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Sweet job!

Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe really loves work

He helps you love it, too, on page 88

Sweet job!

Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe really loves work

He helps you love it, too, on page 88

70 | Spirit

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Spirit | 71

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kThe emerald green water and white dunes will reel you

in, but these SPF-necessary adventures will keep you

anchored all summer long. By L au r e n Pa r a j o n

Y O U R A D V E N T U R E I N

NorthwestFlorida Beaches

1) As a kid, what was your favorite after-school activity?A) Building popsicle-stick housesB) Playing BattleshipC) Digging in the sandboxD) Skateboarding

2) Pick the best movie:A) The Truman ShowB) TitanicC) Oyster FarmerD) Blue Crush

3) Which job sounds like the most fun?A) ArchitectB) Charter captainC) FishermanD) Swimming instructor

4) Which term do you know the most about?A) New urbanismB) Landing craft air cushionC) Culling boardD) Yolo

5) Which accessory would you pack first?A) Water bottleB) Underwater flashlightC) Pearl necklaceD) Waterproof camera

6) Finish the sentence: “I am most skilled in…”A) PedalingB) DivingC) Shoveling D) Balancing

7) What’s your favorite cocktail?A) Yellow BicycleB) Scuba SteveC) Prairie OysterD) White Sands

8) Which phrase might you use most?A) “It’s like riding a bike.”B) “You’re in deep water.”C) “Aw, shucks.”D) “Life’s a beach.”

9) Pick your favorite song by title alone:A) “Won’t You Be My Neighbor”B) “Under Pressure”C) “Fishin’ in the Dark”D) “Surfin’ USA”

10) Your first choice for footwear is:A) Tennis shoes B) FlippersC) Rubber boots D) Nothing

Spirit’s Northwest Florida Beaches Adventure Quiz

If you answered mostly A, your adventure begins on page 72.If you answered mostly B, your adventure begins on page 74.If you answered mostly C, your adventure begins on page 76.If you answered mostly D, your adventure begins on page 78.

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72 | Spirit

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Design Starstake a dip in alys beach’s Caliza pool. the main pool is one of the largest and most beautiful salt-water pools in the world. alysbeach.com

rent a cottage through Seaside Cottage rental agency for $200-$2,000/night, including homes with overlooking towers and gulf-front locations. cottagerental-agency.com

rummage through the best of new urbanism-influenced artwork at World Six gallery in rosemary beach. rosema-rybeach.com

When Robert Davis founded Seaside in 1981 near Destin, he created a town and a movement. New Urbanism seeks to bring shops and offices back into residential neighborhoods, minimizing the need for cars. Check out a string of these innovative towns along Scenic Highway 30A from the most appropriate perch: a bicycle seat.

Rent a beach cruiser at Seaside Bike Shop ($30/day, seasidefl.com) and explore the New England-influenced town that played a starring role in The Truman Show. Pedaling along the brick-paved streets and sand paths, you’ll pass one- to three-story cottages ranging from sea foam green to bright canary yellow. “The wraparound porches, overlooking towers, and white picket fences make

Seaside the Martha’s Vineyard of the South,” says Braulio Casas of Casas Archi-tecture in Seaside.

Cruise about eight miles east down 30A—a 19-mile two-lane road that hugs the coastline between Destin and Panama City—and you’ll feel like you’re in Greece, only the white pyramid sign reads “Alys Beach.” The stark town stands out with its Caribbean- and Mediterra-nean-inspired all-white stucco cottages.

A few pedal pushes east take you to the last stop, Spanish-styled Rosemary Beach. “You can tell it was directly influ-enced by St. Augustine, Florida,” Casas says. “What’s Augustinian about it are the overhanging porches and the way walls define the courtyards and the streets.”

I F Y O U A N S W E R E D M O S T LY A , Y O U A R E A :

Scenic Cycler

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Ship Stopscatch an aerial view of panama city beach on a panhandle helicopter tour ($35/person, two-person minimum). pan-handlehelicopter.com

jump off a replica of a 17th-century sailing ship at the Shipwreck island Waterpark. shipwreckis-land.com

Surface for a meal at the treasure Ship, a 200-foot-long replica of Sir francis Drake’s golden hind. thetreasureship.com

White sand beaches, blue water, and luxury hotels get much of the attention at Panama City, but what’s lurking beneath the surface deserves a closer look: a ship graveyard called the “Wreck Capital of the South.” Certified scuba divers can book a four-hour wreck excursion ($80/person, not including equipment) through Panama City Beach Dive Charters to get a face mask full of the spectacle.

Four sunken ships stand out. Seventy-five feet under the surface of the Gulf lies Black Bart, a 185-foot oil field supply ship sitting upright and fully intact. The ship was named for Capt. Charles A. Bartho-lomew, the Navy’s former Supervisor of Salvage. At 72 feet lies an upside-down decommissioned Navy Landing Craft Air

Cushion. And 100 feet down, two upright twin tugboats—meant to lie side by side—lie on top of each other after storms tossed them around.

Although some of the ships sank the old-fashioned way—by accident—many of them were dumped in the Gulf on pur-pose to create artificial reefs. Wildlife love the place as much as scuba divers.

“By sinking these retired vessels, the local reef program has created new habi-tat that otherwise would have been bar-ren sand,” says Pat Green, dive boat cap-tain at Panama City. “Now sponges attach to the steel, providing homes and food for smaller fish. Bigger fish arrive to eat the small fish. Before you know it, it’s a huge habitat.” panamacitydivecharters.com

I F Y O U A N S W E R E D M O S T LY B , Y O U A R E A :

Scuba Scout

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apalach Pearlshead to Café momi downtown and order fried heaven, a plate of fried apalachicola oysters, shrimp, and soft-shell crab. gibsoninn.com

buy photos of oysters and tongers in action at rich-ard bickel photography, a studio in apalachicola. richardbickelphotogra-phy.com

rest your weary muscles in the jacuzzi suite at Coombs house inn, an apalachicola bed and breakfast built in 1905. coombshouseinn.com

Monday through Friday, Kendall Schoelles lowers 12-foot wooden tongs from the side of his rickety six-person wooden boat to the bottom of an oyster bar in Apalachicola Bay, like a chef toss-ing the world’s biggest seafood salad. The main ingredient: oysters. The iron- and calcium-rich mollusks are the claim to fame in Apalachicola, located about 60 miles southeast of Panama City. You can fish for your own on a half-day excursion with Black Pearl Charters ($350).

Even first-timers won’t find the job too hard, according to Schoelles, an oyster-man for 20-plus years, born and raised in “Apalach.” You only need a strong grip and a little hand-eye coordination. “Just open the tongs as wide as you can, like

scissors,” he says. “When you hit the bot-tom, dig down and push the tongs closed. Then pull it out of the water and dump your oysters onto the culling board.”

Then Schoelles takes over. He chips away at the mollusk clumps, measures the shells, and throws back the ones that fall short of the 3-inch minimum. He’s looking for “cup oysters,” the bigger of the two common shapes. (The skinnier type goes by the name “scissor blade oysters.”) Discarded oysters provide a breeding ground for future harvests.

When you’re on the boat, you can shuck an oyster with a pocketknife and taste what the hype is all about—raw. At least you won’t have to pack a lunch. blackpearlsgi.com

I F Y O U A N S W E R E D M O S T LY C , Y O U A R E A N :

Oyster Hunter

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Board Membersrefuel after a paddle-board session with fried crabcakes at the red bar, a grayton beach local favorite. theredbar.com

Swap your paddleboard for a kiteboard with a one-hour lesson ($60/person) in panama city beach. emeraldcoastkite-boarding.com

board a jet Ski to get another look at marine wildlife on a Dolphin excursion ($100/person) in Destin. boatrentalsand-estin.com

The best way to see the area’s 26 miles of Blue Wave-certified beaches—meaning they meet strict criteria for water quality, habitat conservation, and education—is atop a stand-up paddle board. Learn how to ride one with a one-hour private lesson ($60) or grab your friends for a group les-son ($35/hour) through YOLO Board.

Stand-up paddleboarding combines surfing (you’re on a board) and kayaking (you have a paddle). “It’s the water sport for people who didn’t think they could do water sports,” says Jeff Archer, co-owner of YOLO Board and boarding instructor.

Meaning you don’t need bulging biceps to row from the seated position or buns of steel to ride a wave. Just stand up, keep your balance on your 12-foot polyethyl-

ene beginner YOLO board, paddle left, then right, and enjoy the view.

Getting to that point requires some training. The lesson begins by practic-ing balancing and paddling on dry land under the watchful eye of an instructor. Then you’ll shove off into Choctaw-hatchee Bay off Sandestin Resort in Destin. You’ll paddle along the coast and explore Jolee Island, a 5-acre nature park studded with pines and magnolias.

Back on your board, take in the view. Watch grouper and speckled trout swim alongside you, while herons and egrets flap by at eye-level.

“One time I saw dolphins teaching their babies how to feed,” Archer says. “That’s what did it for me.” yoloboard.com

I F Y O U A N S W E R E D M O S T LY D , Y O U A R E A :

Paddle Pusher

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Lay of the LandG E T T H E R EFly in northwest florida beaches interna-tional airport (newpcairport.com) is about 30 miles from Seaside, 80 miles from apala-chicola, 50 miles from Destin, and about 20 miles from downtown panama city.

get around Destin has a citywide transpor-tation system, and panama city beach also has a trolley system for the town. there is no regional mass-transit system.

get away you’ll need to rent a car to do the adventures. pick one up at the airport.

Coastal Cuts1) power Down. north-west florida beaches international airport was constructed to achieve net environmental ben-efits like the preservation of 9,600 acres of environ-mentally pristine lands.

2) Country time. tim mcgraw mentions apalachicola in the song “Southern voice.”

3) precious Water. coastal sand dune lakes like those in South Wal-ton county exist in only four places in the world.

4) Screen Scene. Seaside founders robert and Dar-ryl Davis make a cameo in The Truman Show.

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Alys Beach

Black Pearl Charters

Rosemary Beach

Panama City Dive Charters

Northwest Florida Beaches International AirportYOLO Board

Seaside

SeascapeMiramar

Sandestin

Dune Allen

Mexico Beach

SantaRosa

BlueMountain

Grayton Seagrove Seacrest

Inlet BeachPanama City

BeachWaterSound

Watercolor

ApalachicolaState Forest

ApalachicolaBay

G u l f o f M e x i c o

Choctawhatchee BayDestin

Panama City

Apalachicola

D O T H E R Emay 29-31. hear live music from coconut radio and other bands at Sandestin golf and beach resort’s memorial Day Weekend Celebration in the village of baytowne Wharf. Don’t miss the fireworks on Sunday night. sandestin.com

June 3-7. trick-or-treat “pirate-style” during fort Walton beach’s billy bowlegs pirate Festival. fwbchamber.org

June 12. throw a mullet—a fish indigenous to the area—at the mullet toss at the blue parrot in St. george island. the record toss is 156 feet. 850-927-2987