Cape San Blas - Leave No Trace Ordinance Passed - No More Personal Belongings on Beach Overnight

Important Notice: Leave No Trace Ordinance passed - No more tents, chairs or personal belongings on beach overnight. Below are excerpts from the Port St. Joe Star Leave No Trace article by Tim Croft.

A standing-room-in-the-hallway-outside-the-meeting-room-only audience, which at times participated as if sitting at the podium with commissioners, roundly applauded as Leave No Trace passed with little discussion.

“Enforcement is the key to any ordinance we put in and we are going to do our best,” said Commissioner Warren Yeager in speaking about Leave No Trace.

A highlight of the Leave No Trace ordinance is that personal property left on the beach by non-residents one hour after sunset or one hour prior to sunrise would be considered abandoned.

The language of the ordinance permits county crews picking up such abandoned property and disposing of it.

This is great news for the nesting sea turtles and anyone who loves the beauty of the beach.  Most of the beach does not look like this but there are areas that are completely out of control.  This will be a bit inconvenient for some, but a huge improvement for the overall feel of this beautiful beach. A Tropical Breeze guests will benefit from this ordinance.

December’s Insider Tip: Don’t bring firewood from home

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At a Tropical Breeze on Cape San Blas, building a bonfire while the sun is setting is one of our very favorite activities and definitely leaves a big impression on guests, since so few beaches allow campfires on the beach. This tip took me by surprise so I wanted to be sure to share with all future guests.

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

If you ask Park Manager, Mark Knapke what one thing he wishes everyone knew, he will tell you about wood.

“Don’t bring firewood from beyond 50 miles of the State Park. People don’t know why this is important but it’s because of bugs or disease. You may unknowingly bring disease into the park that trees and/or vegetation haven’t been exposed to. We sell firewood. And, please keep your campfire within designated fire rings. Always, leave it the way you found it – leave no trace.”

A Tropical Breeze - Always Making Improvements for our Guests

The salt air, sun and wind can be tough on your skin when you spend a week at the beach. Can you imagine what it does to a home's exterior after years of sun, salt water and strong winds.   When you own a home at the beach, you are constantly replacing or repairing something.  Rust is our enemy and through the years we have learned the hard way to replace any thing possible with stainless steel or plastic.  Last week we replaced the metal roof with one that is guaranteed for 30 years.  The last one started to rust after only 7 years.

 This week we are having all of the exterior white trim painted.  I can't wait to see how pretty everything looks with the new white paint and white roof.  A Tropical Breeze has been such a blessing to us and we want to do our best to keep it looking like new for our guests.

Atlanta Magazine Has Found Cape San Blas and The Forgotten Coast

Cape San Blas will rekindle your love for the Florida Panhandle

The "Forgotten Coast" provides quiet relaxation

by Rebecca Burns

Photograph courtesy of Rockin M Ranch Beach Horseback Riding

“Well,” I said to my husband, “I don’t think I have ever dined out looking so grubby in my life—but I don’t remember when I last felt this relaxed.” With another swig from a bottle of PBR, I leaned back in the wooden bench on the wide front porch of Indian Pass Trading Post and listened as Kerry James, whose sun-streaked hair and leathered skin testified to decades of beach bumming, belted his way through “Sweet Caroline.” 

Just ten minutes before, Jim and I had been sprawled on a blanket, watching horses clomp through cottony sand and splash through azure surf. I wore a Braves cap over a wet ponytail, and—good God—a tank top and ancient gym shorts over a damp bathing suit. Flip-flops. Salt water was still drying on my skin.

A half hour later, seated inside, we shared a plastic picnic table with a family of locals and watched the kitchen crew shuck just-caught oysters with the breakneck pace of contestants in a Top Chef challenge. Popped open, sparkling with brine, and arrayed directly on school cafeteria–style trays, oysters were delivered to crowded tables in a room where beer was available by self-service—and on the honor system—from two draft taps.

The Trading Post (Indian Pass Raw Bar my notes)traces its roots to 1903, when it opened as the company store for a turpentine concern that operated along Cape San Blas, a seventeen-mile barrier island that curves along St. Joseph Bay at the eastern edge of the Florida Panhandle. In the 1930s, Gypsie McNeill added food service for the few travelers who ventured to this distant strip of coastline.

Today the Trading Post (Indian Pass Raw Bar), located on the edge of Highway 30E, bustles thanks to its minutes-from-the-water oysters, harvested by Gypsie’s grandchildren and other members of the McNeill clan. It’s also busy because, frankly, only a handful of restaurants operate on this still-underdeveloped stretch of coastline, where turpentine and timber businesses occupy acres of land, and wildlife preserves take up much of the rest. The two-lane highway runs up the center of the cape, with most locals’ homes fronting the calmer waters of St. Joe Bay (known for its freshwater scallops).

This crescent of the Panhandle is known as the “Forgotten Coast.” Once a thriving center of commerce anchored by the Port of St. Joe, it fell into hard times during the latter part of the twentieth century. This beachy escape may be called forgotten, but spending a few days there made me remember why I fell in love with the Panhandle when we first started going to Seagrove Beach more than twenty years ago. Back then there were no mega shopping centers, no gingerbread-bedecked developments or colossal beachfront mansions with six-car garages. The only place to eat was the family-owned Wheel House, where the catch was fresh and you sat a few feet from the fishermen who’d reeled it in.

“I know that I promised to write about this trip,” I told Jim. “But now I don’t know if I want everyone else discovering this place.”

Where to stay: Most people opt for rental cottages or houses, available by the week or month (visitgulf.com). If you plan to visit for just a few days—or don’t need a family-sized house—Cape San Blas Inn has rooms and suites ranging from $175 to $285 and provides breakfast; coffee service; minifridges; and use of beach chairs, bikes, and canoes.

Where to eat: The Indian Pass Trading Post’s raw bar (850-227-1670) is a must-visit. Cape Tradin’ Post (850-229-8775) stocks beach essentials, fishing tackle, groceries, and a few takeout items (the hoagies are a good bet). It’s adjoined on one side by a closet-sized but impressively stocked liquor store and on the other by Cape Coffee Shop. If you go into Port St. Joe, Dockside Cafe serves fresh grilled fish and bay scallops, and provides a great view of the marina. My note: Of course you should stay at Dunes Club 2A or A Tropical Breeze.

What to do: Thanks to its unique geography, Cape San Blas offers fishing for freshwater bass and scallops in St. Joe Bay and deep-sea grouper and king mackerel in the Gulf. For mellower adventures, try kayak and canoe tours by Happy Ours, or Two-Bit Stable’s horseback rides in the surf. Shelling, sunbathing, snorkeling, and lolling in the surf are the amusements of choice at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, which covers more than nine miles of untouched beach.

- See more at: http://www.atlantamagazine.com/travel/2014/04/01/cape-san-blas-will-rekindle-your-love-for-the-florida-panhandle#sthash.3rwO4DHb.dpuf

Cape San Blas Author Writes about St. Vincent Island

Author publishes second locally-based book

By Special to The Star 

Published: Thursday, July 25, 2013 at 09:18 AM.

Pineapple Press announced last week the publication of Secrets of St. Vincent, the second book in its popular Florida Secrets trilogy by award-winning author Charles Farley.

The first book, Secrets of San Blas, is based on events surrounding an actual murder at the Cape San Blas Lighthouse near Port St. Joe in 1938. Old Doc Berber, Port St. Joe’s only general practitioner, is dragged into a murder investigation, a romance, and a series of intrigues that even he can’t diagnose.

Michael Lister, author of The Big Goodbye, called the novel “an unforgettable journey through Florida’s Forgotten Coast . . . a delightful dance of history and mystery, an intriguing interplay of fact and fiction.”

Now, in Secrets of St. Vincent, bluesman Reggie Robinson has been wrongly arrested for the gruesome murder of Sheriff Byrd “Dog” Batson. Doc Berber and his best friend, Gator Mica, mount a quixotic search for the sheriff ’s savage killer on equally savage St. Vincent Island. If they survive the frightening adventure, they’ll return with the shocking secrets that will shatter the town’s tranquility forever.

A Kansas native who now lives in Huntsville, Alabama, Charles Farley has written for American Libraries, Library Hi Tech, Library Journal, and Living Blues. His first book, Soul of the Man, was a biography of the great soul singer Bobby “Blue” Bland. In 2012 he won first place in the fiction category in the Alabama Writers’ Conclave Writing Competition. His website iswww.charlesfarley.com.

Charles Farley will be in town to sign copies of his books during the Scallop Festival.

Farley will sign books 1-4 p.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 10, at 155 Capt. Fred's Place (the old Maddox house) at Shipyard Cove.

Working Hard on Cape San Blas

The summer rental season is just days away.  A Tropical Breeze will be the vacation home to families from as far away as Oregon this summer.  The first guests arrive this weekend, with new families arriving every Saturday for the next 11 weeks.  I took the opportunity to drive down from Atlanta yesterday to make sure everything is ready at A Tropical Breeze.  I must admit that it's not been all work.  Here's a picture of the bike path and my shadow. I took this picture this evening while riding to the new ice cream shop at the Trading Post. 

The new Coffee and Ice Cream shop serves Edy's ice cream, milk shakes, smoothies and gourmet coffee and if that's not enough, there's a new hot donut stand just steps away.  The donut shop is only open in the mornings so I will be sure to go back tomorrow so I can report my findings.  The Trading Post owner says the donut maker gets up at 3:30 am to mix up the donut batter fresh.  There is also a special donut every day plus all of the regular favorites. Check back tomorrow for donut details.

Plein Air Painters To Capture Forgotten Coast

Mark your calendars for this wonderful event and if you're looking for a place to stay, A Tropical Breeze is still available during the 7th annual Florida's Forgotten Coast Plein Air Invitational.

 

More than 20 nationally acclaimed artists will gather on Florida's Forgotten Coast in early May to participate in the 7th annual Florida's Forgotten Coast Plein Air Invitational, America's Great Paint-Out, May 3-13, 2012. Painters will set up their easels and pull out their brushes to document the landscape and culture of this last vestige of authentic "Old Florida" – the coastal stretch of scenic North Florida between Mexico Beach and Alligator Point.
"Plein Air", a French word, simply translated means "open air". The roots of plein air painting are found in 19th-century Europe. An Englishman, John Constable, believed that artists should forget "formulas" and trust their own vision in finding truth in nature.