Really Florida!

Posts Tagged ‘Panhandle’

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?