Mexico Beach

Scallops, yum. No locals for St. Joseph Bay?

Took my family to Mexico Beach last year for the first time to get away from the oil....great place! I was too busy sailing and exploring the penninsula to scallop, but my family and friends did (on a rented pontoon boat). If you don't get any better info beforehand, I'd recommend that you go into Port St. Joe for some. The Piggly Wiggly is a great place to do your grocery shopping, and the pontoon boat rental people on the marina just past The Pig can sell you a scalloping license and tell you where to go.

For sand dollars and shells, sail a few miles west of Mexico Beach toward Crooked Island (or something like that). We didn't go all the way to the island, but there's a deserted stretch of beach a mile or so east of it that has a big lagoon behind it. Most shells I've ever seen in my life!

Hope you didn't have too much trouble with the spring storms...man, you guys got rocked! Where do you sail around Tuscaloosa, anyway?

Thanks for the info Jerome, I will definately check out Crooked Island I found it on Google Earth. I sailed off Cape San Blas last year but never made it around the point. I'm hoping to sail into the Bay and do some scalloping while we are there.

Locally I sail on Lake Tuscaloosa or Lake Lurlean. Lake Lurean is pretty small for a cat, but is good tacking and jibeing practice. This time of year the sailing gets tough. Shot across the lake in just a few minutes on saturday then spent close to an hour coming back (no wind). Hoping for good winds at Mexico Beach though!

My family has a house on St. Andrews bay, I have done plenty of sailing in the bay. I plan to be down there again later next week. I have seen the locals looking for scallops in the grass flats, I have seen plenty of big scallop shells there but have not personally seen a scallop of decent size. The area that is between the St Andrews marina and the port of panama city is where I have seen the most people looking.

Mexico beach is a WONDERFUL place to sail,
We would sail our viper 830 (Only 16 in the world) from Panama City over to Mexico beach and camp for the night.

Lot's of sailboats go over that way,
Have fun!

Ahhh....Lake Lurlean....we used to pass there on our way to The Sipsey a lot, now we just go up the Natchez Trace then over. If you're ever over this way, bring your boat and sail with us on Ross Barnett Reservoir.