I had not visited Panama City Beach since I was in High School and some things I remembered were still there while others were much different. Most of the Mom & Pop hotels are gone, replaced by High Rise Condos & World Class Hotels. The brilliant white quartz sand, emerald water and some of the family owned seafood restaurants (many in business for over 50 years) are still there and better than ever. The best news was that the oil from the BP Oil Spill hasn't made it to Florida Beaches and ruined the tourism business for the good people who have made fishing, seafood and vacation resorts their livelihood for generations.
Plentiful near the beach on this trip were large Stingrays which swam a mere 2 to 3 feet from us while we were in the water. (See dark spots in the picture above). We saw a school of 40 or 50 at one time and most people swimming were more curious than cautious. We also saw a pod of Dolphins swim only 25 yards from our spot on the beach. We did a lot of swimming and body surfing while there.
One highlight was visiting the fairly new Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Restaurant & Bar. Just outside the restaurant a photographer sat a Blue & Gold Macaw Parrot on my shoulder and snapped a few pictures of us. We sat on the outside deck enjoying a view of the gulf, live music and a couple of Margaritas. In a spicy mood that night, I had the Jamaican Jerk Chicken and Terri had Jimmy's Jammin Jambalaya.
We also visited Capt. Anderson's Restaurant, voted #1 Seafood Restaurant in the country by Southern Living Magazine. They unload the days catch off of their docks every day and the seafood doesn't get any fresher. It was every bit as good as when my parents took me there some 35-40 years ago. We enjoyed the Grilled Red Snapper and Grouper.
Terri and I also like Oysters, so we stopped at three Oyster Bars.....Shuckums, Salty Sues, and Dustys Oyster Bar where we had two dozen each of the freshest oysters you have ever tasted. We had meant to stop at another Panama City Beach Institution, Dirty Dicks Crab House for their New Orleans style seafood and humorous t-shirts but never got around to it.
We made one last stop before leaving and bought some large fresh shrimp from a seafood market to bring home to cook and had it peel & eat style tonight, it was delicious.
The one thing I had forgotten was how intense the sun is reflecting off the brilliant white sand and super clear water at this beach. Spending so much time at the beach and in the water, we both returned home sunburned, even though we had a good tan to start with. It was a great trip and we plan to return there soon.
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