St Andrews

[indy roadrunner]

Anybody got any information about St Andrews at Panama City Fl. Specifically good site numbers that would have a Bay view and the Montana would fit in?
Pictures welcome

[padredw]

Yes, Sir, I have very good information about St. Andrews. The sites you are looking for are on "Grand Lagoon" which extends out from St. Andrew's Bay. If I remember correctly the most desirable sites are in Pine Grove camping area beginning at site number 104 to about 114. There are many more "waterfront" lots in the Lagood camping area, but I am not as familiar with these numbers. My own preference is clearly the Pinegrove area. The most desirable numbers of all are 106-112, all backins and all just great for the Montana (at least in our Rear Living) where the picture window looks over the lagoon.

Here is a photo from site 108, I believe, looking at Grand Lagoon in the evening. Our first night in our Montana. Just click link below:

http://dwilliamson.com/rvhist/rv41_JPG.html

[padredw]

I will post this photo directly. It shows a site in St. Andrews (108 or 110) showing the way that sites are very private with vegetation between them:

[padredw]

OK, one more. Out our back window:

[indy roadrunner]

OH Man - great pics thanks so much. I will make sure St Andrews sends you a commission check for your sale. You got me sold.

[padredw]

Obviously these sites are very popular especially in the Spring. We prefer the month of May. Summer is really too hot and humid. The last time we were there (2 photos above) we had to move to an "inside" site on the weekend and were lucky to get that one (right across the road).

Point is: you have to make reservations long in advance to get these most desirable sites. I'm afraid I am working against my own interest in promoting St. Andrews to others---but my good will to fellow Montana owners overflows!

[indy roadrunner]

quote:Originally posted by padredw


Point is: you have to make reservations long in advance to get these most desirable sites. I'm afraid I am working against my own interest in promoting St. Andrews to others---but my good will to fellow Montana owners overflows!

Make you a deal since you are being so nice. If I have to cancel my reservation you will be the first one I notify. We found some dates open the later part of April - wanna have a mini rally?

[padredw]

Phil and Gladys,

Last of April should be ideal! Maybe we can move a couple of weeks earlier than usual and see you there.

That would be great but we never make plans this far in advance.

Another great park we discovered just last year is "Topsail Hill" near Destin. A state park, but formerly a private resort so it is very different from St. Andrews--more "resort" looking.

Our very favorite was Ft. Pickens camground in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, but it was destroyed by hurricane Ivan a couple of years ago. Don't know whether it has ever reopened, and it will not likely ever be the same again. Near Pensacola.

[indy roadrunner]

We are official members of the TopSail Cult. We have been going there each year and sometimes twice since about 3 or 4 years ago. We have our favorite spots already but we thought this next year we might venture out and try something new down there. We have been through Henderson Beach it's nice but if I am in that area it is Topsail. We have been to Ft Pickens a couple of times and my Pen Pal from that area said that it is still not ready. It really took a beating with Ivan and I'm not sure it will ever be the same. I am just concerned that the history of the old fort might have also felt the fangs of Ivan.

[padredw]

I can't resist sharing a bit of our personal history related to these parks. Our first visit to Ft. Pickens was in 1962 when it was still "Ft. Pickens Florida State Park". We were tent campers then and, interestingly, spent out first night outside the gate which we found locked at sundown. We did not intend to spend the night there but when we pulled over to have our evening meal at a picnic spot, our little car sank into the sand and we were literally "stuck" for the night. Over the next few years we spent many nights in our tent inside the park and now in recent years have enjoyed our fifth-wheel home there.

Also in the early 1960s and while still tent camping we first discovered St. Andrews. I have no idea of the number of times we've camped there over the years, but it has been many. We pulled into St. Andrews late one afternoon into one of the very sites I've recommended above. We had a large General Motors auto, but had no trailer or carrier. We found the next day that a couple across the road was watching our arrival with interest, but thought nothing about it until the next morning---when they saw a tent with screen porch totaling 19 feet in length, and a sailboat in the lagoon at our campsite. (It was a Folbot--17 feet in length when assembled, and with a nice sail rig).

We became friends with this couple and saw them several times at the same spot over the years, but this first time the wife confided to us that her husband said that morning when he observed our camp setup: "I didn't see them unload all that 'stuff', but I sure am going to watch to see how they load it up when they leave!"

Tent in St. Andrews


Our first night in our Montana was spent in that very same site (or one next to it), as we bought it at RV Connections in Panama City. Any wonder we have special feelings about St. Andrews? Our daughter met us there in May of this year, flying in from Colorado where she lives.

Forgive the sentimental ramblings of an 'old man'.