Really Florida!

Posts Tagged ‘Beaches’

Although South Florida beaches don’t tend to be really large, like those in the Panhandle and North Florida, they definitely do have their own flair. From quiet to crowded, here are some of the best Florida beaches in the southern portion of the state.

If you’re into a quiet beach, check out MacArthur Beach State Park. The two miles of beach tends to be very lightly populated — I’ve never seen more than a handful of people at a time. Beach comb, lie in the sun, snorkel the reef, swim in the ocean — you can do all these things here.

The beach at Blowing Rocks Preserve in the Jupiter area is rather interesting, as it’s one of the few rocky beaches in Florida. Well, it’s not really all that rocky, except by Florida standards. But one thing that’s kind of cool — it there is a storm out to sea, or if there’s a very strong wind from the northeast (like in Winter), the waves crash against some of the limestone formations and can send the spray up to 50 feet in the air!

If you like a more tropical-looking beach, check out the area around Boca Raton and Delray. The on-street parking is a little tough in this area, but you’ll see palm trees, hedge-like sea grape bushes, warm waters and soft sands.

One of the more interesting South Florida Beaches is the one in Ft. Lauderdale. This was a very popular Spring Break destination back in the 60′s and 70′s, but has come into its own as a nice all-around beach. A great place for people-watching, kicking back and basking in the sun, or renting some “beach toys” and enjoying them. You can rent just about anything, so not to worry if you forgot to bring something.

Of course, there’s always South Beach, which is part of Miami Beach. The South Beach area has quite an interesting history, though. Back in the 60′s and 70′s, it was known as a retirement area, or mostly elderly residents. It was actually considered more of a “poor” part of town! The 80′s started changing that, with the TV series Miami Vice, and now South Beach is a very wealthy spot. Anyway, it’s great for people-watching!

Today’s photos are of the beaches in the Panhandle. These beaches are quite different from what I’ve showed so far in North Florida and in South Florida.

The biggest difference is the quality of the beach sand — the texture and the color. In the Florida Panhandle, the beach has what is called “sugar sand”. It’s just like it sounds — the color and granularity of table sugar (just don’t try to eat it, whatever you do).

You can see in this first photo of Panama City Beach that the distance from the dune area to the water is quite large — a lot of sand to stretch out in! However, you won’t often find it quite so deserted as shown in the photo. Sorry about that!

Well, aside from the sand, is there anything else different about these places in the sun? Now that you mention it, there is:

The water.

First is the color. This part of the Panhandle is called the Emerald Coast, for a good reason — the water is often a green color, ranging from minty to a turquoise green. These pictures, unfortunately, didn’t capture that glorious color very well.

Next is the surf. While the beaches in the Panhandle tend to see more wave action than, say, the Keys, it’s still not what you would call prime surfing territory — for that, mosey on over to the North Florida beaches.

Instead, the surf is active, but rather mild — you won’t find towering waves, unless there’s a hurricane or tropical storm somewhere in the Gulf.

This second photo is showing a Destin, Florida beach, and gives you an idea of the average seas you could expect. Even so, isn’t it gorgeous?