagoon Beaches.
This boat is heading out of the Grand Lagoon and into the Gulf through a canal built by the US Army Corp of engineers.
A 12 foot alligator rules this small lake. However, he was camera shy today so I wasn't able to get a picture of his smiling face.
No doubt several of his cousins live in this swamp across the street from the lake.
I fully expected some giant swamp creature to pop out while taking this picture. No such luck today! Or, perhaps it was my lucky day!
We enjoyed our time with Kristi, Sean, and their friends. We cooked some burgers for all at our camp site and spent some time together on the beach. But, now it's time to head home and get ready for our next trip to Florida's gulf coast. Stay tuned, our next adventure starts in just a few days.
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