NEWS FLASH – Avast! The dastardly pirate, Billy Bowlegs, be attacking the shores of the “Northernmost Caribbean” again. This year, like the fifty-eight years before, Billy and his krewe made their attack at the Fort Walton Beach Brooks Street Landing.

Billy was spotted off-shore early Friday evening. Rather than wait for the attack, the Honorable Mayor of Fort Walton Beach, Mike Anderson, decided to take matters in his own hands. He and the local militia surprised Capt’n Billy and captured him before any attack could begin. Bowlegs was put in a police car and taken away. However, most of the Bowlegs’ krewe escaped. The Mayor was worried that the krewe might spring him before he made it to the jail.

Arrrrgggghhhhh! Capt’n Morgan perhaps.

The Mayor had good reason to worry. Bowlegs was indeed “sprung” by the crew and there was a massive battle (aka fireworks) just a short ways off shore in the Santa Rosa Sound as Capt’n Billy made his escape. Then, on Saturday there was a massive attack and Bowlegs and his krewe came ashore in full force. It be hard to tell who won as “spirits” were high and everyone enjoyed the entertainment at hand. Arrrrggggghhhhh.

Dastardly pirates

The local militia ready to defend the shores of Fort Walton Beach.

Ok… It’s kinda corny. The Billy Bowlegs festival has been going on for fifty-nine years. Each year it always proceeds in about the same way… pirates invade and are pushed back to sea… then pirates invade again and everyone joins the party. And what it really is… is something cooked up by the chamber of commerce to drum up business for local merchants. It is a little like a county fair… without being a county fair.

And there are bands providing entertainment through the day and evening… some pretty good and some… well, let’s say it is still fun. There are lots of vendors set up in the park to sell you all kinds of food. They cook it right there on the spot on barbecues and the like. This year I actually ate some for the first time… so far I have survived.

The festival grew out of a water skiing festival held in 1953. Looking for a way to increase revenues the Chamber of Commerce came up with the pirate theme centered around the “notorious pirate” William Augustus Bowels”. Legend has it that Bowels piracy extended throughout the region of the Northernmost Caribbean… but then the legend is of “controversial authenticity”. The festival has continued to grow over the years and is now a huge event.

This is my fifth or sixth time to the Bowlegs festival. I can’t tell you why I keep coming back. Maybe it’s the “down home” feeling you get when you are there… maybe it’s the friendly atmosphere… or most likely it’s just that people there are all having fun. It has certainly become a way to spend a couple of afternoons for lots of people here in the “Northernmost”.

One of the things that attract throngs of people is the fireworks display. Now I have seen some very fine fireworks displays… Disneyland & Disney World put on great fireworks shows. That said, the fireworks at Bowlegs this year may have been the best I have ever seen. Literally, thousands of fireworks are shot into the night sky and they are orchestrated to put on an awesome display.

Of course, there is the pirate atmosphere. Lots of people dress up in some kind of pirate garb and somehow everything always seem to be more fun with pirate festivities.

Whatever it is I’ll be back again.

Finally, summer has begun… officially for me and those in the “Northernmost Caribbean”. For a lot of people it has been a long, cold winter. Memorial Day is sort of the un-official start to summer, but in the Northernmost Caribbean it is officially summer. Thousands of people flocked to the beaches this week-end… including me.  There is a commercial for charcoal that runs each year that is exactly how I feel as I emerge from the frozen tundra. (OK… I didn’t really live in the “frozen tundra” but I felt that way just the same.) Here’s a link to that commercial. Winter (YouTube link)

The great sugar white beaches are a great place to begin summer.

Memorial Day at the beach

Warm water and sun make it a great place to spend the week-end

I spent at least some time every day, starting on Friday and going through Monday, at the beach. And I visited my favorite Tiki bar for a frozen concoction to help me hang on. This is actually at the Ramada Inn on Okaloosa Island, Fort Walton Beach. It is a big hotel right on the beach. If you stay there you literally can crawl from the Tiki bar back to your room. It’s really a nice place, but this time of year be prepared to indenture your first born son if you stay there very long.

Ramada Inn Tiki Bar right on the beach.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night they had live entertainment right there at the Tiki Bar. John is the “one man band” that plays there in the afternoons every week-end of the summer. He has been playing there for years and people (like me) have been coming back to this Tiki Bar partly because of the party atmosphere and music John Brings with him.

It seems that there were a lot of people that had been having their frozen concoctions all day long. (Yes I have their permission to post this pic.)

Plenty of frozen concoctions to help you hang on at the Tiki bar

Another of the big activities on Memorial Day week-end is the “boat party” at “Crab Island”. “Crab Island” isn’t really an island. Instead, it’s sort of a sand bar where the water is only a few feet deep. People with boats come there to party with a few thousand of their closest friends. Just drive your boat up and pop a cold one. Don’t worry if you don’t have a cold one. There are vendors that bring out “barges” to sell you something cold to drink. And don’t worry if you don’t know anyone because everyone there make friends very fast.

“Crab Island” is usually quite a sight… there are thousands of boats anchored on and around the sand bar. The water is warm enough this time of year that lots of people are in the water… standing on the sand bar. It’s only a little ways off shore and some people will just swim out. But don’t be fooled, there are tidal currents there and you have to be a very strong swimmer to get out to the party. You’ll also have to dodge the Coast Guard that has a station there. The Coast Guard tries to prevent swimmers going to Crab Island. So, if you want to join the party and don’t have a boat, there are plenty of watercraft (canoes, jet skis, pontoon boats, etc) nearby to rent.

What a great way to spend a few hours making friends.

On the way to “Crab Island”

Party with a few thousand of your friends

The week-end, like all week-ends was over too fast. Now I’ve got to find a place to live.

I’m reporting to you from the Northernmost Caribbean. The next great adventure starts here. I moved here for the second time in June, 2009. Although I intended for that move to “stick”, circumstances took over and I moved away. This time I intend to stay here through late fall… and maybe forever.

When Jimmy Buffett talked about the “Northernmost Caribbean”, he was really talking the New Orleans and the area running along the coast to Gulfport, Mississippi & beyond. It’s logical that this extends all the way to at least Panama City in Florida. Geographically, it makes sense that if New  Orleans is in the Northernmost Caribbean, then certainly all of the Florida Panhandle is in the “Northernmost Caribbean” too.

But there’s more than just the same body of water connecting the Northernmost Caribbean to the regions in the more southerly Caribbean… there are a lot of other similarities. First there are the magnificent beaches. The beautiful sugar white sand beaches may be the best of anywhere in the Caribbean… Northernmost or otherwise. These beaches may be the biggest reason Panama City Beach has become “the” destination for “Spring Break”.

These are not just some kind of man-made beaches like a lot of the tourist spots in other areas of the Caribbean. These are natural and stretch hundreds of miles from Mississippi all the way to east of Panama City. The water is clearly Caribbean too. During the spring, summer, and fall months, the water is warm and inviting for every kind of water activity you can imagine.

The area has a lot of other similarities to more southern areas of the Caribbean. Tourism has become big business. When I first went to Destin many moons ago, there was a billboard just outside of town that proclaimed Destin as the “Luckiest Little Fishing Village in the World” and that’s just what it was… a little fishing village.

Well… that same sign is still there, but Destin has grown up. It is now similar to many of the cruise ports I have been to. There is a “Harbor Walk” area that has all of the tourist shops including a Del Sol T-shirt shop. Now all they need is a Diamonds International and they would rival any of the cruise ports in Cozumel, Grand Cayman or Roatan. Of course in Destin you can still charter fishing boats for a day on the ocean fishing like the “Old Man and the Sea”.

More than places or things, it’s the attitude that makes this a lot like the rest of the Caribbean. It leans toward the laid back, “no problem mon”, style. Certainly people here have to make a living and work most days. But the intensity is turned down. Most folks living here realize that they are living at least close to the Caribbean and their lives are more relaxed. A day on the beach or out fishing… or a frozen concoction to help you hang on…  is at least as important as days at work.

All along the coast you can rent everything from a little bungalow to a high-rise condo right on the beach. Those high rise condos have a stunning view of the ocean… and a stunning price. There’s also just about every kind of activity you can imagine… water-parks, go-kart parks, parasailing, boating, swimming, and just about everything you might want to do on a vacation.

Not far from here is Jellystone park. Yeah… really… Jellystone park. Of course they are capitalizing on Yogi’s fame, but just the same, I’m going to make a trip to Jellystone soon. Also the Swanee River… “how I love ya, how I love ya”… is not too far away. I’ve driven by there a lot of times and each time I do I say I’m going to stop there one day. Well, that day will be soon. Oh… the mouse place is only about six hours drive away so I’m sure I’ll be visiting there too.

“Stay tuned”… I’ll be reporting here on all the goings on in the region and as many adventures I can manage. I intend to post here at least once a week with pics and stories.

The Northernmost Caribbean

The Adventures Continue