Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Florida beach vacation ?

50th anniversary this Oct. I am thinking about taking Mrs. Wilson to the beach. We have never been to florida. What beach town is better ? Destin Orange , Panama city, etc ? Wanting clear water and pretty beaches. Is mid Oct good , or still crazy weather from hurricane season ?

We like the Orange beach & Ft.Morgan area best. October is a nice time to go.

Dauphin Island is nice too and a little more laid back.

Always liked Navarre.

Spent a week there last year. First time being there in over 20 years. It sure has grown, but where hasnt?
Great beaches, plenty of restaurants, and a pretty quick run to Pcola or Destin if you want more options.

Siesta Key on the west coast is nice. Some of the best beaches in the USA are on the west coast from Sarasota to Venice.

October is the best time for the beach, if you would consider Gulf Shores , the shrimp fest is the second week of October.

30a

Anywhere up and down through there is nice, and October is a fine time to go. They have become increasingly crowded in October, however, because of cal break in many schools. The water is still warm in the gulf and if there isn’t a hurricane, the weather is usually perfect. September is my preferred time to go.

I love the “Redneck Riviera”.

Ft Walton Beach and Destin have spectacular beaches, great fishing, and all the tourist teeshirt shops you can dream of. The airport is actually on Eglin AFB.

On the east coast, Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral are just as good if not so "sugar white" on the beach. With the added attraction of seeing a space launch. Land at Orlando and drive the 60 miles to the beach.

October is one of the two good months in Florida, weather-wise. Unless there's a hurricane, but that's unpredictable.

Ver nice if one’s budget allows!

Going to be hard to beat the beaches in Destin. Be sure to check out Captain Dave’s. If you like to scuba dive, then Panama City is the ticket for wreck diving.

The gulf water clear starting from Sarasota south, Venice Beach is amazing, it's been the Floridians choice for decades.

The blue waters of the Florida Keys are spectacular but the beaches are lacking a abundance of white sand.

The Florida Keys are the only location in America that are in a subtropical grow zone so the flora is as equally unique as the blue waters.

+1

I enjoyed my stay at Patrick AFB so much that I paid to fly my family down for a vacation while I was TDY there. We will be going back again later this year.

October is a good time to go, but Florida never really has an "off-season" any more. It's bonkers. We were on 30A (santa rosa) in mid February for 4 days, it was the coldest weather they had all winter, and it was still hard to get in restaurants, etc.

30A is expensive, especially if you want to be close to the water. As my wife has repeatedly told me, "I don't want to go the beach, if we aren't near the water." She's not wrong.

Gulf shores, orange Beach are a bit less expensive. I haven't been to Panama city or Pensacola in decades.

30a ?

Tag

Mexico Beach (It's in Florida) https://mexicobeach.com/

I`ll second Navarre !!
Beautiful blue green water and white sand beaches.
Carribean like.
We fished 4 hours with Casey, He put us on some Reds.

https://www.navarrebeachinshorecharters.com/

Pack plenty of personal lubricant. The favorite pastime in all of Florida is "Screw the Tourists". It's a lot less painful if you grease up well before you arrive!

I live on the beach in Fort Walton Beach. The best beaches and water in the panhandle start at Pensacola and go east to about Mexico Beach. Anywhere between those will have white sand and clear water. Pensacola, Navarre, Fort Walton Beach are pretty laid back places and reasonably priced for a beach. Destin is a bit more touristy with all the tourist traps, water slides, zip lines, bumper car places, etc.

Going east from Destin you get to state highway 30A which is about a 30 mile stretch that is full of multi-million dollar homes. Towns there are Grayton Beach, Watercolor, Seaside, Seagrove Beach, Alys Beach, Rosemary Beach, etc. Very expensive, very nice, and very crowded. It’s a victim of its own success, too many people want to be there and it’s too crowded to move a lot of times. It’s kind of the Palm Beach of the gulf coast.

Further east from 30A you’re at Panama City which is kind of like Destin, it’s got all the tourist trappings but it’s also one of the main beaches people from Atlanta head to. What that means is it attracts more “ethnic” crowds. A buddy of mine sold his home and moved from Panama City last year because he got tired of it being the ghetto beach and the attendant crime that brings. Mexico Beach is to the east of Panama City and got wiped out by a hurricane a couple of years ago. They’re rebuilding but it’s still ongoing.

There are other beach towns further east of there but you said you wanted clear water, the good water drops off further east. Likewise west of Pensacola the water isn’t as nice. The Alabama beaches like Orange Beach and Gulf Shores are nice but they don’t have the beautiful water of Pensacola to Panama City, at least not most of the time.

All these places will have plenty of good restaurants. It sounds like you’re older so you probably want quieter non party places. In that case I’d probably rent a condo in Navarre on the water. Next would be Fort Walton or Pensacola. 30A if you really want to go first class but bring $$$.

I don’t know much about the south Florida beaches, that’s a different world.