#stgeorgeisland

Camp Gordon Johnston WWII Museum - a Little History and a Lot of Fun

Many people aren’t aware of the rich history of St. George Island and the rest of the Forgotten Coast. The Camp Gordon Johnston World World II Museum is a hidden gem located just across from Carabelle Beach. It is just a short ride from your St. George Island vacation rental and this museum is a place that the whole family can enjoy. Camp Gordon Johnston opened in 1942 as an army training center for the training of amphibious soldiers. The camp trained nearly a quarter of a m

Pesky Hunger Pangs? Try the Pesky Pelican!

Unfortunately, the Pesky Pelican has closed due to inappropriate behavior by it's owners. We do not condone the actions of the owners and unfortunately we can no longer recommend the restaurant. We’ve talked about restaurants on St. George Island, and we’ve talked about restaurants in Apalachicola, but have you tried the Pesky Pelican in Eastpoint? The Pesky Pelican is located on highway 98 about three miles east of the Big Bend Scenic Byway (the road that leads over the brid

One Year After Michael - A 120-mile journey along Florida's Gulf Coast

Today, on the one-year anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Michael, we not only want to remember those impacted on St. George Island, but also those impacted to our west in places like Panama City Beach, Mexico Beach, and Cape San Blas. The category 5 hurricane caused catastrophic damage to the Florida Gulf Coast (to check our reports from last October about the impact to St. George Island click here and here), and we took a drive along 120 miles of Florida coastline to

Deep Sea Fishing with Hooked Charters

While this may be sacrilege for those that regularly visit St. George Island, I’m not much of a fisherman. Honestly, growing up, when we’d go fishing, I always thought it was boring. However, we recently had a guest at Sand Dollar, Doug and his family , that went on an offshore fishing trip with Hooked Charters and couldn’t speak more highly of his trip. Doug told us, “I have been fishing inshore and offshore for the past 20 years and [Captain Dwayne from Hooked Charters] is

Sparks & Sons Island Grocery - Fresh, Quality, Friendly

When we host guests at our vacation rentals at St. George Island Beach Vacations, we are often asked by first time visitors, "Where is the nearest grocery store?" There are other options in the area – Piggly Wiggly in Apalachicola, Dollar General in Eastpoint, the “Blue Pig” near the SGI lighthouse – but the most convenient full service grocery store is Sparks and Sons Island Grocery just across the bridge to the island. The Sparks family has been around the island for 22 yea

Doc Myers - The Tiki in Paradise

Please note that Doc Myers is under new ownership with a new menu. Please keep an eye out for a future blog on "Mango Mike's." Are you looking for a truly unique restaurant atmosphere on St. George Island? Then Doc Myers’ is the spot! Doc Myers’ is one of the newest restaurants on the island (it opened in 2017 at 36 W. Pine Ave on St. George Island), and the key feature is the atmosphere. Doc’s is an open air tiki hut that serves great food, and you need to check it out the n

The Owl Cafe - Fine Dining in Apalachicola

Let’s face it, when people go to St. George Island, most people typically aren’t looking for a candlelight dinner while they’re on vacation. Usually you want to sit on the beach (or at the pool), cook dinners in your vacation rental home and just relax. Many people go out to eat (and there are many great options in the area…just check out our other blogs), but a candlelight dinner isn’t often on the list of “to dos” on vacation. But what if you do have a special occasion to c

#Bookdirect - Why it Matters and What You Need to Know

A movement has been taking place over the last few years. This movement started when Expedia purchased Homeaway in 2015. Homeaway had a simple model. The company would charge a flat fee to vacation rental owners in order to list on their website, and the homeowners would leverage Homeaway/VRBO’s wide reach to attract renters to their vacation homes. At SGI Beach Vacations, we started with Sand Dollar on the VRBO platform in 2011 and were very happy. However, the model ha

The recovery is on at St. George Island

It has been a big week as we try to learn more about the damage that has happened as a result of Hurricane Michael. If you missed our blog from last week, you can check it out here. I’m proud to say that our three vacation rental homes sustained little damage, businesses are starting to reopen and things are starting to return to normal on our little piece of heaven called St. George Island.\ I’m also very happy to say that our wind insurance has been restored at Sea Dunes!

Aftermath of Hurricane Michael

It has already been a long week. As I'm sure all of you know, Hurricane Michael made landfall on Wednesday afternoon near Mexico Beach, just ~45 miles from St. George Island. Over the last two days, we have had many, many of you reach out to us to share your support and prayers with us, our homes and the rest of St. George Island. Thank you so much to all of you that have reached out to us! We wanted to give a brief update on the storm and its impact to the island. Genera

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