St. George Island vs. St. Joseph Island Fl state parks

[sandyu]

 Anyone been there or have any information on which I should go. The plan is to swim a lot with the kids. Love swimming in clear blue waters.

Anything will be helpful,  Thanks

Made reservation for St. Joseph because it looked a lot closer to the beach on Google maps. Hope I was looking at correct campgrounds.

[quicksilverbill]

We spent four days there a few years ago--in February. Very nice, not highly developed park; the beach is spectacular (very white, sugary sand and very long) and we really liked the somewhat isolated location. Our only problem was that, in February, northern Florida is pretty chilly and we also had a two nights of extremely strong winds that made sleeping difficult. At this time of year, weather should not pose those sorts of problems. The Shady Pines section of the campground is, well, shadier, and that should be an advantage during the summer season. We did not check out St George Island, so can't offer any comparison. In any event, I wouldn't hesitate to go again, but probably not in the winter.

Bill

[sandyu]

Thanks for info.

[livinthegoodlife]

We have been to both parks numerous times. The last time for St. Joseph's was six years ago. It was a little run down and very crowded. The campsites are on one side of the dunes, but the sites closest to the beach are hard to come by.  There is some shade at these sites, but not much. Like Bill said, The Shady Pines section would offer more shade, but it is further from the beach. Port St. Joe is about 20 miles from the park so if you need groceries you may want to keep this in mind.

St. George Island is my favorite of the two. Even though the campground is a bit further from the beach, we always take a cooler with us and set up in one of the many pavilions that are close to the beach (some of them you can see the water from)and have charcoal grills. They are quiet spacious and offer shade when the sun gets to be a bit too much on the beach. The shower houses and restrooms are very clean.  There is a wonderful free museum very worth taking a walk through on the way onto the island on the left hand side. If you go to St. George, make sure to check it out. Also be sure to check out Appalachacola. It is an old fishing village that has a lot of history.

Make sure to take lots of bug spray as the mosquitoes and noseeums are quiet bad on both islands in the evening.Whichever island you choose has very good beaches.  There is a bit more to do on St. George for both the kids and the adults as they have restaurants, the lighthouse and a bit of funkiness. We have good memories of both islands, so if you go to one one year, go to the other another year!

Hope you enjoy!

[sandyu]

Good information thanks.

[shovelhead]

OK ... I know you cant see them but I've been bitten by those invisible Bast****.   But really what are noseeums? A gnat, skeeter , myth?

[livinthegoodlife]

No myth.....No see ums, also known as biting midges depending on where you're from, are teeny tiny gnats that you can hardly see but you will most certainly feel its presence. These are the blood-sucking pests that will drive a sane person mad in a mere 10 minutes. Although a fraction of the size of a mosquito, their bite will often leave a greater itch that lasts a lot longer. And because they are hard to see, you usually do not know they are there until it is too late, hence the name "no see ums". So what are these no see ums, exactly? No see ums are flying insects from the Ceratopogonidae family which include over 4,000 species. They are similar to gnats, only they leave their mark in the form of a bite. The males and females alike feed on nectar; however, the females are the only ones that feed on blood in order to draw proteins for their fertilized eggs. It is also believed, like mosquitoes, they are attracted to the CO2 emitted by humans.

My husband spent his 50th birthday covered in these bites and ended up getting sick. We had flown to Key West with backpacks on our backs to tent camp. Something that he has always wanted to do. The darned things came right through our Noseeum netting on the windows.
We found that if you put babyoil on your skin that they can't attach themselves to you to bite you. There bites are worse than mosquitos too. We have had bites last for sometimes a month or longer.

[vmcmn]

Here's a couple of pictures I took of my campsite at St.Joseph in the Shady Pines section. Just the other side of the trailer in the background of the 2nd pic is the beach,so you get a good breeze and the sound of the waves at night is very relaxing.

[a href="http://s429.photobucket.com/user/HHRnole/media/DSCF1823_zpsb144fc66.jpg.html"]

Growing up as a teen my Dad was the purchasing director for the Fla.Dept.of Natural Resources,so we camped at St.Joseph alot. In fact we kept our Starcraft popup at the Ranger's house and they would have it pulled to a site when they knew we were coming down. St.George SP wasn't even built yet,in fact where the park is they used to hold a big dune buggy race there. I remember in my early 20's a bunch of my friends and I would take our vans and campout on the w/e's where the pavement ended. There are little conv. type stores on both Cape San Blas and St. George but if you don't want to pay and arm & a leg for your groceries I'd either bring what you need or go to the Mainland. If you like to fish then St.Joe is better since the beach isn't as crowded,plus during scallop season St.Joe bay has some of the best around. The town of Port St.Joe also is a very historic place since the consitution of Fla.was written there. They have a museum there that is very interesting and the graveyard there is filled with old graves of those that died when Yellow Fever just about wiped the town out. Since both are close to Tallahassee I try to camp at either one when I get the chance.

[sandyu]

Thanks for the info guys.  I hope the no see ums are not a problem. Your scaring a little. I for sure will be staying at St. Joseph at spot 13 or twelve in the campground closer to beach. The picture looked like it had some shade and it was near the bathrooms, which my crew enjoys. I might try to do some scalloping while I'm down there. I guess that's something the girls could do with me.

Thanks for including the pictures also.  

[runningwriter]

We spent a week at St. Joe's in Feb of this year.  It is now, one of our favorite beach experiences.  The rest rooms/showers are brand new and among the nicest we've seen.

We day tripped to St. George and were not as enamored, though, I don't remember why.

i guess we loved the seclusion at St. Joe's.

[sandyu]

Thanks for the great report. Counting the days already.