I was surprised at how much I was drawn to the Port St. Joe area, along “The forgotten coast” of Florida (which is no longer really forgotten). We stayed at Presnell’s Bayside Marina & RV Resort, which was nice and had friendly, welcoming people staying there. We had a long conversation with a retired police officer from Massachusetts who has been traveling by himself for several years and had some good tips. He even gave us his card in to keep in touch.
Since First Baptist Church of Port St. Joe had a contemporary service, we decided to visit them on Sunday morning. However, when we got to the address, there was only an old tiny building, with no cars. We drove around a couple of blocks, but didn’t see any evidence of that church, but we did find New Life Christian Center, which had a good number of cars in their parking lot. I quickly googled their service times and saw it was the same as FBC, 11am, but I also saw it was a black church, haha. Oh well. We knew it’d probably be different than what we were used to (and I normally check the church’s Statement of Faith before attending), but decided to go in anyway. We were surprised the preacher was already preaching when we stepped in, but the usher guy said we were welcome to still have a seat. I asked what time they started and if it was almost over. He said 10am and they were about half way done, haha. It fit the stereotype of a black church, with the cadence of the pastor’s words and the congregation talking back. The pastor was dynamic and very motivational, and I enjoyed listening and being inspired by him AND the enthusiasm of the congregation. I was disappointed they didn’t have any singing at the end of their service, though. That would have been fun to experience! We were sitting in the very back, but several people made a point of speaking to us and welcoming us before we left, including the pastor. And in the parking lot, a lady rolled down her window and said they were glad we visited, too. It was definitely the most welcomed we have felt in a church since traveling full-time, but I suppose no one had any doubts whether or not we were visiting! I’m glad we had the courage to step out of our comfort zone.
Stopping at the Sand Dollar Cafe for some southern comfort food was a different experience, too. It looked like it was a buffet, but the chalkboard menu’s pricing specified how many entrees and sides you could choose. Turns out it was cafeteria style. So we told the server what we wanted and he dished it onto our plates. Randy had pot roast, lima beans, macaroni & cheese and I had crab cakes, green beans and glazed carrots. It was really good, especially the macaroni and glazed carrots. Oh, and I asked a lady sitting near us if she knew where First Baptist Church was located. She said they were meeting in a school, since their building had been badly damaged by hurricane Michael four years ago. She also said they had to stop building at their new location when they found it was on top of an old cemetery. Oops!
After lunch, we drove around town a bit and happened upon the WindMark Beach community, which is super cute golf cart community. While not right on the beach, it has beach access with a short golf cart drive from the homes. Some homes have obstructed bay views, looking through trees. We ended up being intrigued enough to stop at their model home and learn more. I liked that high rise buildings aren’t allowed to be built along that section of the coast. I think that made the area more appealing to me. It’s just too bad they packed the homes in so tight in WindMark; that’s definitely NOT appealing.
I thought it was interesting to hear stories of how people deal with living so near the time zone line and working in a different time zone. That’d take a while to figure out and get used to dealing with, for sure. I loved the fact that we basically got another hour of daylight back just by crossing over the time line, though! The sunset at Miramar Beach was around 4:45pm, but at Port St. Joes it was 5:45pm — yay!
The next day, we drove about 20 minutes to the St. Joseph Peninsula and admired the beach front properties. Randy and I started talking about the possibility of renting something like that for a month or two before we settle down; maybe even making it an annual vacation; or perhaps buying a second home and becoming a snowbird. I think it’s fun to think and talk about future possibilities, exploring ideas and asking questions; but Randy starts feeling overwhelmed with all the possibilities instead of enjoying it, so we are having to figure out that balance.
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