Vacationing on Florida’s Emerald Coast: Cape San Blas Trip Re-Cap

In desperate need of a relaxing beach vacation, my husband and I drove south to the Florida coast. We were supposed to be on a Caribbean all-inclusive honeymoon, but the pandemic had other plans. Never the couple to let things ruin our fun, we made the best of a hard situation. We booked a vacation rental on a secluded Florida beach. This way we could still social distance while enjoying the sand between our toes. My husband spent much of his childhood around the Florida Gulf and had heard rave reviews about Port St. Joe and Cape San Blas. So, we booked a long weekend trip to the pristine beaches of Cape San Blas. Here is our trip re-cap of vacationing on Florida’s Emerald Coast: Cape San Blas.

Where We Stayed

We wanted to stay somewhere private and away from crowds. With the help of Google, we were able to find a perfect beach house for our trip! It had a private walkway to “Money Beach”. There was also a full kitchen, covered porch, several balconies, and gorgeous beach views. The neighborhood was quiet and we could hear the waves crashing in the distance. If you are checking this area out, you have to rent a beach house! They are absolutely the way to go! 

Where We Ate

Since we traveled right when some of the dining restrictions were being loosened, we knew we wanted to make most of our own meals. We brought a large cooler and packed it with everything we would need for our trip. Some restaurants in the area were doing take-out service, so we took advantage of those for a few meals.

We were hoping to try the Indian Pass Raw Bar since it was right down the street from our beach house. Unfortunately, when we drove by it was packed with folks waiting outside to get in, and they weren’t providing a take-out service. Luckily we were able to find another raw bar in Apalachicola called Up the Creek Raw Bar that was doing take-out. We called our order in and picked it up about fifteen minutes later. This raw bar was much less crowded, thank goodness! They even offered us seating outside on the picnic tables to eat our meal. It was perfect and SAFE, which was exactly what we wanted.

The other meal we ate outside of the beach house was on St. George Island. We took a day trip to the island on a whim; actually, we were looking for ice cream! Not gonna lie, I love ice cream and there were no options open in Port St. Joe. So, we found a place on St. George Island! It was about a 40-minute drive, and SO worth it! The ice cream from Aunt Ebby’s was delicious, plus the island was delightful!

We grabbed dinner to-go from the Blue Parrot Ocean Front Café as we left the island. It was decent seafood, though I think it would have been better enjoyed in the oceanfront dining room. Once things calm down perhaps we can make another trip to the island and eat on the open-air patio. It was a great and unexpected day!

What We Did

Our main goal of the trip was to RELAX! Therefore we had a fairly open schedule. I ran on the beach each morning (which was fantastic!), and we ended the days with long walks on the beach. The sunsets on Money Beach were unbeatable. It was a much-needed stress relief after months of being cooped up at home. 

State Park & Snorkeling

We also wanted to snorkel since we had heard the bay at Cape San Blas had amazingly clear water. I had never snorkeled before, so I was a bit nervous to try. We went to T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park several times during our trip. It was right down the road from our house and had a gorgeous beach and wonderful bay area for snorkeling. One day we laid out on the beachside (more like I sat in a chair while my husband swam. It was VERY windy, so I chose to stay on land!). The other day we snorkeled! It was SO MUCH fun! We brought our own gear we had purchased from Amazon, which worked great. The bay was filled with fish, shells, sea urchins, and crabs. I think this was one of the highlights of the trip!

Shells

If you love shells, Cape San Blas is a dream come true! My husband and I enjoyed finding all kinds of shells along the beach near our rental, as well as at the State Park. There are tons of perfect shells everywhere! We brought home a few, I’ve never seen so many perfect and different shells, so keep an eye out!

St. George Island

Our last day we went on our great ice cream adventure I mentioned before. We ended up on St. George Island, and couldn’t have been happier! St. George was more of a typical beach town with cute shops and a walking/biking path along the length of the island. We decided to drive around and thus discovered Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park. This park was huge with miles of white sand beaches. The bayside looked perfect for fishing and had only a few other people out. My husband was very excited about this area and can’t wait to come back to fish! This park was perfect for swimming and laying out on the beach. Our next beach trip may end up on St. George Island, we were in love with the quaint beach town! 

Overall Conclusion

For our first vacation since the pandemic, Cape San Blas was the perfect escape. It was close enough that we could drive there, but far enough away to feel like we were somewhere remote and relaxing. We wanted a “tropical” themed weekend, so we brought Tiki glasses and ingredients for Tiki drinks. If we couldn’t have our tropical Caribbean getaway, we figured we could bring a bit of the tropics to us! It was perfect and we loved spending a romantic weekend just the two of us, away from reality. We are still hoping to make it to our dream honeymoon someday, but for now, I am SO happy we got to have an amazing trip to Florida’s Emerald Coast on Cape San Blas.  

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