Travel Report Apalachicola, Florida

Hello and welcome to another travel report, this time on our short trip to the area around Apalachicola in Florida’s panhandle with my wife and our two dogs.

If you’ve been to Florida, you may have noticed that they like to give catchy names to their numerous coasts. Here is no different and is sometimes referred to as “Florida’s forgotten coast.” Sounds ominous, but in fact we found it beautiful and had a wonderful time. But it does live up to this name, at least in our experience during this trip: the crowds forgot to come! Typically, winter is the peak season for Florida, but we were pretty shocked to find that’s not the case here, at least not this particular week in December. We had the beach to ourselves, and a few restaurants!

We stayed about 25 minutes from Apalachicola at a location known as Indian Pass Beach which is a tiny peninsula adjacent to St. Vincent Island.

Our first full day there was a bit cloudy, but it was still fairly warm and made for a nice walk on the beach with the dogs.

Lunch was at Indian Pass Raw Bar where we had our first taste of the famous Apalachicola oyster. Here we had them raw and in a preparation they simply call baked, which is oysters on the half shell sprinkled with cheese and baked until brown. Both were great! I also really liked the steamed shrimp here.

Interestingly, ahead of the trip we learned about the harvesting of the wild oysters from Apalachicola Bay, or more accurately the lack thereof. The Bay has been closed for oyster harvesting since 2020 in order to allow the wild oysters and ecosystem time to recover after the BP oil spill and other recent negative impacts. Next year is the end of the initial prohibition, but it’s unclear if the Bay will be reopened for harvesting so soon. So, where do all the local oysters come from in restaurants? Well, oyster farming is still allowed and I believe that makes up the local supply. Supposedly these farms are actually helping the ecosystem recover, as oysters tend to act like filters that help to remove impurities from the water. I do hope the Bay is given enough time to completely recover before wild harvesting resumes.

After lunch, we headed to the Forgotten Coast Sea Turtle Center and got tour by one of the volunteers. This center exists to help support the sea turtle population that nests on the beaches in the area. They are also acting as a sanctuary to a few (non-sea) turtles and tortoises which were mostly donated pets. Excitingly, we were able to sponsor a nest for the 2025 sea turtle season, which means we funded protective measures to be placed when a nest is discovered on the beach. Then, we’ll get some info about the location of the nest and how it progresses throughout the incubation period. We might return next year to check on our nest! (Sorry, somehow forgot to take any photos at the Center!)

It was nearing dinner time and we had learned that with the reduced crowds, it was best to get in early before restaurants closed. Our destination this evening: Hole in the Wall Seafood in Apalachicola.

Here, of course, we had more raw oysters! I also tried the seafood gumbo which was good and piping hot.

The next day, we decided to head over to St. George Island State Park with the dogs. But first, a stop at Bayside Coffee.

When we arrived at the State Park, we learned dogs were not allowed on the beach. But that was fine, since it was pretty foggy and we wanted to explore other parts of the park.

We decided to walk on a trail through the salt marsh, which ended up being beautiful in the fog.

On the way back through Apalachicola, we stopped for lunch at Up The Creek Raw Bar which is right beside the docks along the river.

That afternoon, we rode bikes along the beach outside where we were staying. It was a surreal experience with the fog, the waves breaking right next to us, and the mostly empty beaches. We saw more dolphins than people!

That night, we returned to Apalachicola for dinner at Owl Cafe which was located in a really cool old building.

Of course, we had more oysters here! The rest of the food was good too with the gumbo being the highlight of the meal for me.

After dinner, we took the dogs for their evening walk before the moon rose and when we looked out at the waves breaking into the beach we thought our eyes were playing tricks on us. It looked like the waves were glowing as they broke. But as we watched in awe we realized it must be bioluminescence that was triggered by the motion of the waves! It was unexpected and incredible! There was so little light pollution that we could see this naturally occurring phenomenon. I’ve only witnessed bioluminescent waters in one other place: the bio bay in Vieques, Puerto Rico. While I know that the dinoflagellates that produce the light are common in ocean water, I thought it was exceptionally rare that they are present in enough concentration for humans to see their light. So I was very shocked that they appeared to us on this nighttime walk! After a little research, I learned it can be more common than I realized in the Gulf waters. Sadly, I didn’t have the necessary equipment to photograph the effect (namely, a tripod).

The next morning we had time for one last walk along the beach before our departure.

Thanks for reading this travel report. We loved this part of Florida and are hoping to return soon!