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I had made plans to stay in Pensacola with my family. I had done some research and bothered Coyne (Nonrev Correspondent - PNS) with a lot of questions but just before time to set out, someone in my church offered us a condo in Panama-City. Well I was glad for that offer and could not afford to turn it down but at the same time dissapointed not to be going to PNS where I had never stayed before. I had visited Panama City several times as a teenager. It has a reputation as a party spot for teens and is very commercialized. Yet I knew that the soft snow-white sand that the FL gulf-coast is famous for would not dissapoint us. My kids would have a great time and not know the difference.
I was right. They did have a great time and I was pleasantly suprised. We had some great seafood. We ate at the restaurant built like a big ship (forgot the name but you can't miss it). It was the expensive tourist trap that I expected it to be. However, we found a great little dive called Spanky's that had some character and some great seafood. Your welcome to add your graffiti onto the wooden booths and for some reason they had dollar bills stapled to the walls.
There are plenty of amusement park type attractions... go-carts, put-put, mazes and some huge bungie type rides but we had for-warned our kids that we were there for the beach and could do those type things at Six-Flags where we lived in GA.
The best thing that we found in PFN though was St. Andrews State Park. It is the most wonderful place to teach kids to snorkel that you can imagine. They have built a large jetty that breaks the ocean waves and creates a huge clear, shallow swimming area for kids. Small fish swim all around to the kids delight. My four year old boy headed out with a bucket to catch some. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img] Out near the rocks that form the jetty there are many fish. There are not as many as a real Caribbean coral reef but it is actually turning into coral and we saw several of the same type of brightly colored fish that you see in the Caribbean. Though my 4-year old did not want to snorkel, his 7-year old sister mastered the art for the first time. She was thrilled with the new adventure.
There is also an inexpensive ferry to "Shell Island" but we had heard it was pretty desolate with no facilities so we did not venture out there with the kids.
Oh, almost forgot, I was able to pick up some good snorkeling gear (US Divers) at the local Wal-mart very inexpensively. They have everything that you need for the beach or water or that you might have forgotten to bring. I have never seen such a busy store. The cashier said that it was one of the highest volume Wal-marts in the country.
Here is the link to St. Andrews State Park:
<a href="http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/district1/standrews/index.asp" target="_blank">http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/district1...drews/index.asp</A>
If anyone knows of any other FL locations or State Parks that are as snorkel-friendly and fun for kids, I'd love to know about them.
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Chris,
I just read your report on Panama City. We are headed to Fort Walton Beach Aug. 16. The information you gave will be useful. We too are hoping to let our kids have a chance at snorkeling. Did you find a good place to rent the equipment? We are taking our own face masks and snorkel tubes, but need the fins and life jackets. Did you fly into PFN? If so, what airline did you use? We nonrev with SWA which does not fly into that area. So guess we have a choice of hopping onto another airline or renting a car in BMH and driving 6 hrs. Any other suggestions?
Thanks for your time.
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Joy,
VPS is the the Ft Walton beach airport. DL, CO, US and NW serve the airport with mostly commuters. Pensacola is the next closest airport also with more jet service then PFN. New Orleans is where I would fly into if I work for WN. It is around 4 1/2 hours to Ft. Walton and more interstate travel. WN also has more flights per day to MSY then BHM.
I am going on vacation starting tomorrow, but when I come back I will check on your questions about equipment rental. Also if you read my posts on the Pensacola Correspondant thread you may find some area info of interest. Send me any questions you may have about the area. I will get back to you as soon as possible.
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Coyne
Thanks for your information. I'll look forward to hearing from you when you get back from vacation. Yep, WN has more flights into MSY but the heavier traffic means more people flying and perhaps a harder time nonreving. There will be 4 of us trying to get flights on a Saturday! And rental cars are less expensive in BHM. So an extra hour of driving is the trade off.
Where is your post on the Pensacola Corr.? I didn't see it.
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Joy,
I drove to PFN from ATL. Had I flown it would have been with DL out of ATL. If you go to PFN to visit St. Andrews State park, it really is a wonderful place for the kids to snorkel. There is a huge, very busy Wal-Mart in PFN and they have a whole row of snorkel stuff. I bet you can buy some fins there for about as cheap as you can rent some.
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Joy,
Here is the website for the Ft Walton Beach areas watersports.
<a href="http://www2.destin-fwb.com/Activities/Water/?c=26" target="_blank">http://www2.destin-fwb.com/Activities/Water/?c=26</A>
I will have to agree with Chris, Walmart may be your best bet for inexpensive equipment.
You are coming down to the Gulf Coast at just the right time. School just started back for most of the South. Our beaches are less crowded and discount coupons are reappearing.
This is the locator for my Correspondants thread:
<a href="http://www.nonrev.net/groupee/forums?a=tpc&s=93260999&f=35260999&m=955601951" target="_blank">http://www.nonrev.net/groupee/forums?a=tpc...999&m=955601951</A>
Since you have Children I would also like to suggest you visit our Naval Aviation museum and the 200 year old fort next door. The museum is very hands on and I feel better then the Air and Space Smithsonian. The fort allows kids to run off steam, with drawbridges, tunnels and ramparts. Just be sure all adults have picture IDs if you go as the location is on Pensacola Naval base.
Let me know of anything else I may help you with.
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