Florida’s
Fishapalooza
There’s something
fishy about this
panhandle place
BY MICHAEL MURILLO
A young angler
thrills at the sight
of a red snapper
caught by mom
just offshore
from Destin.
inding a better fishing location
than Destin might be hard,
and getting there is pretty
easy. You won’t need a GPS,
or an iPhone app, or a map
because there’s usually a caravan of cars, trucks, and trailers to follow on I- 10 headed toward Florida’s
Emerald Coast. You want numbers?
Each year, more than 4 million visitors
enjoy its beaches, fishing, and seafood.
Most will stop in Destin, and with good
reason: You can access the 24 miles of
sugar-sand beaches from a dozen different places, drop anchor at Crab Island,
and still be about an hour from other
significant cities in the panhandle. For a
F
self-described “fishing village,” Destin has
more than its share of festivals, high-rise
condominiums, and celebrity homeown-ers (Karl Rove and Emeril Lagasse, to
name a few). It’s no wonder the city’s
population more than triples during tourist season.
But even if it’s your first trip to Destin,
you don’t have to tackle it like a tourist.
Shelling, snorkeling, and dolphin-watch-ing are all accessible from several vantage
points, and the area where the land and
water meet is pretty special, too.
“The sand looks like snow here. It’s
really beautiful,” explained Captain Victor
Adams of TowBoatU.S. in Destin, noting
that the city has won accolades for its
