Port St. Joe, Florida – The Forgotten Coast

Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go…Where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. ~ Cheers

In the Florida Panhandle, south of Tallahassee and east of the summertime vacation mecca of Panama City, sits a quiet stretch of land from St. Marks on the Apalachee Bay to Mexico Beach on the Gulf of Mexico. This section of the Florida coast stands in stark contrast to many of the tourist destinations of the Sunshine State. Apalachicola (The Oyster Capital), Carrabelle (a look back at Old Florida), the beach peninsula of Alligator Point, historic Mexico Beach, and Port St. Joe, the small town with a big heart, are just a few of the towns that comprise what is known as the “The Forgotten Coast.” We prefer to call it an “Unspoiled Coast.”

Beach at St. Joseph’s Peninsula State Park

Pristine white sandy beaches

The beach is also a wildlife preserve

There’s no goony golf here and certainly no Ripley’s Believe it or Not museums like you have in Panama City. Nor are there any gigantic souvenir shops where you enter through the wide-open mouth of an upside-down shark. There’s no wild nightlife or gigantic resorts, nor high-rise condominiums blocking views of the beautiful water and white sandy beaches of the Gulf coast. There is, however, plenty of wildlife and a sense that you have taken a step back in time to a slower-paced and simpler way of life.

Cape San Blas Lighthouse which was recently relocated to Port St. Joe

Fishing on the Intracoastal Waterway

Osprey at Dead Lakes

American Bald Eagle at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park