August 22, 2025 • 52 mins
Episode 188: Discover Why Destin, Florida is The Family Vacationer’s Favorite Beach Town In this episode, Rob and Traci wrap up their popular “Best Beach Towns in the US” series with their top pick: Destin and Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Known for its stunning emerald green waters and powdery white sand, Destin is a family favorite that offers more than just beautiful beaches. Jennifer Adams, President of the Destin Fort Walton Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, joins the show to share insider tips on how families can make the most of their trip—from adventurous water activities and kid-friendly experiences to local dining favorites and seasonal festivals. She also highlights unique programs like “Little Adventures” designed to get kids unplugged and exploring nature. Whether you’re curious about the diverse beach neighborhoods, fishing fleets, or hidden gems like the Spector Islands, Jennifer covers it all. Plus, get the scoop on safety tips, eco-friendly tourism, and how Destin balances being a bustling tourist hotspot with a welcoming community vibe. Tune in for advice on the best times to visit, family lodging options, and activities that will appeal to all ages—including teens! Resources Mentioned:
- Visit Destin Fort Walton Beach: destinFWB.com
- Little Adventures & Free Classes: adventureDFWB.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
We're revealing the Family Vacationer's favorite beach town in the US.
Think breathtaking beaches, family fun around every corner, and memories
waiting to be made. Don't miss the insider scoop in
episode one nine, and it starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to The Family Vacationer with Robin Tracy, your go
to podcast for families on the move.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Hey everybody, and welcome back to The Family Vacationer, where
we help you make lifelong memories one trip at a time.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm Rob and I'm Tracy.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I can't even tell you how excited I am about
today's episode. We're wrapping up our series on the best
beach towns in the US, and we save the best
for last.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
We absolutely did. Today we are headed to Destin Fort
Walton be Each in Florida. This is hands down our
favorite place to vacation as a family. It's where emerald
green waters meet powdery white sand and we've made so
many great family memories there.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Absolutely and to help us dive into everything families need
to know about Destin before visiting, we've got Jennifer Adams
with us today.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Welcome to the show. Jennifer, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
We're so glad to have you. So let's start at
the top. For the few of our listeners that may
not be familiar with Dustin and Fort Walton Beach, how
would you describe the area to a first time visitor.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well, I think it's paradise. You know, every day, no
matter what time of day or throughout the year, when
I see the water, I've just always calmed. You know.
We have crystal clear emeralds, green water, and sugar white
sand beaches. And actually our mission is to get kids
outside on the water to give their adventure side room
(02:03):
to grow. So rather, we want to get them off
their devices, you know, out of their chairs and do
a little adventure with their moms and their siblings and
try something new because as we all know, you know,
they're so sedentary, and we really believe that we can
make a difference with that. I'll go further. It's a
(02:25):
very friendly destination. It's a very friendly community. So even
though we market the destination, I live in this community
and I'm always so proud as to how kind people
are and how much they really protect the place that
we live. You know, we try to make you know
(02:46):
your time spend here if you're working or living or visiting,
you know, better for everybody. So we've really worked hard
on that, and I think particularly through families and parents
with young kids, their ditching the one hundred days of
summer in the sense of let me go, get everybody
down to the beach, and they're doing more activities throughout
(03:07):
their time here for years and years and years, where
we were the discount beach destination, but you have so
much more than beach, which is why after COVID, we
created our Little Adventure program to help mom help their
families get outside. You know, there's there's a national statistic
that says more than fifty percent of our nation's children
(03:31):
spend less time outdoors than prison inmates, and on top
of that, forty nine percent of their parents don't know
how to play with them. So we created Little Adventures
to help mom make some choices to get outside with
their families, get on the water, learn new things, learn
(03:51):
how to throw a cast net, learn how to stargaze,
learn how to chase crabs at night. So it was
important to us to tie them into the water, but
to really recognize that we could be part of putting
the family back in touch with something other than you know,
COVID and electronics and captivity and all that. So, you know,
(04:14):
we we had a really good time doing it and
we're still doing it to this day.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
What makes this area such as standout choice for families
compared to other beach destinations.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, I worked in many beach destinations, and as I
mature in this, I recognize that we as a community
need to be interacting with our visitors. Typically for Destination
Marketing Association, and I was guilty of this, we would
focus on putting ads in Atlanta so we can get
(04:45):
you to book and come on down, and then when
you're here, we're like, all right, we don't do that anymore.
So we you know, we help moms plan not just
there where they're going to stay physically in an accommodation,
but plan what they're going to do when they get here.
(05:06):
We have and you know, I know I'm jumping around
a little bit here, but we have our online scouts
and there there's ten local moms who are online every
day answering questions that moms may have to ensure that
their family vacation. You know, it is memorable these moms.
(05:30):
We put them out in the community. We have them
done little adventures with their kids so they can actually
talk with them. It's not AI, it's not abot, it's
it's not canned responses. It's actual conversations that they're having.
And you know, not all destinations do that. You know,
they want you to go right to the booking engine
(05:50):
and book their accommodation. I don't. We don't do that.
I don't. I don't sell accommodations. I bring people to
a destination so they can make memories with their families.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
When we are talking about physically where you're going to
stay in the area. So you've got destined for Walton
Beach as many times as we've been down, I'm not
sure I'm certain of all the little beach towns that
make up that area. Miramar, San Destin. You know, if
you're looking at a map, can you kind of walk
(06:23):
us through the different neighborhoods that make up the area.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah, it is confusing. So I worked in my neighboring county,
which is South Walton thirty A for quite some time.
They have fifteen or sixteen beach communities starting with mer
or Mar going to San Destin Seaside. They have those
and it's confusing because people when they're in Mirramar Beach
(06:49):
think they're in Destin because they're getting a destined zip code, right.
So my counterpart in South Walton, we're always trying to
particularly when you're on Crystal Beach. So Crystal Beach is
in Destin. It's next to Miramar Beach and it's a
very popular family destination. And then we have Henderson State Park,
(07:09):
which is an award winnings state park. It won Best
Beach years ago. Then we have Holiday Isle, which is
a little bit more secluded and that's mostly condos, some
vacation homes and mostly condos. And then you have Destin proper,
which you know, really is anchored around the harbor. So
(07:32):
our harbor, you know, is home to the biggest fishing
fleet in the nation, and it's just a hub of activity.
So now Crystal Beach is technically in Destin if you
live there as a resident, but we often use different names.
We also have Okloosa Island and we also have Fort
Walton Beach. Now those are just our beaches, but we
(07:54):
have many many beautiful places that aren't beach front but
have water. So Niceville is on the Chokahatchie Bay and
they have fantastic bay access and bay activities and biyos
that you can do paddle boarding on or kayaking or
other things that you might not do at the beach.
(08:15):
You know, we have Crestview and we have a freshwater
river system that people are now taking the day and
kayaking down. So are those are the different places. We
have various downtowns that really don't have a lot to
do with the water. Downtown Fort Walton Beach is lovely,
Downtown Cresview is fantastic. It's not where you're going to
(08:39):
sit in lay on the beach, but you're going to
get a great experience there. So we're diversifying. We look
at the water and the environment and how we can
sustain that with not just focusing on the beach water.
So that's what I was. There's there's a lot of
(09:02):
great places to find here, which is what I said again,
we're trying to get them on sure, come to the beach, right,
but we all know if you have young kids, they're
not going to hang out on the beach for six
or seven hours a day for seven days. It's not
going to happen. So especially if they drop their device
in the sand. You know what I mean, it's going
to work.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You know what's funny, that's the beach is the one
place where we don't have to worry about our kids
and devices. It might be the only place that we
that we don't have to worry about that.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
But that's great.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And we may be in the minority, but our kids
and meet me as well, Like for our family, you've
got shopping in the beach, and that's those are our
two go tos right there. Not so much shopping for me.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
But well they don't even take them down to the beach.
Well that's great. That's great because people say to me,
we need to have more broadband on the beach. No,
we don't know, we don't, we do not so but
but you know, let me go back to little adventures
in addition to having you know, so here, let me
talk about little adventures for a second. Can I do that?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Okay, So if you go on to our website destin
FWB dot com, you click on the little Adventure page
and there'll be a filter at the top, and the
filter says, okay, my kids are three to four or
five to seven, whatever I want to spend this much money.
There's a couple options, and this is how much time
(10:26):
I want to be on an adventure, and then you
click it and the little adventures that we've created comes up,
so the mom can see, oh, this one might be
right for me, you know. And then we also, alongside
of that do what we call kid reviews, So we
have kids review the adventure because not in my family,
(10:48):
but in some families, you know, people ask their kids
what they want to do for a vacation, and so
if they're all over the place, you can say, hey,
watch this kid review, and you can hear it from
someone that you relate to, not just mom and dad
saying this is where you're going. So we try to
get real, you know, down deep with that, and it's working.
(11:10):
Every time we go.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
It's usually in the summer, and so it's very crowded.
You know, the traffic is crazy. Are there ideal times
of year that are good for families to visit with
fewer crowds, but you're still like in the warm weather
and sunny weather.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Oh yeah, my favorite times of the year in November
and April and May. Yeah, we just had a beautiful may.
You know, it rains but there's so even we're not
even worried about the rain anymore. You know, if you're
gonna rain, then go to the Gulf Arium, go to
we have you know, ten amazing museums all across the county,
(11:52):
the Emerald Coast Science Center, the Armament Museum, the Heritage Museum,
Destined Fishing Museum. So you know, go go do something
like that and you'll have a great time.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
There's a great outland all too. My mom always wants
to go to the aland when it.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Rains, the shop, Yes, Destin Commons is great. It's also
very interactive for kids, you know. And and if it's
not so bad, then take a walk on the beach.
You're just gonna get wet. What's the big deal. And
so you know, we have a beach flag system here,
(12:27):
so when you come to Destin Fort Walton Beach from
March to October, uh you can sign up to get
the beach flag texts and so if you know double
reds are flying, you'll get an alert so you can
start to plan to do something else. But you know,
people think, oh, well if the Gulf is closed. No,
(12:47):
we have Big Cahuna's water Park. We have Chalkahachie Bay.
We have a host of bayous. We have the Sound
National Seashore, So there are other beaches to go to
that aren't golf front but are very safe and family friendly.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah. I wanted to mention several times about the flag system,
just because you know, every year you read about people
who ignore the flag system. And you know, double reds
mean you don't put a toe in the water. It's
not a joke, it's not a suggestion.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
No, and you could get a fine or lose your life.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And you should get a fine, I think.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Right. So we have a very robust public safety program
and as a TDC contributes to that with our public
safety entities, and we're constantly educating. We print materials so
our accommodations partners can get them into the rooms. You know,
that beach flag program. Every year I have more than
(13:48):
I budgeted for. I said, we'll find the money because
I'm not stopping this program. It's too it's too vital.
And I understand, I mean I understand that people are like,
I've come here, spent my money. Well, there are pools,
there's the bay, there's the other things that I mentioned.
So you know, for a day or so, you know,
please call us and we'll help you find something else
(14:11):
to do because there are calm waters, but you know
that we have rick currents. It's just the way the
Gulf is and so you know, we try to let
people know that. So during the summertime, one of the
things that we do is we have what we call
our Little Adventure Scouts and they are on the beach
(14:32):
and we have a Little Adventure Program where they they
walk the beaches every day and they're talking to people,
educating them, but they're also you know, talking about the
text program, but they're also telling them about our Little
Adventure classes. So these are classes that are free to
(14:55):
kids and parents that the Tourist Development Department, and we're
trying to teach kids other things like how to get
on a paddle board, how to throw a cast net,
how to you know, pinfish patrol, which is identifying different
fishes so if the event the water's not great, they
(15:17):
could do something in calmer waters or or focus it
somewhere else. And this is our this is our fourth
fifth summer now. So we're on the beach. We have
two two outposts and six roving and we're just trying
to teach. That goes back to that this community just
really wants to embrace our visitor and let them know
what's important to us. So if we can teach a
(15:37):
kid and get them confident to put their head and
a snorkel in the water, you know, in his bathtub,
that's a wind for us because then they'll come back.
So again goes back to us just not being a
beach community.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Sure, what about for teens, do you have like the
older crowd.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Oh yeah, so teens have got the wrap right with
COVID and everything like that, you know, especially because that's
space that they're in. We have found that the teams, well,
they don't want to do stuff with their little kid.
They don't want to build sand castles. They are more
apt to do something different. Believe it or not. We
(16:19):
have teams that want to go sailing in the bay.
We have more and more teams that want to learn
how to dive. They want to do bigger fishing trips
and spend more time out on the water. They also
want to do beach cleanups and turtle walks. They want
to do environmental things. So that's important to those that generation.
(16:42):
And so we're my Coastal Resources team and my environmental
team are really trying to offer more than that. We
are my natural resources team. We're building trails so that
we can say, you don't want to be in the
beach today, why don't you go up to you know,
Old River Preserve and take a hike because we've got
(17:03):
you know, miles of pathways that lead down to the
river and then maybe you can hop on a kayak.
So the teens, we see that. You know, there's a
difference between moms with three to ten year olds, which
is our core market. But after a couple of years,
those ten year olds become fifteen year olds and they
want to do something different. So we have a program
(17:25):
called real Time, which is a program to connect those
teens with some of our charter captains and get them
offshore their comfort zone and give them a different experience.
You know, some moms say, well, I can't bring a
three year old on a fishing charter. Well, yes she can.
We have a captain. Her name is Captain Brandy. She
has six kids. Her kids have been on the boat
(17:47):
since they were little. Captain Anna as well. But you're
not going to go offshore. The teenagers want to find
a different sense of accomplishment than the little ones. And
so we provide.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
That that's awesome. Our fifteen year old soon to be
fifteen year old would love that.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, And again, you could go online and talk to
an online mom and online scout and she'll tell you
about that and how to connect. So it's important that
they're local and they're not computer audio generated. So you
talked about the rainy day.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Are there indoor sports, you know, like facilities or any
other things you know, for families to do when it's raining.
I know you talk about the aquarium and museums.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, the museums and the aquariums. I mean a lot
of our sporting event places are outside, but we try
to communicate if so. For instance, the board Walk is
on Oakloos Island and it's not a sporting place, but
it has multiple restaurants and so you can you can
(18:58):
have an adventure there because you your kids might go
downstairs and play on the equipment that's pretty well protected
and you might be able to see them. And some
of our some of our our dining establishments, our destinations.
Bud Puckers is a destination and in itself, I'm sure
you've been there, yes, yeah, so you know with their
(19:20):
alligator show and all that, so we stay very connected
with them. Obviously, the Commons is a very popular place
to go when it's raining.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You have one of the coolest bowling alleys. I'm not
a bowler, yeah, but that is one of the Yes,
that's one of the coolest bowling alleys I've ever been to.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, And believe it or not, people will spend hours
and hours in fast Pro because they have the Goliath
you know groupers in there, and so that's where we
send them, you know. And and again we try to
say unless the weather is so bad you might get
a little bit wet, but you know, go play volleyball
at the Worldwalk because the nets already set up and
(20:02):
it's super in the pier, you know, the Oaklooza Island Pier.
It's so popular and you can also you know, eat
at anglers. So there's a lot to do there. At
Fort Walton Beach, you know, they have amazing parks and
great food. And then you know, and in the northern
(20:24):
end of the county there's also we have a lot
of farms and agriculture. So if it's just not a
sunny day, you can go pick strawberries and and all that.
So we're trying to let people know the diversity of
our tourism product that I don't even I shouldn't say
tourism product. The diversity of where we live is what
I should say, because I love going up for even
(20:46):
though I live down south.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
When you were talking about food puggers, they used to
do like the nightlife routines. Yeah, they turned into a club.
They still do that.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yes, yep, they do that. They do that, and then
you know the arcades next door, so they do that,
and then they have the Alligators educational show with the
alligators that's really very very popular. So but the teams, yes,
they have that.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
And then there's so many places to almost said, putt putt.
I'm showing my age too, mini golf. And then there's
the track which we I mean, we can't go to
Dustin without you know, hitting the track once or twice,
probably twice.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
And the track and you have yep, and you have
wild Lilies which is on the island, and they have
so many things that they've got water carts and then
gold carts and then putt putts. So that's and that's
right across from the boardwalk and the pier and the
gulf Aium, so you could make it a whole day
on Oakloosa Island.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
And they're just right across the street.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
We've reached the most important part of the show where
we talk about food and in destin I have a
list my wife can test to this of places that
you know I'm I'm all for. You know, we'll check
out a new place every now and again, but I
have a list of places that we have to check off.
But what what are some of your family friendly dining
(22:14):
spots that that you know that visitors love in town.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
I have grandchildren and I love taking them to Lulu's.
LULUs is a destination in itself. It's family friendly, the
food's good, the kids can play, it's safe, and my
grandchildren absolutely love it. Again, we go to the boardwalk
for the kids to run around. If it's me and
(22:40):
my husband, we love Harbordocks, There's and Dewey Destines. The
food is fantastic. But really all of our restaurants East
past Oyster Bar and jack A Kuda's and bow Shamps
and Bertulla's, I mean they're all they're all very great
because we know that our seafood is so fresh. So
(23:04):
if you come here to I mean, you can ask
them where the fish came. Some of them still do
the Gulf to table where there's a QR code in
your group or sandwich and you can click it. It'll
tell you who caught it one and where. But I
know that my seafood is fresh. I don't eat a
lot of seafood outside of destined because I'm spoiled. I
(23:24):
know where it came from. We just excuse me. We
just had the our annual Emerald Coast Open, which is
our lionfish tournament. It's the biggest turnament lionfish tournament in
the nation, and we remove twenty one thousand lionfish in
a weekend and the restaurants have restaurant week and they
(23:45):
compete to see who has the best recipe. It's like
ten days of Wars. And people are like, well, wait
a minute, you can't eat lionfish. Oh, yes you can.
And we can't eat a poisonous fish. Well poisonous, it's venomous,
and so as long as it's cleaned right and you know,
(24:06):
it's very good, so we eat really well. We also
have the Royal Reds, which are the big shrimp that
comes from the real deep waters. They're so good. So
I know right now triple tail seems to be in season.
I just had some flunt. It's really good. So we
(24:27):
and we and we know. So for instance, the Boardwalk
has their own commissary, so there we know that they're
getting their seafood cleaning and prepping it and sending it
up to their to their local restaurants. That's really important.
You know. The crab we have two locations of crab tracks,
one on one on Oakaloos Island and one in Destin,
and we know that they're getting fresh seafood because it's
(24:49):
coming from their commissary. We talked to the charter captains
a lot, and this is their livelihood, and so we
want to promote it because not only is it good
to eat, it's just it's the right thing to do.
To be the world's luckiest fishing village with the largest
fleet in the nation. We should go down to the
(25:10):
harbor and stay in touch with them. I mean, if
you go down to the harbor at one o'clock. So
let me digress this time of year. Every morning I
go over the bridge to my office at about five
point thirty quarter of six, and the fleet is in
mass They are going out and it's so beautiful because
(25:31):
then when they get to the pass, they turn around,
they catch their bait and they go. But then if
you come back to the harbor around one o'clock, all
the boats are coming back in and the fish is colorful,
the people are exciting, the deckhands are just charismatic, and
it's I just sit there on a bench. I just
love to go sit and watch. So I tell people, well,
(25:53):
if you really want to see something, you know that's awesome,
go to the harbor one day and just, you know,
watch what happens because it's magical.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yeah, I'm in the minority of people. I don't eat seafood.
So when we go, he gets to pick all of
their restaurants and he just has to make sure they
have chicken.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
We have great restaurants. You know, We've got some really
great and you know, think about it. We have three
military bases here, so the diversity of the food that's
coming out of the people that are moving here. We
have great Asian and II we have great barbecue because
(26:34):
people are settling here, are being stationed here from all
over the world. So we eat really good. And I
would say to anybody, if you want to eat where
the locals eat, get online with an online mom and
we'll tell you. Not that we don't eat at other restaurants.
But so I'm not a big sushi eater. The only
place that I'll eat sushi is at Harbor Ducks because
(26:56):
I know that Yoshi makes it and I know her,
and that's okay, that's my choice. So, but the food
is so diverse, even outside of seafood.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Yeah, I was gonna say red snapper is my favorite,
but I'm curious about lionfish. I've never heard of that before.
Can you can you kind of tell me what what
that tastes like? Is there is there something comparable.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Or it's a white flaky fish. Okay, And so let
me tell you about lionfish. So lionfish are in the
invasive species and sometimes they're this big, you know, an
inch and a half and sometimes they're five you know whatever,
But they have no natural predator, so they come into
an environment and they just try to annihilate it. So
(27:44):
my coastal resources team goes out and manages the population.
The only way that you can catch lionfish because they're
so complacent because there they have no predators. Is with
a spear gun. So spearfishing has really grown. I mean,
we have so many different types of fishing, but the
(28:06):
amount of people that come to go spearfishing is amazing.
So as long as you spearfishing correctly and put it
into your bag, then they can be cleaned appropriately. They're
very light, and they're not it's not a flaky fish.
It's a very mild white fish. So when people again
(28:29):
come and say, you know, I'm eating something poisonous, you're not.
It's just it's venomous. So if you're the person who's
harvesting the fish and you're not well trained, you might
get zapped, you know. And that's what we try to
educate people on. It's just like, you know, we have
natural other natural sea creatures that people are curious about,
(28:51):
but that's their environment. So we try to educate.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Interesting, can you rent equipment to go spearfishing Intestine?
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I've never you, Yeah you can. So. Actually, here's the
interesting thing about Destin. More and more we're getting to
be known as a dive community. We have almost six
hundred artificial reefs out in the Gulf. In our waters
you can go online and start your preliminary training and
(29:20):
then you can come to Destin and there's many many outfitters,
scuba tech and just that will train you to finish
up your certification and then you can go do a
dive with them. You can get on the boat with them,
they have the gear, they'll be with you until you
feel comfortable enough to dive by yourself. So and for us,
(29:41):
diving starts with teaching kids how to snorkel. Right, I'll
be real transparent. I do not put my face in
any water. I don't like that a lot of people don't.
But people are curious, and so we start with putting
their face in the water with scuba gear and then
maybe they might go, you know, to the jetties where
(30:03):
they'll see more sea creatures. And then as they get older,
they might do mermaiding where you're in the water with
the tail, so you're learning how to you know, do
more without you without flailing around. And then some people
then progress to snooba where the gear is on the
boat so you don't have to worry about wearing the gear,
(30:24):
but you're in the mask. And then from there they
go diving. And we have many charters and outfitters that
will take you take people out diving, and this is
something that the teenagers really want to do. You know,
not only is it cool and fun, but it's environmentally
something that they're really interested is to identify species and
(30:46):
see the turtles and the dolphins and all that up
front up close. We have a large network of reefs.
We just purchased I don't know if you heard this,
but we just purchased the SS United States, which is
a historic ocean vessel that was built to transport military people.
(31:10):
It was first voyage I think was in nineteen fifty two.
When it was decommissioned around sixty nine, it became an
ocean liner and she was in Philadelphia for about thirty years.
And long story short, we purchased her. She's now in mobile.
She is being ready to be deployed. There's a lot
(31:34):
of environmental things that we need to do to make
sure that she's deployed correctly and our waters are safe
and our people are safe. But she will become the
largest artificial reef in the world. Wow. And the beauty
of it is because she's so large, you can start
at a novice level and eventually as you go work
(31:55):
down or laterally to explore, and the amount of wildlife
that she'll have honor and what she'll add to our
fisheries is just tremendous. So again, we're just looking for
those opportunities to educate and create, you know, and support
our waters and our diving and fishing community.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
So let's talk about places to stay. What types of
accommodations tend to be the most popular with.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Families, vacation rental homes and our condos condos, Yeah, yeah,
so the and and we have wonderful hotels, don't get
me wrong, and they're full, but you know, when you're
coming with a family, if you don't have a kitchen
and a gathering place, sometimes it's really hard for week
(32:46):
to sustain that. So you know, we promote that, we
call it hook and cook. If you go out with
a charter or whatever and bring your catch to some
of the restaurants, most of the restaurants they'll cook it
for you. We'll do hook and cook at home. You know,
if you have a beautiful kitchen, take one night and
gather around the table and and really celebrate that you
(33:10):
or your child has accomplished this task of catching a
fish because not everybody goes out and catches fish. The condos,
you know, their waterfront and so people want waterfront and
some of them are three and four bedrooms and they
have kitchens. The vacation rental homes are popular because it's
(33:32):
multi generational. You can get two or three families and
grandma in there, and they want to capture those memories.
So but we have we have hotels as well that
are branded hotels that you know, maybe if you're coming
in for three days during the middle of the week
and you don't need all everything else because you have
(33:53):
everything else planned for yourself. So it just it just depends.
We also have cam being more in you know, in Cresview,
in the in the in the non beach part of
our community. Wonderful campgrounds and more more and more people
are camping or they're glamping whatever that is, you know,
but they're they're these big, you know, beautiful you know,
(34:18):
mobile campers and that and it's you know, it's very
important to people to do that. But we we see
condos and vacation rental homes as sort of the nexus
because of that connection. Now, the hotels are busy year round,
(34:42):
but they just serve a different purpose, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, we've talked a lot about multi gen travel and
the value of that. The last time that we were
in DestinE, which actually turned out to me my dad's
last vacation with us, was a multi general vacation, so
it was a wonderful trip.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Well, if you could if you have multiple multiple generations,
everyone has, you know, the kids are doubled up, but
the adults have a bathroom and bedroom, and there's a
media room. You're going to pick that, yeah, because the
kids are going to be down there while you're.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
At them the deck, right, right for sure? Well, alright, no,
that's okay. I was just going to talk seasonal festivals,
local events. There's one that I have said for years
that I want to get down for and something always
gets in my way, and that's the Seafood Festival in October.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
It's October, right, yep, first weekend in October.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yeah, I want to make it. But what are some
seasonal festivals like that that families would enjoy.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Well, obviously the Seafood Festival is all along the Harbor.
It's just great tradition, great food, you know, great celebration.
Also in the month of October, we have our fishing Rodeo,
so the entire month people are coming down. I think
we're I think this is our seventy seventh or seventy
eighth year this year because we didn't have it COVID,
(36:09):
but it's it's so fun to bring your family down
for the weigh ins at AJS on the Harbor. It's just,
you know, in these fish that come in just unbelievable.
You know. Obviously the ego the Emmer Coast Open in May,
we just had that. And then there's Billy Bowleggs, which
we also had a couple of weeks ago, which is
(36:31):
our Pirate celebration. Very very fun. Yep. We are actually
creating some new events. My team is also responsible for
the Convention Center and the Riggden Center which is used
to be our fairgrounds, and we have car shows and
ink masters and we have we had a food truck
(36:55):
festival this year and we had almost twenty thousand people.
So we're we're constantly getting out. Yeah, you know where
there's local music, what you what you can do. The
Matty Kelly Arts Foundation they have concerts and art shows
and that's really really special to us. So we have,
(37:19):
like I said, car shows all around the community, barbecue cookoffs,
big green eggs. So on our website we have a
calendar of all of those, uh those events at destin
FWB dot com.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
Do you have.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Any hidden gyms that you'd be willing to share, like
maybe a quiet private beach or nature trail or scenic
park or something.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
So she's trying to get you to give up secrets.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Yeah, okay, I will give up a secret. So if
you go up into the sound, Santa Rosa sounds, so
you're gonna go into Chocahatchie Bay and under the bridge,
and you're going to travel west like you going towards Herbert.
(38:03):
We have the Specter Islands and their uninhabitable islands. There's
wildlife that are just quiet, they're beautiful. The kids can
get in the water. I mean that is a I
mean that is the intracoastal lot away, but it's very
safe and it's where a lot of locals go just
(38:26):
to take a breath, you know, just to because in
a lot of our places you can pull your boat
up not only to the Specter Islands, but say you
want to go eat at the Gulf, and that's on
Okaloosa Island. It's a fantastic outdoor venue, cornhole, great food.
You can pull your boat right up and then you
(38:46):
can go to the islands and then come on back
and you can pull into the boat basin if you
want to launch a kayak. So that would be my
favorite hidden gym. It's not really, it won't be hidden
for much longer because you know, not everybody wants part
of all the hustle bustle. They just want to get
(39:07):
on a boat and take their family. Beach Weekend is
down closer to that, so you can rent pontoons from
Beach Weekend and get to the Specter Islands and just
enjoy a really nice day. Some of our some of
our Sunset cruises are really special. You know, I'm still
(39:27):
trying to get my grandkids on, but you know, the
Buccaneer Adventure, the Pirate Ship, it's just it's such an
experience for people, and you know, people like, oh it's
a pirate ship, No go on it. You know, go
on there and have fun. Caddiewampus is catamaran that does
(39:48):
dolphin cruises and a lot more, and they're really great
as well. So anytime a kid, even if adult sees
a dolphin, it's like, well, you know, I mean especially
when they you know, when follow you in there and
then they're jumping, and you know, those are special moments
for me.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
Yeah. Yeah. Our daughter loved dolphins growing up, still loves dolphins,
but right, yeah, any chance for her to see a
dolphin was a special occasion.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
She even had a dolphin call. It was amazing.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Did she.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
I don't know if amazing is the right word for it.
It's it's a pity I don't have that to play
for you right now, so you can, well, we scare
people away, but it was something else you.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Know with dolphins too, it's it's sort of like the
first step of education. So my team also does the
turtle patrol, which you know it's last year we had
a number of rare turtles, the kemp Ridley's and then
we then that team went to the Gulferium and they
(40:54):
did educational seminars. If we had anything to do with
any wildlife, if we would get with the Gulferium and
rehabilitate and excuse me, do some educational seminars. We have
had some excuse me, wildlife that migrates that people like,
(41:16):
oh is you know Is that a shark, Yes, it
is a shark, but we're also tagging them and working
with various agencies to contribute to their science. We've had whales,
we have manatees, we have manna rais, So you know,
it's important for us to continue to educate and then
(41:40):
on the flip side do beach cleanups. We also do
an underwater peer cleanup. We're believe it or not, you know,
wildlife can get caught in you know, line and hooks
and all that. So we have a big volunteer base
that comes on out with us a couple of times
a year and cleans it up because it's you know,
we want to be good stewards of our waters.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Are there laws and stuff about touching the wildlife? You know,
if you saw sea turtle or something, are the laws
against it?
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Yeah, sea turtles are protected. So they'll come up and
do their crawl and then we'll we're the team is
out on the beach every morning at five am to
look at crawls, nests, false crawls, and then there's a
big system where they work with EGLIN and we work
with a myriad of people. But if you come over
(42:31):
and touch a a sea turtle nest, you're going to
go to jail. You know it's there. It's the same
thing with climbing in our dunes. The dunes are protected
as well. That's where a lot of our birds go
and they're hatching. And you know, two years ago, believe
(42:51):
it or not, we had young black bear in the
water at the state park.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Remember that. I remember reading about it.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Yeah, correct, Yeah, he was taught and he went in
the water, he didn't harm anybody, and he went back up.
So for me and my team, we just try to
educate as much as possible. That's his environment in the
dunes in the state park, not ours. So whenever we
can talk about it, it's a good thing. You know.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
That's a good segue into what we were going to
ask next, because inevitably, when you have a place like
DestinE that's beautiful and that people want to come to,
Destines made a concerted effort to stay family friendly. How
do you guys go about that balance.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
We are very in touch with our law enforcement agencies.
I mean very in touch. I fund them ten percent
of my budget based on the state statute. If I
could do more, I would do more because I know
how diligence, the diligence they are we have. We have
(43:59):
some places and we've had some challenges with people that
are not real visitors, that are just you know, not
family oriented, that have tried to come in and do
takeovers and what and it just hasn't happened because you know,
the connection that we have with law enforcement is very strong.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yeah, I'll say every every time that we've interacted with
a police officer in that area, friendliest folks that you
know that I think we've been around.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Absolutely absolutely, And and you know everyone talks about over
tourism and whatnot. Yeah, but I'm trying to spread it around.
I'm trying to over tourism is the summer. But you
see my numbers now we've been my team and I
have been on you know, fewer people spending more money
(44:47):
year round. And you can see it like an activity
like diving. You don't want to do it when the
when the water's ninety degrees right, come on in January.
So we're trying to we're trying to you know, divert
and tell the truism of it. You know, getting on
a charter in July is fantastic, but you can also
(45:09):
get in a charter in October or November, you know,
the governor has opened up our red snapper season. We
have one hundred and twenty six days just recreational. That's
not the charters, but you can get in a get
bring your boat, get on a boat, whatever, all the
way through Christmas. So he recognizes, you know, how important
(45:30):
it is to the state. Yeah, and that's great for us.
So usually it's like June and July and a couple
of weekends in the fall. He came to Destin and
announced this, you know, about a few weeks ago, and
we're really excited about it because it keeps those boats
in the water longer.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
And that is the best tasting fish to me anyway.
I love I love.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Snappers, but yeah, I love that so good. But try
try tip tripletail when you hear next, because it's really good. Yeah,
it's all good. Kobea I love Kobia, yes, so, but
you know, for me, it's more that I know where
it came from. I know where it came from, and
that's that's sort of a local sentiment.
Speaker 3 (46:15):
So can you please tell our listeners where to go
to start planning their trip and find out more information
and I would also love for you to share where
you were talking about the moms can go and ask
questions to other local moms for the kids and stuff.
I'd love for you to share that again because I
think that's really cool.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Sure, there's two places, so our main website is destined
FWB dot com and you can find all that information.
You can click on the Little Adventures tab. The talk
to an Online Scout is right there, so you can
go there. I talked about our free classes. If you
(46:56):
want to sign your child up for free class, you
can go to Adventure DFWB dot com and you can
see the class schedule and you can sign your child up.
It's free. You know, this is what we can give
back to our visitors. It's supported by the TDC. I
(47:17):
love it when a kid says, I I'm afraid to snorkel,
and then they go down with the instructor and they
get their face in the water. It's kind of like
what I need because I don't put my face in
the water. But it's so amazing and the parents are
so happy and and ermord because it's just us saying
(47:39):
to our visitors, thank you for coming learn this task
that is so important to us and let's see where
it goes. So the two websites again are Destined FWB
dot com and Adventure DFWB dot com.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Excellent. You know, there's there's so much. I think kids
can learn about their environment that way and probably learn
about themselves too. So thank you, thank you so much
for joining us today. This place, Destin Fort Walton Beach
so special to us as a family, and you've really
helped paint the picture of why it's our number one
beach town in the US. So thank you. Thank you
(48:18):
so much for coming on much.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
And thanks for having me and I look forward to
welcoming you when you come here again.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Thanks so much, Jennifer. And to our listeners, if you've
ever visited Dustin Fort Walton Beach, we'd love to hear
about your favorite moments.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Before we officially wrap this series up. A huge thank
you to all of the incredible beach towns and the
representatives that we've talked to along the way. Ocean City, Maryland,
Saint Augustine, Florida, Traverse City, Michigan, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama,
and Isle of Palm, South Carolina. Each of these places
(48:55):
offer something truly special and Honestly, you can't go wrong
choosing any of these beach towns for your next family getaway.
We hope the series has inspired you to find the
perfect beach town that fits your family style and creates
memories that last a lifetime. Remember, folks, to keep your
hearts and your passports open and as always, safe travels everyone.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
I'm gotting.
Speaker 4 (49:27):
All the beach places in the hotel stasis. I'm using
the bark rides and water slides, mountains ranges and seasonal changes.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
I'm here to serve.
Speaker 5 (49:42):
I'm the family vacation.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
And seasonal changes. I'm here to serve.
Speaker 5 (50:04):
The family vacation.
Speaker 4 (50:06):
Urs, your family vacationer, your family vacation.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Now say, I've got to let me. Wanna see the frame.
Speaker 5 (50:25):
It's this a mess that don go loss.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
It don't sustain me.
Speaker 5 (50:30):
Change.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
I'm here to serve.
Speaker 5 (50:34):
I'm the family vacationers.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
I've got in full on other beach.
Speaker 4 (50:43):
Places and hotel spaces, amusement, bark rats and waterslides, mountain
ranges and seasonal changes.
Speaker 5 (50:55):
I'm here to serve on the family vacations. Yeah, family vacationer, Yeah,
family vacation Mountay, I've got to let me want to
see the frame. It's this ales don go Losi, dontis.
Speaker 2 (51:21):
Gave me sat change.
Speaker 5 (51:24):
I'm here, sir, I'm a family vacationer.
Speaker 4 (51:32):
I've got in full on other beach blaces and hotel spaces,
amusement park rids and water slides, mountains ranges, and see
the little changes.
Speaker 5 (51:47):
I'm here to serve. I'm the family vacationers, your family vacationer,
your family vacation
Speaker 4 (52:01):
Your family backases, your family backas
We're revealing the Family Vacationer's favorite beach town in the US.
Think breathtaking beaches, family fun around every corner, and memories
waiting to be made. Don't miss the insider scoop in
episode one nine, and it starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to The Family Vacationer with Robin Tracy, your go
to podcast for families on the move.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Hey everybody, and welcome back to The Family Vacationer, where
we help you make lifelong memories one trip at a time.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm Rob and I'm Tracy.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I can't even tell you how excited I am about
today's episode. We're wrapping up our series on the best
beach towns in the US, and we save the best
for last.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
We absolutely did. Today we are headed to Destin Fort
Walton be Each in Florida. This is hands down our
favorite place to vacation as a family. It's where emerald
green waters meet powdery white sand and we've made so
many great family memories there.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Absolutely and to help us dive into everything families need
to know about Destin before visiting, we've got Jennifer Adams
with us today.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Welcome to the show. Jennifer, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
We're so glad to have you. So let's start at
the top. For the few of our listeners that may
not be familiar with Dustin and Fort Walton Beach, how
would you describe the area to a first time visitor.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well, I think it's paradise. You know, every day, no
matter what time of day or throughout the year, when
I see the water, I've just always calmed. You know.
We have crystal clear emeralds, green water, and sugar white
sand beaches. And actually our mission is to get kids
outside on the water to give their adventure side room
(02:03):
to grow. So rather, we want to get them off
their devices, you know, out of their chairs and do
a little adventure with their moms and their siblings and
try something new because as we all know, you know,
they're so sedentary, and we really believe that we can
make a difference with that. I'll go further. It's a
(02:25):
very friendly destination. It's a very friendly community. So even
though we market the destination, I live in this community
and I'm always so proud as to how kind people
are and how much they really protect the place that
we live. You know, we try to make you know
(02:46):
your time spend here if you're working or living or visiting,
you know, better for everybody. So we've really worked hard
on that, and I think particularly through families and parents
with young kids, their ditching the one hundred days of
summer in the sense of let me go, get everybody
down to the beach, and they're doing more activities throughout
(03:07):
their time here for years and years and years, where
we were the discount beach destination, but you have so
much more than beach, which is why after COVID, we
created our Little Adventure program to help mom help their
families get outside. You know, there's there's a national statistic
that says more than fifty percent of our nation's children
(03:31):
spend less time outdoors than prison inmates, and on top
of that, forty nine percent of their parents don't know
how to play with them. So we created Little Adventures
to help mom make some choices to get outside with
their families, get on the water, learn new things, learn
(03:51):
how to throw a cast net, learn how to stargaze,
learn how to chase crabs at night. So it was
important to us to tie them into the water, but
to really recognize that we could be part of putting
the family back in touch with something other than you know,
COVID and electronics and captivity and all that. So, you know,
(04:14):
we we had a really good time doing it and
we're still doing it to this day.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
What makes this area such as standout choice for families
compared to other beach destinations.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, I worked in many beach destinations, and as I
mature in this, I recognize that we as a community
need to be interacting with our visitors. Typically for Destination
Marketing Association, and I was guilty of this, we would
focus on putting ads in Atlanta so we can get
(04:45):
you to book and come on down, and then when
you're here, we're like, all right, we don't do that anymore.
So we you know, we help moms plan not just
there where they're going to stay physically in an accommodation,
but plan what they're going to do when they get here.
(05:06):
We have and you know, I know I'm jumping around
a little bit here, but we have our online scouts
and there there's ten local moms who are online every
day answering questions that moms may have to ensure that
their family vacation. You know, it is memorable these moms.
(05:30):
We put them out in the community. We have them
done little adventures with their kids so they can actually
talk with them. It's not AI, it's not abot, it's
it's not canned responses. It's actual conversations that they're having.
And you know, not all destinations do that. You know,
they want you to go right to the booking engine
(05:50):
and book their accommodation. I don't. We don't do that.
I don't. I don't sell accommodations. I bring people to
a destination so they can make memories with their families.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
When we are talking about physically where you're going to
stay in the area. So you've got destined for Walton
Beach as many times as we've been down, I'm not
sure I'm certain of all the little beach towns that
make up that area. Miramar, San Destin. You know, if
you're looking at a map, can you kind of walk
(06:23):
us through the different neighborhoods that make up the area.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah, it is confusing. So I worked in my neighboring county,
which is South Walton thirty A for quite some time.
They have fifteen or sixteen beach communities starting with mer
or Mar going to San Destin Seaside. They have those
and it's confusing because people when they're in Mirramar Beach
(06:49):
think they're in Destin because they're getting a destined zip code, right.
So my counterpart in South Walton, we're always trying to
particularly when you're on Crystal Beach. So Crystal Beach is
in Destin. It's next to Miramar Beach and it's a
very popular family destination. And then we have Henderson State Park,
(07:09):
which is an award winnings state park. It won Best
Beach years ago. Then we have Holiday Isle, which is
a little bit more secluded and that's mostly condos, some
vacation homes and mostly condos. And then you have Destin proper,
which you know, really is anchored around the harbor. So
(07:32):
our harbor, you know, is home to the biggest fishing
fleet in the nation, and it's just a hub of activity.
So now Crystal Beach is technically in Destin if you
live there as a resident, but we often use different names.
We also have Okloosa Island and we also have Fort
Walton Beach. Now those are just our beaches, but we
(07:54):
have many many beautiful places that aren't beach front but
have water. So Niceville is on the Chokahatchie Bay and
they have fantastic bay access and bay activities and biyos
that you can do paddle boarding on or kayaking or
other things that you might not do at the beach.
(08:15):
You know, we have Crestview and we have a freshwater
river system that people are now taking the day and
kayaking down. So are those are the different places. We
have various downtowns that really don't have a lot to
do with the water. Downtown Fort Walton Beach is lovely,
Downtown Cresview is fantastic. It's not where you're going to
(08:39):
sit in lay on the beach, but you're going to
get a great experience there. So we're diversifying. We look
at the water and the environment and how we can
sustain that with not just focusing on the beach water.
So that's what I was. There's there's a lot of
(09:02):
great places to find here, which is what I said again,
we're trying to get them on sure, come to the beach, right,
but we all know if you have young kids, they're
not going to hang out on the beach for six
or seven hours a day for seven days. It's not
going to happen. So especially if they drop their device
in the sand. You know what I mean, it's going
to work.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You know what's funny, that's the beach is the one
place where we don't have to worry about our kids
and devices. It might be the only place that we
that we don't have to worry about that.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
But that's great.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And we may be in the minority, but our kids
and meet me as well, Like for our family, you've
got shopping in the beach, and that's those are our
two go tos right there. Not so much shopping for me.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
But well they don't even take them down to the beach.
Well that's great. That's great because people say to me,
we need to have more broadband on the beach. No,
we don't know, we don't, we do not so but
but you know, let me go back to little adventures
in addition to having you know, so here, let me
talk about little adventures for a second. Can I do that?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Okay, So if you go on to our website destin
FWB dot com, you click on the little Adventure page
and there'll be a filter at the top, and the
filter says, okay, my kids are three to four or
five to seven, whatever I want to spend this much money.
There's a couple options, and this is how much time
(10:26):
I want to be on an adventure, and then you
click it and the little adventures that we've created comes up,
so the mom can see, oh, this one might be
right for me, you know. And then we also, alongside
of that do what we call kid reviews, So we
have kids review the adventure because not in my family,
(10:48):
but in some families, you know, people ask their kids
what they want to do for a vacation, and so
if they're all over the place, you can say, hey,
watch this kid review, and you can hear it from
someone that you relate to, not just mom and dad
saying this is where you're going. So we try to
get real, you know, down deep with that, and it's working.
(11:10):
Every time we go.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
It's usually in the summer, and so it's very crowded.
You know, the traffic is crazy. Are there ideal times
of year that are good for families to visit with
fewer crowds, but you're still like in the warm weather
and sunny weather.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Oh yeah, my favorite times of the year in November
and April and May. Yeah, we just had a beautiful may.
You know, it rains but there's so even we're not
even worried about the rain anymore. You know, if you're
gonna rain, then go to the Gulf Arium, go to
we have you know, ten amazing museums all across the county,
(11:52):
the Emerald Coast Science Center, the Armament Museum, the Heritage Museum,
Destined Fishing Museum. So you know, go go do something
like that and you'll have a great time.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
There's a great outland all too. My mom always wants
to go to the aland when it.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Rains, the shop, Yes, Destin Commons is great. It's also
very interactive for kids, you know. And and if it's
not so bad, then take a walk on the beach.
You're just gonna get wet. What's the big deal. And
so you know, we have a beach flag system here,
(12:27):
so when you come to Destin Fort Walton Beach from
March to October, uh you can sign up to get
the beach flag texts and so if you know double
reds are flying, you'll get an alert so you can
start to plan to do something else. But you know,
people think, oh, well if the Gulf is closed. No,
(12:47):
we have Big Cahuna's water Park. We have Chalkahachie Bay.
We have a host of bayous. We have the Sound
National Seashore, So there are other beaches to go to
that aren't golf front but are very safe and family friendly.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah. I wanted to mention several times about the flag system,
just because you know, every year you read about people
who ignore the flag system. And you know, double reds
mean you don't put a toe in the water. It's
not a joke, it's not a suggestion.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
No, and you could get a fine or lose your life.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And you should get a fine, I think.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Right. So we have a very robust public safety program
and as a TDC contributes to that with our public
safety entities, and we're constantly educating. We print materials so
our accommodations partners can get them into the rooms. You know,
that beach flag program. Every year I have more than
(13:48):
I budgeted for. I said, we'll find the money because
I'm not stopping this program. It's too it's too vital.
And I understand, I mean I understand that people are like,
I've come here, spent my money. Well, there are pools,
there's the bay, there's the other things that I mentioned.
So you know, for a day or so, you know,
please call us and we'll help you find something else
(14:11):
to do because there are calm waters, but you know
that we have rick currents. It's just the way the
Gulf is and so you know, we try to let
people know that. So during the summertime, one of the
things that we do is we have what we call
our Little Adventure Scouts and they are on the beach
(14:32):
and we have a Little Adventure Program where they they
walk the beaches every day and they're talking to people,
educating them, but they're also you know, talking about the
text program, but they're also telling them about our Little
Adventure classes. So these are classes that are free to
(14:55):
kids and parents that the Tourist Development Department, and we're
trying to teach kids other things like how to get
on a paddle board, how to throw a cast net,
how to you know, pinfish patrol, which is identifying different
fishes so if the event the water's not great, they
(15:17):
could do something in calmer waters or or focus it
somewhere else. And this is our this is our fourth
fifth summer now. So we're on the beach. We have
two two outposts and six roving and we're just trying
to teach. That goes back to that this community just
really wants to embrace our visitor and let them know
what's important to us. So if we can teach a
(15:37):
kid and get them confident to put their head and
a snorkel in the water, you know, in his bathtub,
that's a wind for us because then they'll come back.
So again goes back to us just not being a
beach community.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Sure, what about for teens, do you have like the
older crowd.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Oh yeah, so teens have got the wrap right with
COVID and everything like that, you know, especially because that's
space that they're in. We have found that the teams, well,
they don't want to do stuff with their little kid.
They don't want to build sand castles. They are more
apt to do something different. Believe it or not. We
(16:19):
have teams that want to go sailing in the bay.
We have more and more teams that want to learn
how to dive. They want to do bigger fishing trips
and spend more time out on the water. They also
want to do beach cleanups and turtle walks. They want
to do environmental things. So that's important to those that generation.
(16:42):
And so we're my Coastal Resources team and my environmental
team are really trying to offer more than that. We
are my natural resources team. We're building trails so that
we can say, you don't want to be in the
beach today, why don't you go up to you know,
Old River Preserve and take a hike because we've got
(17:03):
you know, miles of pathways that lead down to the
river and then maybe you can hop on a kayak.
So the teens, we see that. You know, there's a
difference between moms with three to ten year olds, which
is our core market. But after a couple of years,
those ten year olds become fifteen year olds and they
want to do something different. So we have a program
(17:25):
called real Time, which is a program to connect those
teens with some of our charter captains and get them
offshore their comfort zone and give them a different experience.
You know, some moms say, well, I can't bring a
three year old on a fishing charter. Well, yes she can.
We have a captain. Her name is Captain Brandy. She
has six kids. Her kids have been on the boat
(17:47):
since they were little. Captain Anna as well. But you're
not going to go offshore. The teenagers want to find
a different sense of accomplishment than the little ones. And
so we provide.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
That that's awesome. Our fifteen year old soon to be
fifteen year old would love that.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, And again, you could go online and talk to
an online mom and online scout and she'll tell you
about that and how to connect. So it's important that
they're local and they're not computer audio generated. So you
talked about the rainy day.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Are there indoor sports, you know, like facilities or any
other things you know, for families to do when it's raining.
I know you talk about the aquarium and museums.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, the museums and the aquariums. I mean a lot
of our sporting event places are outside, but we try
to communicate if so. For instance, the board Walk is
on Oakloos Island and it's not a sporting place, but
it has multiple restaurants and so you can you can
(18:58):
have an adventure there because you your kids might go
downstairs and play on the equipment that's pretty well protected
and you might be able to see them. And some
of our some of our our dining establishments, our destinations.
Bud Puckers is a destination and in itself, I'm sure
you've been there, yes, yeah, so you know with their
(19:20):
alligator show and all that, so we stay very connected
with them. Obviously, the Commons is a very popular place
to go when it's raining.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You have one of the coolest bowling alleys. I'm not
a bowler, yeah, but that is one of the Yes,
that's one of the coolest bowling alleys I've ever been to.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, And believe it or not, people will spend hours
and hours in fast Pro because they have the Goliath
you know groupers in there, and so that's where we
send them, you know. And and again we try to
say unless the weather is so bad you might get
a little bit wet, but you know, go play volleyball
at the Worldwalk because the nets already set up and
(20:02):
it's super in the pier, you know, the Oaklooza Island Pier.
It's so popular and you can also you know, eat
at anglers. So there's a lot to do there. At
Fort Walton Beach, you know, they have amazing parks and
great food. And then you know, and in the northern
(20:24):
end of the county there's also we have a lot
of farms and agriculture. So if it's just not a
sunny day, you can go pick strawberries and and all that.
So we're trying to let people know the diversity of
our tourism product that I don't even I shouldn't say
tourism product. The diversity of where we live is what
I should say, because I love going up for even
(20:46):
though I live down south.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
When you were talking about food puggers, they used to
do like the nightlife routines. Yeah, they turned into a club.
They still do that.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yes, yep, they do that. They do that, and then
you know the arcades next door, so they do that,
and then they have the Alligators educational show with the
alligators that's really very very popular. So but the teams, yes,
they have that.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
And then there's so many places to almost said, putt putt.
I'm showing my age too, mini golf. And then there's
the track which we I mean, we can't go to
Dustin without you know, hitting the track once or twice,
probably twice.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
And the track and you have yep, and you have
wild Lilies which is on the island, and they have
so many things that they've got water carts and then
gold carts and then putt putts. So that's and that's
right across from the boardwalk and the pier and the
gulf Aium, so you could make it a whole day
on Oakloosa Island.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
And they're just right across the street.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
We've reached the most important part of the show where
we talk about food and in destin I have a
list my wife can test to this of places that
you know I'm I'm all for. You know, we'll check
out a new place every now and again, but I
have a list of places that we have to check off.
But what what are some of your family friendly dining
(22:14):
spots that that you know that visitors love in town.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
I have grandchildren and I love taking them to Lulu's.
LULUs is a destination in itself. It's family friendly, the
food's good, the kids can play, it's safe, and my
grandchildren absolutely love it. Again, we go to the boardwalk
for the kids to run around. If it's me and
(22:40):
my husband, we love Harbordocks, There's and Dewey Destines. The
food is fantastic. But really all of our restaurants East
past Oyster Bar and jack A Kuda's and bow Shamps
and Bertulla's, I mean they're all they're all very great
because we know that our seafood is so fresh. So
(23:04):
if you come here to I mean, you can ask
them where the fish came. Some of them still do
the Gulf to table where there's a QR code in
your group or sandwich and you can click it. It'll
tell you who caught it one and where. But I
know that my seafood is fresh. I don't eat a
lot of seafood outside of destined because I'm spoiled. I
(23:24):
know where it came from. We just excuse me. We
just had the our annual Emerald Coast Open, which is
our lionfish tournament. It's the biggest turnament lionfish tournament in
the nation, and we remove twenty one thousand lionfish in
a weekend and the restaurants have restaurant week and they
(23:45):
compete to see who has the best recipe. It's like
ten days of Wars. And people are like, well, wait
a minute, you can't eat lionfish. Oh, yes you can.
And we can't eat a poisonous fish. Well poisonous, it's venomous,
and so as long as it's cleaned right and you know,
(24:06):
it's very good, so we eat really well. We also
have the Royal Reds, which are the big shrimp that
comes from the real deep waters. They're so good. So
I know right now triple tail seems to be in season.
I just had some flunt. It's really good. So we
(24:27):
and we and we know. So for instance, the Boardwalk
has their own commissary, so there we know that they're
getting their seafood cleaning and prepping it and sending it
up to their to their local restaurants. That's really important.
You know. The crab we have two locations of crab tracks,
one on one on Oakaloos Island and one in Destin,
and we know that they're getting fresh seafood because it's
(24:49):
coming from their commissary. We talked to the charter captains
a lot, and this is their livelihood, and so we
want to promote it because not only is it good
to eat, it's just it's the right thing to do.
To be the world's luckiest fishing village with the largest
fleet in the nation. We should go down to the
(25:10):
harbor and stay in touch with them. I mean, if
you go down to the harbor at one o'clock. So
let me digress this time of year. Every morning I
go over the bridge to my office at about five
point thirty quarter of six, and the fleet is in
mass They are going out and it's so beautiful because
(25:31):
then when they get to the pass, they turn around,
they catch their bait and they go. But then if
you come back to the harbor around one o'clock, all
the boats are coming back in and the fish is colorful,
the people are exciting, the deckhands are just charismatic, and
it's I just sit there on a bench. I just
love to go sit and watch. So I tell people, well,
(25:53):
if you really want to see something, you know that's awesome,
go to the harbor one day and just, you know,
watch what happens because it's magical.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yeah, I'm in the minority of people. I don't eat seafood.
So when we go, he gets to pick all of
their restaurants and he just has to make sure they
have chicken.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
We have great restaurants. You know, We've got some really
great and you know, think about it. We have three
military bases here, so the diversity of the food that's
coming out of the people that are moving here. We
have great Asian and II we have great barbecue because
(26:34):
people are settling here, are being stationed here from all
over the world. So we eat really good. And I
would say to anybody, if you want to eat where
the locals eat, get online with an online mom and
we'll tell you. Not that we don't eat at other restaurants.
But so I'm not a big sushi eater. The only
place that I'll eat sushi is at Harbor Ducks because
(26:56):
I know that Yoshi makes it and I know her,
and that's okay, that's my choice. So, but the food
is so diverse, even outside of seafood.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Yeah, I was gonna say red snapper is my favorite,
but I'm curious about lionfish. I've never heard of that before.
Can you can you kind of tell me what what
that tastes like? Is there is there something comparable.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Or it's a white flaky fish. Okay, And so let
me tell you about lionfish. So lionfish are in the
invasive species and sometimes they're this big, you know, an
inch and a half and sometimes they're five you know whatever,
But they have no natural predator, so they come into
an environment and they just try to annihilate it. So
(27:44):
my coastal resources team goes out and manages the population.
The only way that you can catch lionfish because they're
so complacent because there they have no predators. Is with
a spear gun. So spearfishing has really grown. I mean,
we have so many different types of fishing, but the
(28:06):
amount of people that come to go spearfishing is amazing.
So as long as you spearfishing correctly and put it
into your bag, then they can be cleaned appropriately. They're
very light, and they're not it's not a flaky fish.
It's a very mild white fish. So when people again
(28:29):
come and say, you know, I'm eating something poisonous, you're not.
It's just it's venomous. So if you're the person who's
harvesting the fish and you're not well trained, you might
get zapped, you know. And that's what we try to
educate people on. It's just like, you know, we have
natural other natural sea creatures that people are curious about,
(28:51):
but that's their environment. So we try to educate.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Interesting, can you rent equipment to go spearfishing Intestine?
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I've never you, Yeah you can. So. Actually, here's the
interesting thing about Destin. More and more we're getting to
be known as a dive community. We have almost six
hundred artificial reefs out in the Gulf. In our waters
you can go online and start your preliminary training and
(29:20):
then you can come to Destin and there's many many outfitters,
scuba tech and just that will train you to finish
up your certification and then you can go do a
dive with them. You can get on the boat with them,
they have the gear, they'll be with you until you
feel comfortable enough to dive by yourself. So and for us,
(29:41):
diving starts with teaching kids how to snorkel. Right, I'll
be real transparent. I do not put my face in
any water. I don't like that a lot of people don't.
But people are curious, and so we start with putting
their face in the water with scuba gear and then
maybe they might go, you know, to the jetties where
(30:03):
they'll see more sea creatures. And then as they get older,
they might do mermaiding where you're in the water with
the tail, so you're learning how to you know, do
more without you without flailing around. And then some people
then progress to snooba where the gear is on the
boat so you don't have to worry about wearing the gear,
(30:24):
but you're in the mask. And then from there they
go diving. And we have many charters and outfitters that
will take you take people out diving, and this is
something that the teenagers really want to do. You know,
not only is it cool and fun, but it's environmentally
something that they're really interested is to identify species and
(30:46):
see the turtles and the dolphins and all that up
front up close. We have a large network of reefs.
We just purchased I don't know if you heard this,
but we just purchased the SS United States, which is
a historic ocean vessel that was built to transport military people.
(31:10):
It was first voyage I think was in nineteen fifty two.
When it was decommissioned around sixty nine, it became an
ocean liner and she was in Philadelphia for about thirty years.
And long story short, we purchased her. She's now in mobile.
She is being ready to be deployed. There's a lot
(31:34):
of environmental things that we need to do to make
sure that she's deployed correctly and our waters are safe
and our people are safe. But she will become the
largest artificial reef in the world. Wow. And the beauty
of it is because she's so large, you can start
at a novice level and eventually as you go work
(31:55):
down or laterally to explore, and the amount of wildlife
that she'll have honor and what she'll add to our
fisheries is just tremendous. So again, we're just looking for
those opportunities to educate and create, you know, and support
our waters and our diving and fishing community.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
So let's talk about places to stay. What types of
accommodations tend to be the most popular with.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Families, vacation rental homes and our condos condos, Yeah, yeah,
so the and and we have wonderful hotels, don't get
me wrong, and they're full, but you know, when you're
coming with a family, if you don't have a kitchen
and a gathering place, sometimes it's really hard for week
(32:46):
to sustain that. So you know, we promote that, we
call it hook and cook. If you go out with
a charter or whatever and bring your catch to some
of the restaurants, most of the restaurants they'll cook it
for you. We'll do hook and cook at home. You know,
if you have a beautiful kitchen, take one night and
gather around the table and and really celebrate that you
(33:10):
or your child has accomplished this task of catching a
fish because not everybody goes out and catches fish. The condos,
you know, their waterfront and so people want waterfront and
some of them are three and four bedrooms and they
have kitchens. The vacation rental homes are popular because it's
(33:32):
multi generational. You can get two or three families and
grandma in there, and they want to capture those memories.
So but we have we have hotels as well that
are branded hotels that you know, maybe if you're coming
in for three days during the middle of the week
and you don't need all everything else because you have
(33:53):
everything else planned for yourself. So it just it just depends.
We also have cam being more in you know, in Cresview,
in the in the in the non beach part of
our community. Wonderful campgrounds and more more and more people
are camping or they're glamping whatever that is, you know,
but they're they're these big, you know, beautiful you know,
(34:18):
mobile campers and that and it's you know, it's very
important to people to do that. But we we see
condos and vacation rental homes as sort of the nexus
because of that connection. Now, the hotels are busy year round,
(34:42):
but they just serve a different purpose, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, we've talked a lot about multi gen travel and
the value of that. The last time that we were
in DestinE, which actually turned out to me my dad's
last vacation with us, was a multi general vacation, so
it was a wonderful trip.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Well, if you could if you have multiple multiple generations,
everyone has, you know, the kids are doubled up, but
the adults have a bathroom and bedroom, and there's a
media room. You're going to pick that, yeah, because the
kids are going to be down there while you're.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
At them the deck, right, right for sure? Well, alright, no,
that's okay. I was just going to talk seasonal festivals,
local events. There's one that I have said for years
that I want to get down for and something always
gets in my way, and that's the Seafood Festival in October.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
It's October, right, yep, first weekend in October.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yeah, I want to make it. But what are some
seasonal festivals like that that families would enjoy.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Well, obviously the Seafood Festival is all along the Harbor.
It's just great tradition, great food, you know, great celebration.
Also in the month of October, we have our fishing Rodeo,
so the entire month people are coming down. I think
we're I think this is our seventy seventh or seventy
eighth year this year because we didn't have it COVID,
(36:09):
but it's it's so fun to bring your family down
for the weigh ins at AJS on the Harbor. It's just,
you know, in these fish that come in just unbelievable.
You know. Obviously the ego the Emmer Coast Open in May,
we just had that. And then there's Billy Bowleggs, which
we also had a couple of weeks ago, which is
(36:31):
our Pirate celebration. Very very fun. Yep. We are actually
creating some new events. My team is also responsible for
the Convention Center and the Riggden Center which is used
to be our fairgrounds, and we have car shows and
ink masters and we have we had a food truck
(36:55):
festival this year and we had almost twenty thousand people.
So we're we're constantly getting out. Yeah, you know where
there's local music, what you what you can do. The
Matty Kelly Arts Foundation they have concerts and art shows
and that's really really special to us. So we have,
(37:19):
like I said, car shows all around the community, barbecue cookoffs,
big green eggs. So on our website we have a
calendar of all of those, uh those events at destin
FWB dot com.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
Do you have.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Any hidden gyms that you'd be willing to share, like
maybe a quiet private beach or nature trail or scenic
park or something.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
So she's trying to get you to give up secrets.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Yeah, okay, I will give up a secret. So if
you go up into the sound, Santa Rosa sounds, so
you're gonna go into Chocahatchie Bay and under the bridge,
and you're going to travel west like you going towards Herbert.
(38:03):
We have the Specter Islands and their uninhabitable islands. There's
wildlife that are just quiet, they're beautiful. The kids can
get in the water. I mean that is a I
mean that is the intracoastal lot away, but it's very
safe and it's where a lot of locals go just
(38:26):
to take a breath, you know, just to because in
a lot of our places you can pull your boat
up not only to the Specter Islands, but say you
want to go eat at the Gulf, and that's on
Okaloosa Island. It's a fantastic outdoor venue, cornhole, great food.
You can pull your boat right up and then you
(38:46):
can go to the islands and then come on back
and you can pull into the boat basin if you
want to launch a kayak. So that would be my
favorite hidden gym. It's not really, it won't be hidden
for much longer because you know, not everybody wants part
of all the hustle bustle. They just want to get
(39:07):
on a boat and take their family. Beach Weekend is
down closer to that, so you can rent pontoons from
Beach Weekend and get to the Specter Islands and just
enjoy a really nice day. Some of our some of
our Sunset cruises are really special. You know, I'm still
(39:27):
trying to get my grandkids on, but you know, the
Buccaneer Adventure, the Pirate Ship, it's just it's such an
experience for people, and you know, people like, oh it's
a pirate ship, No go on it. You know, go
on there and have fun. Caddiewampus is catamaran that does
(39:48):
dolphin cruises and a lot more, and they're really great
as well. So anytime a kid, even if adult sees
a dolphin, it's like, well, you know, I mean especially
when they you know, when follow you in there and
then they're jumping, and you know, those are special moments
for me.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
Yeah. Yeah. Our daughter loved dolphins growing up, still loves dolphins,
but right, yeah, any chance for her to see a
dolphin was a special occasion.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
She even had a dolphin call. It was amazing.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Did she.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
I don't know if amazing is the right word for it.
It's it's a pity I don't have that to play
for you right now, so you can, well, we scare
people away, but it was something else you.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Know with dolphins too, it's it's sort of like the
first step of education. So my team also does the
turtle patrol, which you know it's last year we had
a number of rare turtles, the kemp Ridley's and then
we then that team went to the Gulferium and they
(40:54):
did educational seminars. If we had anything to do with
any wildlife, if we would get with the Gulferium and
rehabilitate and excuse me, do some educational seminars. We have
had some excuse me, wildlife that migrates that people like,
(41:16):
oh is you know Is that a shark, Yes, it
is a shark, but we're also tagging them and working
with various agencies to contribute to their science. We've had whales,
we have manatees, we have manna rais, So you know,
it's important for us to continue to educate and then
(41:40):
on the flip side do beach cleanups. We also do
an underwater peer cleanup. We're believe it or not, you know,
wildlife can get caught in you know, line and hooks
and all that. So we have a big volunteer base
that comes on out with us a couple of times
a year and cleans it up because it's you know,
we want to be good stewards of our waters.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Are there laws and stuff about touching the wildlife? You know,
if you saw sea turtle or something, are the laws
against it?
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Yeah, sea turtles are protected. So they'll come up and
do their crawl and then we'll we're the team is
out on the beach every morning at five am to
look at crawls, nests, false crawls, and then there's a
big system where they work with EGLIN and we work
with a myriad of people. But if you come over
(42:31):
and touch a a sea turtle nest, you're going to
go to jail. You know it's there. It's the same
thing with climbing in our dunes. The dunes are protected
as well. That's where a lot of our birds go
and they're hatching. And you know, two years ago, believe
(42:51):
it or not, we had young black bear in the
water at the state park.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Remember that. I remember reading about it.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Yeah, correct, Yeah, he was taught and he went in
the water, he didn't harm anybody, and he went back up.
So for me and my team, we just try to
educate as much as possible. That's his environment in the
dunes in the state park, not ours. So whenever we
can talk about it, it's a good thing. You know.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
That's a good segue into what we were going to
ask next, because inevitably, when you have a place like
DestinE that's beautiful and that people want to come to,
Destines made a concerted effort to stay family friendly. How
do you guys go about that balance.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
We are very in touch with our law enforcement agencies.
I mean very in touch. I fund them ten percent
of my budget based on the state statute. If I
could do more, I would do more because I know
how diligence, the diligence they are we have. We have
(43:59):
some places and we've had some challenges with people that
are not real visitors, that are just you know, not
family oriented, that have tried to come in and do
takeovers and what and it just hasn't happened because you know,
the connection that we have with law enforcement is very strong.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yeah, I'll say every every time that we've interacted with
a police officer in that area, friendliest folks that you
know that I think we've been around.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Absolutely absolutely, And and you know everyone talks about over
tourism and whatnot. Yeah, but I'm trying to spread it around.
I'm trying to over tourism is the summer. But you
see my numbers now we've been my team and I
have been on you know, fewer people spending more money
(44:47):
year round. And you can see it like an activity
like diving. You don't want to do it when the
when the water's ninety degrees right, come on in January.
So we're trying to we're trying to you know, divert
and tell the truism of it. You know, getting on
a charter in July is fantastic, but you can also
(45:09):
get in a charter in October or November, you know,
the governor has opened up our red snapper season. We
have one hundred and twenty six days just recreational. That's
not the charters, but you can get in a get
bring your boat, get on a boat, whatever, all the
way through Christmas. So he recognizes, you know, how important
(45:30):
it is to the state. Yeah, and that's great for us.
So usually it's like June and July and a couple
of weekends in the fall. He came to Destin and
announced this, you know, about a few weeks ago, and
we're really excited about it because it keeps those boats
in the water longer.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
And that is the best tasting fish to me anyway.
I love I love.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Snappers, but yeah, I love that so good. But try
try tip tripletail when you hear next, because it's really good. Yeah,
it's all good. Kobea I love Kobia, yes, so, but
you know, for me, it's more that I know where
it came from. I know where it came from, and
that's that's sort of a local sentiment.
Speaker 3 (46:15):
So can you please tell our listeners where to go
to start planning their trip and find out more information
and I would also love for you to share where
you were talking about the moms can go and ask
questions to other local moms for the kids and stuff.
I'd love for you to share that again because I
think that's really cool.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Sure, there's two places, so our main website is destined
FWB dot com and you can find all that information.
You can click on the Little Adventures tab. The talk
to an Online Scout is right there, so you can
go there. I talked about our free classes. If you
(46:56):
want to sign your child up for free class, you
can go to Adventure DFWB dot com and you can
see the class schedule and you can sign your child up.
It's free. You know, this is what we can give
back to our visitors. It's supported by the TDC. I
(47:17):
love it when a kid says, I I'm afraid to snorkel,
and then they go down with the instructor and they
get their face in the water. It's kind of like
what I need because I don't put my face in
the water. But it's so amazing and the parents are
so happy and and ermord because it's just us saying
(47:39):
to our visitors, thank you for coming learn this task
that is so important to us and let's see where
it goes. So the two websites again are Destined FWB
dot com and Adventure DFWB dot com.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Excellent. You know, there's there's so much. I think kids
can learn about their environment that way and probably learn
about themselves too. So thank you, thank you so much
for joining us today. This place, Destin Fort Walton Beach
so special to us as a family, and you've really
helped paint the picture of why it's our number one
beach town in the US. So thank you. Thank you
(48:18):
so much for coming on much.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
And thanks for having me and I look forward to
welcoming you when you come here again.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Thanks so much, Jennifer. And to our listeners, if you've
ever visited Dustin Fort Walton Beach, we'd love to hear
about your favorite moments.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Before we officially wrap this series up. A huge thank
you to all of the incredible beach towns and the
representatives that we've talked to along the way. Ocean City, Maryland,
Saint Augustine, Florida, Traverse City, Michigan, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama,
and Isle of Palm, South Carolina. Each of these places
(48:55):
offer something truly special and Honestly, you can't go wrong
choosing any of these beach towns for your next family getaway.
We hope the series has inspired you to find the
perfect beach town that fits your family style and creates
memories that last a lifetime. Remember, folks, to keep your
hearts and your passports open and as always, safe travels everyone.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
I'm gotting.
Speaker 4 (49:27):
All the beach places in the hotel stasis. I'm using
the bark rides and water slides, mountains ranges and seasonal changes.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
I'm here to serve.
Speaker 5 (49:42):
I'm the family vacation.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
And seasonal changes. I'm here to serve.
Speaker 5 (50:04):
The family vacation.
Speaker 4 (50:06):
Urs, your family vacationer, your family vacation.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Now say, I've got to let me. Wanna see the frame.
Speaker 5 (50:25):
It's this a mess that don go loss.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
It don't sustain me.
Speaker 5 (50:30):
Change.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
I'm here to serve.
Speaker 5 (50:34):
I'm the family vacationers.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
I've got in full on other beach.
Speaker 4 (50:43):
Places and hotel spaces, amusement, bark rats and waterslides, mountain
ranges and seasonal changes.
Speaker 5 (50:55):
I'm here to serve on the family vacations. Yeah, family vacationer, Yeah,
family vacation Mountay, I've got to let me want to
see the frame. It's this ales don go Losi, dontis.
Speaker 2 (51:21):
Gave me sat change.
Speaker 5 (51:24):
I'm here, sir, I'm a family vacationer.
Speaker 4 (51:32):
I've got in full on other beach blaces and hotel spaces,
amusement park rids and water slides, mountains ranges, and see
the little changes.
Speaker 5 (51:47):
I'm here to serve. I'm the family vacationers, your family vacationer,
your family vacation
Speaker 4 (52:01):
Your family backases, your family backas
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