The Forgotten Coast

The Forgotten Coast picks up where the Nature Coast ends just south of Tallahassee.  It is an apt name because the area is surprisingly undeveloped.  Much of the existing development appears to have taken place only in the last 10 years.  Lance says it’s the coolest place we’ve come across on our Florida journey in part because it brings back nostalgic feelings of what the Delaware coast was like  in the 70’s.  It reminds me of the Outer Banks before mass development took over.  

Sand dunes in St. George state park

Our first night was at the state park on St. George Island.  Had we known it was going to be so nice, we would have planned to stay several days.  The park is at the tip of a long peninsula that runs parallel with the coast.  The landscape along the beaches is marked with high sand dunes and pine, holly and saw palmettos.  The beaches offer substantial stretches of white sand that run as far as the eye can see.  It’s really a beautiful spot. 

This morning as we left the island to return to the mainland, the bad weather was looming on the horizon and then all of a sudden buckets poured from the sky.  Fortunately we pulled into the charming town of Apalachicola just as the rain eased.  Apalachicola has that “Forest Gump” likability about it in addition to colorful shopping and dining options.  It’s a serious seafood town with shrimp and oyster boats dotting the shoreline.  

Shrimp boats in Apalachicola

A few miles down the road is another cute town called Port St. Joe.  We had an excellent Mexican lunch at Peppers – Lance coined it the best enchiladas he’s ever had!  Piggly Wiggly has displaced Publix (our favorite) as the primary grocery chain in the area and it managed to provide needed lunch supplies for us and carrots for our pescatarian Labrador.  

This afternoon we arrived on St. Joseph’s Peninsula where we’ll stay for two nights at the state park.  We’ve become big fans of the Florida state park system – by far our preference over commercial campgrounds.  All of the parks have been well maintained, staffed with extra friendly people, and exceptionally tranquil.  Our current site is the most private spot in the park and the waves are heard rolling up the beach just on the other side of the sand dune.  There's a nice cool breeze flowing through MerSea 2.  It should make for great sleeping weather.  Tomorrow if the bad weather stays on shore and skirts the island then we have plans to bike the miles and miles of empty coastline.  

We haven’t yet decided when to head back towards home.  The weather and timeline will dictate our direction. We’re tempted to continue exploring the Panhandle but the weather doesn’t look so favorable and to do it justice may take more time that we’ve carved out for our journey.  It is becoming clear that I will have to abandon aspirations of biking the Natchez Trace and save that for another time.  That might be a sage decision anyway as my poor bike is down to one gear – the rainwater and salt have taken a toll on all the moving parts.