Destin is a city of 12,000 people located about midway between Pensacola and Panama City Beach, on Florida's Emerald Coast. The population increases to 40,000 during the tourist season, which is May until November.
One of the major attractions, for us, is the harbour area, which has recently been developed into a boardwalk along the docks, with many bars, restaurants and attractive tourism-oriented businesses. It is a pleasant place to take a stroll, and look at the offshore fishing boats at the docks.
Destin has a large sport fishing fleet, and is known as the "World's Luckiest Fishing Village", a claim which would be impossible to prove.
We were boaters in our past life, and spent 15 years boating on Ontario's Georgian Bay. The nautical atmosphere at the harbour holds a certain fascination, and I always feel a twinge of nostalgia when I walk along the docks in a place like this. There is a certain mystique involved with the nautical life, and once experienced, it never completely goes away.
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| The Navigator, known in our boating days as The First Mate |
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| Rental watercraft |
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We had breakfast today at The Cracker Barrel in Destin, and spent the afternoon walking around at the harbour. Interestingly, there are Cracker Barrel restaurants in almost every state, but none in California. Perhaps this is because California is a health-concious state, and most of the items on the Cracker Barrel menu would not be considered healthy foods. Hopefully tomorrow, the weather will permit going to the beach. It has rained every day since we arrived in Florida. In fact, it has rained every day since we left the desert climate behind in west Texas. Yesterday, we were awakened at 6:30am to a Tornado Warning for the area, and we hurriedly evacuated the RV and took shelter in the clubhouse building, which would probably have afforded no more protection than our fifthwheel, as it is a wood frame building with a sheet steel roof. Fortunately, there was no tornado, but we did get a severe thunderstorm.
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I love walking in seaside towns,even though I've never been a boater. I get it though. The mystery of the sea and the adventure...hmm, a lot like RVing, wouldn't you say.
ReplyDeleteYes, RVing has a certain adventurous component, as you know, and it is a lifestyle which allows one to be independent and self-contained, especially if boondocking.
DeleteBoating, though, takes it a step further. Out on the open water, you have no roads, truck stops, Walmarts every thirty miles. You are completely responsible for your own well-being.
It used to be a distant dream to one day own a large vessel capable of ocean passages, and live on the boat, moving between Canada and a warm place like the Caribean. We decided to give up boating, and take up RVing instead. Couldn't afford to do both; boating can be enormously expensive.
The RV lifestyle provides much of what drew me to boating, and it is certainly more practical, and affordable.