Cape San Blas and St. Joseph Peninsula State Park listed in 5 NW Florida Beaches You Won't Have to Share

Pictures: 5 Northwest Florida Beaches You Won’t Have to Share

By: Lauren Tjaden

Yearning for empty sweeps of sand, where you can hear the sounds of the surf? Where you never-ever have to fight for a place to spread out your beach towel?

Read on. These five hidden gems have your flip-flops written all over them.

Beaches are listed from west to east. All are located in Northwest Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. 

Pensacola’s Fort Pickens, located in Gulf Islands National Seashore, is an area must-see. On the way there, you’ll pass miles of pristine beaches.  Make sure to ditch your sandals and check out the sand.

Located in Gulf Islands National Seashore between Pensacola Beach and Navarre, Opal Beach was born in 1995 when Hurricane Opal flattened the dunes to create a smooth, glittering paradise of sugar-sand beach.

.WindMark Beach has entirely escaped notice, yet its waters are calm and clear, and its sand begs for attention from your toes. This lovely wonder is located between Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe on Florida’s Forgotten Coast.

St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, which encompasses the north end of Cape San Blas, is home to this beach, one of the most highly acclaimed in the nation. But almost anywhere on the peninsula, you’ll have oodles of soft, white sand and emerald-hued waters practically to yourself.

Yearning for empty sweeps of sand? Discover beauties like this one in Cape San Blas.

Credit: Lauren Tjaden

Tropical Breeze - Happy 12 Year Anniversary!

We have been so blessed to own this beautiful piece of paradise on Cape San Blas called A Tropical Breeze.  Today is our 12 year anniversary of moving into A Tropical Breeze. It's been a great 12 years with lots of wonderful family times for us and our guests. In that 12 years we have experienced weddings, engagements, graduations, silver and golden anniversaries, important birthdays and one Ohio State National Championship. There's been a few bad times too with hurricanes, oil spill worries and the frustration of the salt water air trying to rust every piece of metal in site.

We want to thank our wonderful guests who have treated A Tropical Breeze as their own, especially the guests that come back year after year.  You Bless us in so many ways!  Thank you!

Cape San Blas Light House Move

Well it's finally happening - the Cape San Blas lighthouse is moving to Port St. Joe. Very sad to lose this iconic landmark from the Cape, but its new home in Port St. Joe looks pretty good too.

King Mackeral - Fish On!

We didn't start out fishing for King Mackeral but sometimes you have to go with what's biting that day. Today we caught 8 large king mackeral, 1 lone red snapper, a few shark a Jack Cravelle and Cody even speared a flounder.  It was a really fun day of family fishing.

Scalloping in St. Joe Bay

We are having an action packed 4th of July weekend and it's scallop season.  We found quite a few but forgot to take a good picture.  We were stashing them in the live well of our boat. Overall we found about 80 in the St. Joe Bay by the time we were done.

4th of July in Port St. Joe

The last time we were in Port St. Joe for the 4th of July was 2002, the year we came to see what this #1 beach in the USA, Cape San Blas had to offer.  Little did we know we would come home under contract for a beautiful home called A Tropical Breeze.

This year we were just back for fun and there was a lot of that in Port St. Joe and on the tip of Cape San Blas. The city organized a parade, a big band outdoor show and amazing fire works plus The Thirsty Goat at the Port St. Joe Inn had entertainment every evening. During the day there were lots of boats out at the tip of the Cape and we ran into friends and enjoyed cooking out on their boat.  It was a really fun 4th of July evening and I think we will have come back next year too.

Red Snapper!

First Day of Snapper Season and we caught our limit. So happy to have a whole week at A Tropical Breeze and celebrate Memorial Day with Rob's brother who is a Vietnam Vet.

12 Red Snapper, limit 2 per person

Brothers

It's Something Big!

Shark!

This fish looks fake but it's the real thing.

So serious

Beautiful Sunset out on the Gulf