Panama City??
 

Headed to Panama City in June and looking for tips on things to do and restaurants to hit. We're late 30's and enjoy being active (beach, scuba/snorkeling,golf, etc) and site- seeing. We're not big partiers but enjoy dancing / socializing. We've done the usual Google / City Scene searches and found nothing that just jumps off the page as "Must" places to see or eat.

As always, your suggestions are much appreciated!

Where are you staying? Panama City, or across the bridge in Panama City Beach? And if the latter, where? Thomas Drive or further west along 98? It's a fairly large, spread-out area.

I'm in my late 30's and I just got scuba-certified in Panama City this past weekend. Groups from all over the South come to PC to get certified. We went to Vortex Springs for a freshwater dive. Great visibility / 60 feet deep. Located off of I-10 near Ponce De Leon. Morrison Springs is supposedly even better, but it was flooded last weekend so we went to Vortex instead. For our saltwater dive, we went to St. Andrews State Park in Panama City. It's very important to dive when it's "high tide" because the visibility can vary dramatically. We dove at 9am and high tide was at 4pm. As such, the visibility was very poor. However, our instructor indicated that the visibility is typically very good at high tide.

Captain Anderson's is the most successful restaurant in the area. It's less than a mile from St. Andrews State Park.

One sightseeing suggestion would be to drive to Seaside, FL ... walk around or rent a bicycle ... see the sunset at Bud & Alleys; If you've got more time, drive further west to Baytowne Wharf at SanDestin. These are my two favorite areas on the gulf coast.

Pumpy,
I live on the other side of the bridge, in Panama City, as opposed to Panama City Beach. For dinner, I would pick the Treasure Ship (also on Thomas Drive) over Anderson's, usually not as long of a wait. Other choices are Boar's Hhead, Sweet Basil's, Saltwater Grill, the Spicy Noodle, Angelo's, and Pompano's. More casual choices are Dirty Dicks, Sharky's, Hammerhead Fred's, and Pineapple Willy's. If you don't mind crossing the bridge into town, try Black Angus, Capt's Table or Uncle Ernie's in St. Andrews. For clubs, try Spinnakers, Buck Wild, and La Vela.

Since we've never been, I don't know exactly where the condo is located. However, I know it's in Panama City Beach and it's located near or on Surf Dr.

There's a Surf Drive that runs parallel with Thomas Drive at its western end. If that's where your condo is, it's a great location.

Search for activities, restaurants & nightlife on or near Thomas Drive, and you're set.

(Both Spinnaker & La Vela, the famous beach clubs, are on Thomas.)

ttt

Pumpy,
Please don't take offense, but some of us have posted some pretty good advice. You have already been advised about restaurants, night life, scuba diving, and a side trip to Seaside and SanDestin. If you don't already know, there are numerous deep sea fishing charters and deep sea diving charters available at the Treasure Island Marina. You can also dive and snorkle at the St. Andrews State Park, or rent a boat and drive to Shell Island. What other types of ideas are you looking for?

Panama City has lots to do. I've been there several times. Check this site out.
http://www.panamacitybeach.com

OldSouthernBelle- You always give such nice friendly advise. I have noticed since I started coming to this board how you give fun ideals and never treat the newbies harshly. Thank you.

Well, I'm pretty near blushing...how very sweet of you to say so!

I can be a bit snitty at times, just like anybody, but sometimes get to the preview and decide to hit 'delete'!

I try to treat people with the respect I'd want myself (although I don't always practice this well enough!)

Besides, I come on here to entertain myself, not to pick a fight or get my BP up!
I do get some good laughs once in awhile though, usually has something to do with Kal or iceeu2, and a few others!