After a long period of not traveling due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we decided to escape to the beach. We visited Florida’s panhandle as a family for the first time back when we lived in Tennessee, and it became one of our favorite spots to enjoy beautiful beaches with clear water and soft, white sand.
This was our first trip there as a family of four, and we were excited! With masks and hand sanitizers, we boarded three flights that finally took us to the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport, got our rental car and off we went to find our vacation rental.
As soon as we got settled in, we walked across the road to Crystal Beach, where Benji experienced true soft, white sand, and Peter dove straight in the water, and didn’t get out until we headed back to the apartment.
In the following days we realized that the fact that we could just cross the street to head to that beach was not ideal from 8am to 5pm, since the buildings all along that shore set up umbrellas and chairs for rent (at very high prices) and we weren’t able to set up unless we were right on the high tide line, which wasn’t the most convenient. So we decided to only head there in the evenings and instead were able to discover some great beaches in the area.
We visited Henderson Beach State Park a couple of times. For a small fee we were able to enjoy an extensive shoreline were we could set up and enjoy a great beach. At this point Benji had given swimming in salt water a try, and he, like his brother, was hooked, so we spent most of our time swimming and enjoying the waves and warm water.
Just a few miles down the road from where we were staying we found James Lee Park. Getting there before 10am allowed us to find a parking spot by the Crab Trap restaurant and just walk down to a great beach with lots of room to play in the sand and sit in the sun.
We also went to Norriego Point a few times. With its protected waters, it was the perfect spot for the littlest one in the family to enjoy the water safely while Papi taught big brother to snorkel.
Ben got to go scuba diving early one morning, and fishing another, and him and Peter enjoyed a Snuba tour, where Peter finally got to try his first step towards scuba diving (Scuba starts at age 10, but Snuba will take them starting at 8 years old).
There are so many destinations we want to experience in the US and the world, but these shores and beaches always seem to call us back, so until next time!
Wandering Monshors 