Apalachicola is known for oysters and views of the Gulf of Mexico. It’s located in the panhandle of Florida, east of Destin, where there are less white sand beaches and fewer people. Life is slower and more about enjoying fresh wild raw oysters.
Carabelle, Ho-Hum RV Park
This is one of our favorite places to visit in Florida. We stayed at Ho-Hum a few years ago and enjoyed it. They had full service, great wifi and satellite and amazing views.
There isn’t a whole lot to see or do other than take multiple walks along the water everyday and look for dolphins. On one occasion, a dolphin swam in the water about 30 feet from the shore where Jake and I were standing. Jake went nuts and wanted to jump in with it.
Even though the topography is the same each day, changing tides, weather, and time of the day created a different image.
The beach was dog friendly, and if no other dogs or people were around, Jake relished being off leash and freely exploring.
An eastern bluebird hanging out by the motorhome.
A tricolored heron. It’s white belly sets it apart from the other dark herons.
Oystercatchers with their long, flattened, orange-red bills. They love mollusks as much as Sandy.
Daily group of gulls and pelicans.
We frequently saw bald eagles, but usually too far away to photograph. The southern bald eagles tend to be slightly smaller than their northern cousins. They tend to nest in the winter instead of spring.
Gulf Specimen Marine Lab, Panacea, Florida
The Gulf Specimen Marine Lab was established in 1963 as a nonprofit organization that supplies marine fish and invertebrates to universities and aquariums in the USA, Canada and Europe.
The best part was being able to walk around all the holding tanks and look directly at the critters. The facility was dog friendly. Jake was able to look into every tank and watch the stingrays, turtles, fish and sharks.
Lynn’s Quality Oysters, Eastpoint, Florida
A local favorite for fresh oysters. It’s a no frills restaurant, but the oysters were very good and the staff friendly.
Apalachicola, Florida
Apalachicola is bordered on two sides by the Apalachicola Bay and the Apalachicola River. Prior to the 1500s, the only inhabitants of the area were the Apalachee, Miccosukee and Timucua tribes. In the early 1500s, the area had been under Spanish occupation, then British occupation. The British trading post was called Cottonton. Efforts were made to eventually make this the third busiest Gulf port prior to railroads. Part of the effort to attract investors was to rename the area Apalachicola. Over 90% of Florida’s oysters are harvested in Apalachicola Bay.
The Station Raw Bar, Apalachicola, Florida
The atmosphere, food, and staff were what we were looking for. We sampled wild verses farm raised oysters. The wild had thicker shells, more meat, and a slightly better taste. The farm raised were very good also.
Up the Creek Raw Bar, Apalachicola, Florida
Up the Creek had a very casual atmosphere with water views and unique retro artwork about the restaurant.
Their oysters were farm raised and smaller, but still tasty. Sandy ate three dozen in the week we were here.
Dr. John Gorrie, Apalachicola, Florida
Dr. Gorrie was an American physician and inventor. Not only did he work as a physician in Apalachicola, but he was the postmaster, founding member of Trinity Episcopal Church, Secretary of the Masonic Lodge, President of the local bank, owned a hotel, and served on the city council.
In the 1800s, tropical diseases were believed to arise from bad air caused by swamps, humidity and heat. Since Yellow Fever didn’t occur when it was cold outside, he believed that part of a patients recovery from Yellow Fever was to cool the patients environment. His initial experiments involved hanging ice in a room that had vents in the floor and ceiling to circulate the air, creating air conditioning. Ice was difficult to come by in Florida during summer months, so he experimented with mechanical artificial cooling. He had a patent for making ice. Even though at the time they didn’t understand the mosquitos role in Yellow Fever, Dr. Gorrie pioneered refrigeration and air conditioning.
