Saint Andrews State Park

We arrived at St Andrews SP on the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. It is a convenient campground to civilization in some respects; only minutes away from Panama City and the nearest Publix grocery store, where we can buy key lime pie! It has just under 200 camp sites, which makes it one of the largest campgrounds we've been in. We have been lucky in that we are located near the end of a loop and it is reasonably quiet in our sites. We can see the water, but don't have direct access to it without wading in the muck; so we really don't have access without going over to the boat launch ramp about a half-mile away. The major drawback to this park is its proximity to Panama City. The beaches are lovely and many come during the day just for that. It would also appear that the campsites are more tightly packed in an effort to accommodate many campers who might also enjoy the beach. The last drawback is the noise from nearby highways and the city's persistent addition of police cars sirens, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles.

Dee and Paul at sunset on the Gulf of Mexico

There is a beautiful beach on the Gulf here with sand so fine that it is more akin to powder than to sand! The water is cool at first, then comfortably warm. We have walked the beach at sunset , sunrise and mid morning and have enjoyed the sound of the surf and picking up shells.

Got the fish, now gotta get out of here

One doesn't think of the pelican as being beautiful until you see it up close. 

Monday morning we got out early before sunrise to observe the birds at Alligator Lake. The birds there are in a rookery and breeding (is that redundant?) and make the most unusual sounds. The trees on this small island are filled with both great blue herons and egrets. While walking toward the observation platform two deer observed us and then just stayed near the boardwalk while we watched a small gator and listened to the birds on a small island in the lake. We all got back to the beach on Monday and also checked out the nature trails and the boat landing, where over 20 pelicans were being fed by fishermen who were cleaning fish at the landing and then tossing the heads/tails etc to the waiting birds. Let it be noted that the brown pelican is a very elegant beautiful bird and we have enjoyed being able to observe them close up.

eastern towhee on display

Birds: during the day it is so pleasant to sit outdoors and listen to the mockingbirds who constantly serenade those nearby; their songs so varied one never tires of hearing them. The trees in our “backyard” are home to a pair of brown-headed nuthatches who are protective of their nest and we watched as they chased off a woodpecker! Later in the day we watched a mockingbird chase an osprey out of the same cluster of trees! There are beautiful eastern towhees and brown thrashers and Carolina chickadees along with red-winged blackbirds, grackles, and other LBBs (little brown birds).

brown-headed nuthatch

On Tuesday we'll head over to St. Joseph Peninsula SP; our last state park in Florida on this trip. We've been very much impressed with each park so far and expect we won't be disappointed tomorrow with this last one.