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Subscribe to the digital edition of TraveLife magazine New Issue: Apr/Jun 2012 View past issues
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| Florida beaches open for business |
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| North America » United States | |
| By Marc Atchison | |
 Down time on a Florida beach Louisiana and Alabama have been directly affected by the catastrophe. The loss of tourism dollars alone in those states will be in the untold billions by the time the BP leak is finally capped. And now Florida, with the arrival of tar balls on some of its beaches around Pensacola, has been forced to issue a statement acknowledging the tar ball problem but quickly pointing out that all 1,327 kilometres of its beaches remain open. That’s quite a contrast from neighbouring Gulf Coast states that have had to close many of their beaches thanks to America’s largest-ever ecological disaster. VisitFlorida, the state’s excellent tourism organization, has gone to great lengths to insure that travellers know that Florida’s beaches remain open for business. They’ve even invited the public to submit same-day photos of Florida beaches that are shown on the its website (www.visitflorida.com) to independently prove the tar ball blemishes are minor and quickly disposed of by the army of workers deployed to guard the state’s precious coastline. Florida, which welcomes 84 million visitors a year from 154 different countries – 2.6 million from Canada alone – obviously can’t afford for its coveted beaches to be closed. But, unfortunately, Florida is being lumped in with its Gulf Coast neighbours in media reports and that his having an effect on tourism. “That is why we have taken the steps of hosting a page for purely consumer generated content. People want to see what other people see, not what the marketing guy is posting,” Will Seccombe, chief marketing officer at Visit Florida, said in a statement issued late last week. “Florida Live at visitflorida.com empowers residents and fans to share great snapshots of the Sunshine State with the rest of the world.” Because of the negative news, some tourists have changed their plans and are heading elsewhere, forcing Pensacola-area properties to drastically reduce their rates, thus giving travellers and even better reason to visit Florida’s Panhandle this summer. The reports reminded me of my recent visit to Pensacola and the fun I had on the nearby beaches of Santa Rosa, the magical island that sits just off Pensacola and the place where we watched playful dolphins frolic in the orange surf at sunset. That’s a scene played out nightly on Santa Rosa, a place that has become a favourite with lovers lured there by the romantic sunset.  Fun in the Florida sun Okay, maybe not everyone falls in love on Santa Rosa Island, but everyone seems to fall in love with the narrow piece of land shaped like a finger that is less than two kilometres wide, only 80 kilometres long and features sand so white it looks like snow. “There’s dolphins over there,” shouts Jeffrey, a Santa Rosa native and one of the crew on the catamaran we board at Portofino, the island’s five-tower luxury resort that looks like a collection of giant red sand castles on the stark white beach. Portofino offers guests romantic sunset cruises and the experience is delightful even if you’re alone.  Standing on your head on a Florida beach Santa Rosa is Florida au natural. Here, sand dunes flourish, sea oats wave gently in the always present sea breeze and the azure water is bath water warm. The island is made up entirely of pure quartz crystal sand washed down from the Appalachian Mountains hundreds of kilometres to the north. Santa Rosa is connected to the mainland by the five kilometre-long Pensacola Bridge. It’s a place full of surprises, including Fort Pickens, the old fortress that was built for defensive purposes in 1829 after Florida was ceded to the United States by Spain. It took five years and 20 million bricks to build the fort that featured 100 mounted canons in its prime and offered its occupants endless views of the surrounding sea. Fort Pickens played a prominent role in the U.S. Civil War and although it lies in Confederate country, it was actually controlled by Union forces during the conflict. In fact, many southerners lost their lives trying to take Fort Pickens from the North in an 1861 fight that has become known as the Battle of Santa Rosa Island. The fort’s most famous occupant actually had little to do with the Civil War, though. Geronimo, the rebel Apache chief was imprisoned at Fort Pickens for a time and was the island’s first tourist attraction. According to records, influential island residents petitioned the federal government to bring Geronimo to Santa Rosa so they could put him on display and attract tourists. The unthinkable act actually worked and thousands came to see the captive Geronimo, who would sell buttons off his coat to the tourists. “Every night Geronimo would have one of his wives (he apparently had several) sew new buttons on his coat and he would keep selling them to the tourists,” says Jeffrey. One of Geronimo’s wives is buried in a cemetery in Pensacola. Santa Rosa is one of the jewels that make up Florida’s Emerald Coast, the northern section of the state also known as the Forgotten Coast because it lacks the development so prominent on the state’s south-eastern shores. That’s a good thing, because that’s kept this area true to its environmental roots and offers visitors a glimpse into a Florida from pre-historic times. Santa Rosa, and for that matter the rest of the Florida Panhandle, are far more popular with tourists in the spring, summer and fall than in winter — although winter vacations here are far more affordable. The beaches on Santa Rosa and others around historic Pensacola remain white and pure – and now is the best time to vacation there. INFORMATION Go to www.visitflorida.com or www.visitpensacola.com for details |
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