Destin or Disney?

  After a day of flat-water cruising through straight cuts and large bays, we had visions of white beaches and lazy living in Destin, Monday’s 60-mile point. The first clue to the unexpected at Destin Harbor was that, after treading through a narrow bridge passage with troublesome currents, we’d immediately turn sharply to port then kept only a boat’s length away from concrete bridge pilings in a very busy channel. In addition, the Gulf inlet was on the starboard side and. . . people on jet skis, kayaks and fishing boats all around! Slowly we made it through the very narrow path into Destin Harbor and anchoring field, with mock pirate ships firing cannons and tourist-filled tour boats passing close by. Amazed and dismayed, we were still game for checking out the scene. Never have I seen so much development in one small area as here. I remember when the kids were little, we vacationed in Destin and were very careful not to disturb the sea oats but what the “heck”…  now they’ve been replaced by condos. And we’ve never seen so many boats packed into such a tight place. There are hundreds of sport fish and run-abouts.

Fred & Linda came over soon in their new propane powered dinghy to ferry us ashore. There’s a boardwalk all along the bays edge lined with three story bars and shops. Small trains for kids toot up and down the boardwalk, threading through the crowds while Garth Brooks blares in the background. We could not believe this was the beach and not Disney World! Do the kids ever see the sand here? Getting into the spirit of the place, Fred spotted a hot dog stand that had pretty good dogs and we topped it off with an ice cream before heading back to a quiet night on the boat. We’ll have one more day of cruising before arriving in Mobile, Alabama.  

Nice looking shrimp boat we passed.

A view of part of "Disney Destin."