Distance from Fort Myers, FL to St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, FL: 937 km (582.2 miles)
Total distance driven (includes in-city driving): 5,957.5 (3,701.8 miles)
Average gas consumption: 20.7L per 100 KM
Heading for Panama City we find ourselves running late. We phone around and most state parks are filled up or already closed. By sheer luck we call St. Joseph Peninsula State Park who report they have a first come first serve site available but are closing in 45 min. The GPS says 42 min to the park so we burn rubber. As we speed down the road we come upon two slower moving motor coaches. We soon realize that the sun is setting and there isn’t another park for 50 miles. That means these RVs must be heading to the same park we are…suddenly we find ourselves in a RV race of sudden death! We twist, we turn, and we look to pass them but they speed up…they are aware we are trying to pass!!! They beat us to the park but thankfully they are too long for the site we want. So we got the site and since it was a first come first serve site we can stay as long as we like …water and electricity onsite for $26 a night!
St. Joseph’s is a beach wilderness wonderland. Our camp site was feet from the crashing waves which would lull us to sleep at night. The gulf beach has sugar white sand, and miles and miles of natural protected dunes (no cars allowed on beaches which is a rarity). St Joseph is on a peninsula that curves out from the north shore of the panhandle then curves around again putting the beach directly facing west. That makes it one of the few places on the panhandle for a good sunset! We would walk for hours on the beach (with a good supply of “coffee “ of course) and only see one or two people all day. The days were sunny and warm (26C) and the nights were 17C…perfect weather. We ended up staying there 5 nights and were hesitant to leave the wonderland at all. But the adventure must continue!
Our camp site is a 60 second walk from the beach.
Jason has a new favorite American beer...Budwiser American Ale...rare here and non-existent in Cananda.
First things first...Marianna has had enough of this beard...
...so off it goes...
...suddenly Jason's lost his super strength.
As you walk to the beach you see shoes that have been abandoned for the soft beach sand.
Sunset on the beach.
The west side of the pennisula has endless natural beaches and not a soul in sight.
At high tide shells of all types wash up on the beach as well as...
...the man of war jellyfish...
...and egg sacks for sea snails (conch like animals).
As we walk the beach the dunes get bigger...
and bigger...that's Marianna down there.
After a hike up the dunes...
...facing the east side of the pennisula vegetation has taken hold on the dunes...but there is a path to the other side...
...as we walk the inner trails of the dunes we come across a pigmy rattle snake.
The other side of the peninsula is protected from the gulf waves.
Here is a type of paddle boad where you stand up...it seems popular around here but we are not sure why?
This is the side that has palm trees.
The water is also calm and shallow allowing us to venture out about a hundred meters to look for wildlife...
...star fish...
...hermit crab...
...horseshoe crab...
...crab with one big claw which makes me want to call him the Popeye crab
Finally we have to say goodbye to this paridise. Good thing we got some rest because the next stop is New Orleans!
We are currently in Corpus Christi (writing this April 21st) which marks the end of the beach adventure portion of our trip. Over the past 7 weeks, from Charleston to Miami to Florida Keys to Sarasota to the Galveston to Corpus Christi we have followed the coastline and explored many, many beaches. To date we have yet to encounter a more beautiful beach experience than St. Joseph Peninsula State Park.