2017 Fall

Destin’s multi-story condo and hotel buildings tower over bustling HarborWalk Village and Marina.

alongside the Indian Temple Mound Museum with an actual 19-foot-high earthen mound built by pre- Columbian tribes living in the area from 700-1500 AD. Also onsite is the century-old Fort Walton School House with original desks. Upon crossing the Marler Bridge from Okaloosa Island, I can’t help but notice Destin’s multi-story condo and hotel buildings towering over bustling HarborWalk Village and Marina with its pulsing restaurants and bars. But within this modern complex, a centerpiece carved magnolia tree helps define Destin’s past. The tree was thought to be 170 years old when it died in 2014, when a local artist carved its snaking limbs into figurines including dolphins, fish, turtles, swordfish and a blonde-haired, green-tailed mermaid. A nearby placard reads that city founder Captain Leonard Destin is believed to have tied his boats to the tree during storms in the mid 19th century. Tour operators moor their boats in the marina, ready to depart on daily excursions. The harbor and surrounding waterways are filled with snorkelers, kayakers, and those on dolphin cruises, parasailing adventures, and wave runners. The harbor is also home to the largest licensed charter and commercial fishing fleet in Florida and in North America. “Destin is the closest port to the

deepest water,” says Kathy Marler Blue, explaining how the depths drop from 600 feet at 40 miles out in the Gulf to 2,700 feet deep at 70 miles. Destin holds its Fishing Rodeo for the entire 31 days of October. There’s also good reason marketing slogans call the miles of beaches here the “Emerald Coast. “The sand here is 97-98 percent quartz and its main properties include its ability to reflect,” explains Marler Blue. “When the sunlight goes through the water and reflects off the quartz, it refracts through the bodies of the micro- organisms, thus casting the color.” Because I wanted to see alligators (this is Florida), I stop in Destin’s Fudpucker’s Beachside Bar and Grill noted for its free alligator exhibit. More than 100 gators up to six feet long swim and sun themselves, cramming a central restaurant pond beneath viewing platforms. “If you’re from up north, you probably haven’t seen too many alligators in your life,” says alligator handler Chris Bastian, noting that visitors can feed the gators and hold a small one while posing for a photo. When reaching Panama City Beach, my first stop is St. Andrews State Park. Sandwiched between a lagoon and the Gulf, visitors can dive, kayak, and canoe. Boats are the only way to reach pristine Shell Island—a

EMERALD COAST

COAST TO COAST FALL MAGAZINE 2017

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