Adventures Guides

“Gulf County is special”, says Adventure Guide and owner of Daly’s Watersports, Ann Marie Daly. “There are so many watersports that are available to you – we are not just about scalloping – you can do something different every day.”

Sometimes you just want to go where no one has ever been. Or, at least somewhere you’ve never been! We understand! There are so many places to blaze your own trail in Gulf County.

Dan Van Treese wants you to come out and say hello. Dan is the proud President of the St. Joseph Bay Golf Club who wants to show it off. “Well. Most people don’t know it’s a championship course...

Local Jeri daydreams about doing a different beach every day. “I love taking time with my family. And we love to be outside. You never know what the next day’s adventure may bring.”

Captain Gary Hites - Have you ever caught a shark? “We book for a company called Fish’N Xpress. They do a great 3-hour shark-fishing trip,” says former Seahorse Water Safari owner, Gary Hites.

Sometimes you just want to go where no one has ever been. Or, at least somewhere you’ve never been! We understand! There are so many places to blaze your own trail in Gulf County.

“My Ecotours are not structured. Each day is a different day on the Bay so I don’t force a structured program. I just go with the wind. We head out just to see life.”>

If you spend 30 seconds with Captain Bobby Guilford or Chef Mary Ann Conroy, you’ll swear you can smell the salt air and the grill lighting up. Both agree the best local ingredients come straight from the water!

Explorer Matt Godwin can kayak through the Dead Lakes 100 times during the summer and he always sees something different.

“Warm winter days are exceptionally beautiful,” says Captain Charlene GCFL Adventure Guide and owner of About Fun Charters. The sky is azure blue and the water can be as blue as the sky.

“Seahorses are so interesting”, says Captain Gary, former owner of Seahorse Safaris. The completely orange ones or complete albinos are the odd guys that are fun. One year I may find a lot of seahorses or none.

Ann Marie Daly, Adventure Guide and owner of Daly’s Watersports, is from North Dakota and was a reluctant diver. In fact, she didn’t really enjoy getting wet. Gulf County made her a believer.

If you only have an afternoon, what’s one of the best adventures you can have in GCFL? “Definitely horseback riding on the beach” says David.

Sea Turtles are a protected species in the Endangered Species Act. But, that’s not the only reason to protect them says Jessica, Volunteer Coordinator for the SJP Turtle Patrol.

I love our guided snorkel trips says Adventure Guide Debbie. Generally I’ll start in an area of the Bay that is shallow with pure white sand.

“He and I dive together. I got him diving at 12 years old and now he loves scuba diving and snorkeling,” explains Adventure Guide and charter captain Bobby Guilford about his son Wade and their family tradition.

Did you play along on our GCFL Find Your Adventure scavenger hunt? So many of you did – THANK YOU! During our hunt we asked you 12 questions about adventures in Gulf County. On average, we had over 50 responses to every question!

Adventure Guide Brian says, “When you get over the fear factor of getting stung, the sense of order and wonder you get from a beehive is beyond belief. 40,000-60,000 bees working in unison. Their sense of smell is better than any hound dog.” (According to several sources, a bee’s olfactory sense is as much as 100 times more sensitive than a human’s nose.)

Have you tried the new search tool on the GCFL Adventure Guide? We asked GCFL Adventure Guide and owner of Coastal Joe Vacation Rentals, Megan Burkett, to play along with us to make sure it was an easy process.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two holidays where everyone really does try to get together. My family gets together for a weekend pre-Thanksgiving so that there isn’t a conflict with any of our husbands’ families.

“We are so family oriented. Crime-free,” says Denise, GCFL Adventure Guide and Property Manager at Cape San Blas Vacation Rentals. “If you are out on the Cape, it’s 20-30 minutes from town but it’s a beautiful drive.”

“In Gulf County we get lots of nesting Loggerhead turtles. On our 6-mile stretch, St. Joseph Peninsula, we average about 90 to 100 nests. This year we are almost up to 149 nests. It’s a record setting year!”

With 244 miles of different and varied shoreline, you may think so. Water may actually run through Captain Trey Landry’s veins.

“We focus on homes for bigger families,” says Silvia, Adventure Guide and Serenity Beach Rentals owner. “We’ve tried to gear our inventory around multiple families traveling together.”

Take the lead from Trish, kayaking keeps her connected. “I take the kayak over to St. Vincent Island and spend the day. Or, just paddle around to the back of the Island – on the Apalachicola Bay side. It is gorgeous.”

“Because I am out on the water every day, I try not to take the beauty for granted. Even though I see dolphin, sharks, stingrays, fish leaping and shore birds almost everyday, I slow down and let folks see things for the first time. And sometimes, it’s a first for me, too.”

“Hands down our family loves to go to the Bay at St Joseph Peninsula State Park over and over again. It is certainly our family’s tradition. We don’t have a boat – which is unusual here but shows that you don’t need one!"

“We grew up vacationing here. We camped in Apalach and in 1968 we found St. Joseph Peninsula State Park. Right after that we built a house in Indian Pass. As soon as the house was built, we came down every weekend.”

Silvia, GCFL Adventure Guide and owner of Serenity Beach Rentals, can get behind that hashtag! “I like the thought of being ‘around the kitchen table’. It’s where all of the important discussion happens.

Well, I just took a sunset cruise out and saw 12 dolphins. The night before we saw 24. They feed at night so dusk is the best time to catch them. We have a tidal current that goes out of the Intracoastal and the dolphin like to follow that.

“Well, no two honey varieties are alike. Each has a unique flavor. But, unlike wine, I don’t make the honey”, says Brian, GCFL Adventure Guide and owner of local Smiley Honey. “The bees make it. We just bottle it.”

Jeri, Owner of Gulf Coast Vacation Rentals, talks about a favorite Guest Book Story. “We had a family coin the term “the dolphin parade.” They stayed in one of our homes out on Indian Pass called Palmetto Breeze.”

“I’m always taking in strays. We have a resident dolphin in the Bay. Wild dolphins live in pods. Even though this sounds bad, dolphins kick the big male dolphins that are ready for reproduction out of their existing pods to go join another pod. This behavior keeps the genes from bottlenecking.”

No matter If you’re on Cape San Blas or on Windmark Beach or out in the middle of St. Joseph Bay, there are unobstructed views of the Gulf sunset. Nothing blocks the sky so it feels and looks huge.

“Cape San Blas, and Gulf County in general, is a huge hot spot for turtles – especially loggerheads. We are the highest density-nesting beach in North Florida. The area we patrol, St. Joseph Peninsula, goes from the St Joseph Peninsula State Park boundary down to the Stump Hole.”

“Smoked mullet is the original Florida BBQ,” says hard-core adventurer and foodie, Matt Godwin.

When you ask Alyson Gerlach and Charlene Burke what their favorite hometown view is, their answer is the same – almost verbatim: “OK. I have two.”

“Walking on the beach is my favorite winter adventure. My wife likes to do crafts so she collects shells and things. I only look for the really nice shells.”

“On the Bay!” Denise, Adventure Guide and Property Manager at Cape San Blas Vacation Rentals tells us. “My husband is an avid fisherman. He was one of the first charter captains in the area.”

Gathering around a campfire at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park is always an awesome adventure!

Get the inside scoop on vacation planning from guru Jeri. "From across the Bay in Windmark or St. Joe Beach, you can see the most northern point of St. Joseph Peninsula State Park."

“The difference between staying in a house vs. renting a hotel room is that you’re going to cook there and eat there and hangout together. Kitchen and living space is always an important thing to look for. But, I don’t just mean inside the house. Many of our homes have just as much living and gathering space outside as they do inside.”

From across the Bay in Windmark or St. Joe Beach, you can see the most northern point of St. Joseph Peninsula State Park in the distance.

With Captain Trey Landry and Premier Sportfishing Adventures, you don’t have to choose. A local since 1998, Captain Trey came to Gulf County to help open and run the Port St. Joe Marina.

“I love Spring. And, we have kids so you can bet I’ll be on the ball field. Other than that, we are sitting on St. Joe Beach. Building sand castles and playing with our kids and their friends and their parents who are our friends.”

Dan and Barb VanTreese are GCFL Adventure Guides and mid-western visitors turned locals for over the past decade. When we talked to them, they ran the full gamut of recommendations...

“Everyone is pleasantly surprised at how clear St. Joseph Bay is,” says Captain Gary. “We aren’t at the base of any river. It’s a saltwater Bay. Very little run off. Lots of cool, saltwater critters. The same creatures that are out in the Gulf are in our Bay.

Indian Pass Lagoon is a treasure says Adventure Guide Trish. A true eco-adventure. You need a flat bottom boat or a kayak because it’s so shallow. You will see all kinds of wildlife around the oyster beds.

“The wildlife in St. Joseph Peninsula State Park is amazing. We see deer, bobcat, squirrels, raccoons. Lots of wildlife all of the time.”

Denise, GCFL Adventure Guide and Property Manager at Cape San Blas Vacation Rentals has seen groups grow from two to twenty.

Have you ever been to the Gulf County Welcome Center? Our staff are so passionate about Gulf County, they make it their job to know the insider secrets and local tips.

What happens when a GCFL local wants to go on an adventure? Ever wonder which ones they would pick if they searched the stories on our Adventure Guide?

“I don’t really do the ‘Turkey Trot’ thing but I’m sure there are runs down here. Instead, we go fishing up the Intracoastal. It’s easy to jump on a charter or a few charters on different days...”

Everyone loves to look for turtles says Debbie, Adventure Guide and Florida Master Naturalist. They are everywhere in the Bay. The “turtle holes” are in the deeper waters because it’s easier for them to escape predators.

St. Joseph Bay is alive, well and the center of Gulf County adventure. Ask any local guide and chances are they will tell you the Bay is their favorite place to explore.

Trish Petrie named her Inn after the turtles on the beach. Turtle season runs from May through October and during those months Turtle Patrol walks our beach every morning for signs of nests, she explains.

You can’t do it all in two days, says Lynn, Adventure Guide and General Manager of the Port Inn. If you have three days, you can spend one day at the beach, one day on the Bay and then one day in Port St. Joe.

“We have family who lives all over Georgia. A few years ago everyone decided to come down here. It was so relaxing! Everyone chipped in and no one person felt like they had to do it all...”

Lynn, Adventure Guide and General Manager of the Port Inn is deep in thought. “What would I do with my extra day on a long weekend? Walk out into St. Joseph Bay – honestly, my family does it almost every day.”

When the water gets hot, the fish go deeper so they are harder to catch, says Adventure Guide Captain Bobby of Break-A-Way Charters. But fishing in the fall is the best.

When you finally decide to make Gulf County your year-after-year vacation destination, Megan Burkett, owner of Coastal Joe Vacation Rentals and GCFL Adventure Guide wants you to pick a great neighborhood.

Our adventure guides hiked and camped. They rode horses on the beach and kayaked almost every day on St. Joseph Bay (lucky dogs). Thankfully, they also told us their stories and shared their insider secrets.

We asked Adventure Guide and owner of Daly’s Watersports Ann Marie Daly her favorite thing to do in the water (besides scuba dive, of course!). Check out her answer and we’ll see you on your board soon.

Tupelo is a premier honey crop in this country, and the epicenter of tupelo honey is Gulf County, Florida, says Adventure Guide Brian, owner of Smiley Honey. So, of course it would make sense for locals and local chefs alike to incorporate the delicacy into as many dishes as possible. But, some of the combinations may surprise you!

Did you know GCFL has a great, 18-hole championship golf course? St. Joseph Bay Golf Club is open to the public with 65% of its golfers here on vacation. Why is it such a hidden gem?