Saw Miami mayor closed theirs for 4th of July. Any word on others - panhandle? Can the governor override it?

I think 30a is mostly open

Monroe County is also closing beaches for the 4th.

Hincemm said:

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I think 30a is mostly open

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We are arriving Friday...hopefully the beaches stay open

Heading to 30A in a couple weeks. Landlord of our condo said so far so good. He said folks in Miami Dade county have closed bars and beaches "that should be fun for them"
The hope is there is no state quarantine coming to/from Texas.

Both states are media punching bags for the last week so can't imagine one betraying the other

30A was a great time last week.

Hope you have a great time when y'all get there.

In Destin/Miramar now, got here on the 4th. Business as usual and lots of fun. Crowded, but probably not near as usual for this week.

The System said:

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In Destin/Miramar now, got here on the 4th. Business as usual and lots of fun. Crowded, but probably not near as usual for this week.

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I can confirm this. Really nice to get away and have fun without any restrictions.

Watercolor at 4:00 today

^^^^ oh the Hughmanatee !
That's a lot of folks.

A lot of people but hard to tell from that angle is that they have doubled the space between the umbrellas.

Now the pools at the beach club were jammed

Sandestin is spacing out their umbrellas to ensure proper social distancing. Has been for a couple of months. That photo from Watercolor seems to show the same.

TexAgs1992 said:

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Sandestin is spacing out their umbrellas to ensure proper social distancing. Has been for a couple of months. That photo from Watercolor seems to show the same.

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I was at Sandestin beach yesterday umbrellas are definitely not spaced.

My wife and I were about to try to make some Florida reservations. Our one year wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii got cancelled in May so still trying to make up for it. We went to Panama City Beach a couple of years ago and she discovered she really likes shelling so I was planning on going to Sanibel this time around. Anybody been down to that area recently? I've been checking out beach webcams and it didn't look very crowded and I know they don't have the huge resorts there so I figured it would be a quieter area and she could look for shells all day long.

scheming?

Haha. Shelling. Fixed it above. I use a swiping keyboard on the phone and if I'm not careful it will choose the wrong word a lot.

shertown04 said:

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My wife and I were about to try to make some Florida reservations. Our one year wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii got cancelled in May so still trying to make up for it. We went to Panama City Beach a couple of years ago and she discovered she really likes shelling so I was planning on going to Sanibel this time around. Anybody been down to that area recently? I've been checking out beach webcams and it didn't look very crowded and I know they don't have the huge resorts there so I figured it would be a quieter area and she could look for shells all day long.

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We own a place down there. It is much quieter compared to panhandle. If she likes shelling, she will enjoy Sanibel. When are you planning your trip?

How's Clearwater area?

I've been there once back in 2012. That's why I was convincing her to go there. It's not quite the clear waters of Destin but it is only a fraction of the crowds with millions of shells for her to dig through all day. I figure it will be one of the quieter spots in Florida right now with Ft Myers there to catch some of the younger, bigger crowds. We would be there the week of July 26.

SIL owns a place on Grayton Beach and we were there at the beginning of June. Because we always stay at her place, that is the only beach in the Destin area we visit. I had no idea that the other beaches near Grayton Beach were that crowded.

shertown04 said:

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I've been there once back in 2012. That's why I was convincing her to go there. It's not quite the clear waters of Destin but it is only a fraction of the crowds with millions of shells for her to dig through all day. I figure it will be one of the quieter spots in Florida right now with Ft Myers there to catch some of the younger, bigger crowds. We would be there the week of July 26.

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Be sure and buy some bug spray or wipes for the noseeum bugs (biting gnats). They are worse in the summer compared to winter and early spring. If you can find anything that contains Picardin, that works well to keep the noseeums at bay in the early morning and evenings (when they're most active). I personally use Sawyers brand Picardin spray. I think they also make some wipes. Also, be sure and bring face masks. Sanibel is strict about wearing masks inside stores and at restaurants until you're at your table eating/drinking.

Let me know if you need any restaurant recommendations.

I just got here, only people wearing masks are probably Texans.

Here = 30a

Be there Thursday. Covid case count in Walton County is 500, rest of Florida is 270,000 - mostly Miami and Palm Beach. Granted most of Walton County live in Tx anyway.

We're headed to Navarre beach on Thursday as well. Not really worried about anything unless Texas does something stupid for our return like a body's quarantine

TitanAGGIE09 said:

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We're headed to Navarre beach on Thursday as well. Not really worried about anything unless Texas does something stupid for our return like a body's quarantine

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Ya'll will have a blast. Have you been to Navarre Beach before?

Matsui said:

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How's Clearwater area?

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I second this question

Supposed to take the family there end of July to the Sheraton. Also spending a few days in Kissimmee for what was Disney trip, but we're just gonna stay in hotel as they have a massive water park which is plenty enough for my 4 and 5 year olds.

Clearwater is fine. %A0Pretty good beaches - nothing like the panhandle (water or the sand) but still better than most alternatives.

Not quite Florida, but we spent last week in Gulf Shores. We had a house on west beach, so that set up great for social distancing since it's all houses and basically no condos. We booked Walmart online pickup several days out to avoid having to dive into the massive Saturday/Sunday stock-up chaos, and we scheduled a few others several days out for restocks. Our adventures out involved golf and takeout, which is what we've been doing at home anyway. Observed mask wearing at places was hit and miss. I'd say maybe 50%. Fastfood places with so few (or nobody) dining in were good toilet break stops on the drive.

We've made that trip 5 times now, and this one was scaled back as far as eating out and a few other activities we like to do (we usually hit the waterpark at some point), but it was still a great trip. Really glad we went.

I think case counts in these non-metro vacation areas are really hard to judge since a lot of people that may be catching it there are not getting sick (or at least going to the doc/getting tested) until they are back home. Many of these towns are only 10-15k permanent residents whereas these metro areas showing up as hotspots obviously have a ton more that would be staying there, getting tested there, etc.

Nope, first time

I grew up going to Daytona Beach every summer and I've been all over Florida since then but I don't remember ever having an issue with the biting gnats until my last trip there. When we went to Panama City in 2018 we were in the lagoon area of the state park in the shallow water around sunset and those things went crazy on me. Any part of my body that was out of the water was swarmed and they freakin' hurt.

I live in Austin so masks have already been part of our everyday routine for months now. We have some in every car and my wife keeps sanitizer in her purse at all times. My work just sent me a bunch of new ones as did my wife's boss. My MIL and my parents are all in the high-risk category due to health issues so we make sure to be as safe as we can even though we only see them every few months. Our plan was to bring groceries from home and survive on sandwiches and things we can cook ourselves. Part of vacations is eating out but we are skipping that this time around.