Saturday 6th October
today we started our long drive from Tellahassee to Pensacola and we decided not to take the Interstate – 10 as was suggested in our itenarary – we wanted to get some relax time and also be able to look around us while driving instead of constantly observing what other (truck) drivers were doing. And we really did enjoy the drive – instead of watching big bill boards of food courts along the highway, we now had the rather flat and green countryside occasionally lined with some tiny town or some motor homes campsites to watch.
We arrived in Pensacola round about 2.30 in the afternoon after a bright and sunny drive. We decided to find the beach which we did by crossing over a really long bridge to Pensacola Beach on Santa Rosa Island. This strip of an island acts as a barrier reef for the inner bay and here the sand is pure silver white colour and very fine……. however our first attempt to get to the beach was between private homes who all have their own beach and jetty. Anyway we drove back to our hotel to check in and refresh before we went out again to explore this beautifully pristine sea shore.
At the hotel we were given a more detailed map so our second attempt to get to beach was much easier – at the end of the bridge we had to go right instead of left as we had done the first time we crossed over. But then we had to drive over onto another bridge to Fairpoint Peninsula – and this was really amazing. A long strip of land facing the Gulf of Mexico with beaches on both sides and obviously the tourist industry has discover this paradise so unfortunately there are some high rises built but mostly it’s wooden houses on stilts and low rise apartments. There is enough public beach to be reached by wooden walk ways over the low dunes. I just marveled at the fine silver white sand – it felt so good between my toes…….
After spending some time exploring the islands and enjoying the views, it was time to watch the sunset while having dinner. I had googled seafood restaurants and to me, I think I made the right choice to go to Shaggy’s. Their speciality is grilled fish sandwiches and baskets of shrimps and the atmosphere is so relaxing especially as we had a (tall) table outside on the verandah overlooking the harbour and of course a perfect place to watch the sunset. Once again we tried the oysters – first Gerry asked for one to taste and although it did not have that salty sea taste, it was less bland than the ones we had yesterday so we ordered half a dozen between us together with seared tuna with wasabi sauce and seaweed followed by two baskets of grilled shrimps and fish – oh yes as I am not doing any driving, I enjoyed my frozen strawberry margherita.
It was certainly a beautiful day and back at the hotel (Comfort Innj we had a good night’s sleep as they really have fantastic beds and pillows!
Tomorrow driving to New Orleans……
