Beach Vaca / alternatives to JKA (gulf shores)

arkvet

arkvet

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Brent
For nearly two decades we've been going to the Gulf Shores / Orange Beach / Perdido area and always enjoy it. Over two decades our family has evolved from the wife (girlfriend at the time) and myself going with our parents... to now having 3 kids of our own (12, 9, 6), and we do most of our traveling as just the 5 in the Toga.

We do enjoy the beach (especially for the summer vaca) but we are wondering if anyone can suggest some alternative locations. Most likely leaning towards the beach but other destinations aren't out of the question. We fly out of KPGR (northeast Arkansas) and JKA is a 2.5 hour trip. We can stretch that another hour or so if needed.

The wife looked at Dauphin Island and there are some nice places to stay there. The flight in looks like it would be awesome and I'm fine with tie downs / no fuel. Just plan accordingly. The biggest concern I have with this place is kinda feeling stuck? We usually go for 6-7 nights. No rental cars on the island (that I can see) and relying on a shuttle service for transport (don't know why we'd need it?) seems risky? We're fine with the lack of a bunch of tourist trap restaurants. We usually prepare the vast majority of meals ourselves anyway. Honestly I see Dauphin Island as more of a 1-2 day trip with another couple or just us, rather than a week long family destination???

What are some other good places to fly into? We're not opposed to the busy and fancy Destin'ish atmosphere or the low key atmosphere.

Like I said the Gulf Shores area (and JKA!) has always been great... Just need a change of scenery.

Would love a trip to the northeast or out west but the thought of that in August just isn't all that appealing.
 
We sorta settled on Pensacola Beach for our domestic beach trips. Nice compromise, good Veach, lots of good restaurants, always visit the Naval Aviation Museum (allow all day!).

Good airport, too.
 
You mentioned the northeast. I just got back from a week in Ocean City, NJ. Great family atmosphere ( beach/boardwalk) with a nice little airport on the island. Our family loves it and we go every year as my wife is from there. August would be nice as the water will be warmer (was around 68 degrees two weeks ago). Airport ident is 26N. Lots to do in and around. Also a great museum at KWWD (formerly Wildwood Naval Air Station)
 
Although we haven't flown directly into Pensacola before we've stayed in perdido key and the naval museum is almost a yearly visit... it would be a very slight change of scenery only.

New Jersey doubles our flight distance to over 5 hours. Idk if I want that if there are potentially closer options. The destination is definitely intriguing through. I'll bounce that off the wife and see what she thinks. All I know is our kids tolerate 2.5 hours just fine in the Toga but when we land they're glad to be there.
 
There is plenty to do with the wife and kids here at Ocean City Maryland (KOXB). Boardwalk, rides, games, beach, great eats.

Nags Head North Carolina (KMQI). Plenty of things to see and do, also good places to eat. Just a short hop to First Flight too.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (KMYR) or just north at Grand Strand (KCRE). Beach, food and things to do.

We are looking forward to some time on Jekyll Island, Georgia (09J). Not sure there is that much for the kids to do but we don't have that to worry about. There looks to be plenty of beach R&R.
 
From here, it's just about equidistant for us to fly to North Myrtle (CRE) or Destin (DTS), we like both. As for Ocean City, as a southerner used to the warm waters of the gulf, I'd bet you'd be shocked at how cold the water is up that way. Water in the low 70's to me is very cold.

For something really laid back, you could try Cedar Key, FL, although its a longer flight. Another alternative would be to try Jay Horneck's place, Amelia's Landing, on Mustang Island in TX.

I've been meaning to try Panama City Beach sometime, but we just haven't gotten there yet.
 
We're gong to Dam Neck Virginia next week. It's just south of Norfolk and is a military base with cabins to rent on the ocean. Lot's of other oceanfront options though. We meet our son who has a car.

Have you looked to see if Dauphin Island has Uber of Lift? Our last trip to the island we drove because we visited several family along the way.
 
So the wife is looking at places around Destin (or at least places where Destin Executive would be the airport of choice). The most recent reviews of the FBO there are far from rosey. Apparently management change and fees have gone through the roof? Anyone have any recent experiences there?
 
Dauphin island is fun and we just went there 2 weekends ago. We go there and make it a day trip. Jt's sunset grill (which was really good seafood) will come pick you up from the airport otherwise we walked everywhere else. They have a shuttle service but dang if we never saw it and everybody seemed clueless about it. Its a 2 hour flight for me so I can make it there and back to KSTF without refueling which is nice. Other than the beach, which isn't really all that nice, I move on down to Destin where sand is white and the water is blue. Pensacola is greeny clear water, Alabama coast is brown. The further down Florida you get the better. Ive never flown into Destin but that place is pretty busy so it cant be all that bad...or can it..hahaha

Fly to Dauphin island and land on the cool runway, eat at Jt's sunset grill, spend time on the beach, then fly down to Destin. Dang I may have to do that trip. hahaha

If you're going to fly to Pensacola id land at 82J..Ferguson airport but check out there web page as they have special procedures for getting in.
 
I am partial to Destin for your mission. I think of it as family friendly/lower key than places like Daytona or Panama City.

Maybe @N747JB can give you a recent review on the FBO?
 
arkvet said:
So the wife is looking at places around Destin (or at least places where Destin Executive would be the airport of choice). The most recent reviews of the FBO there are far from rosey. Apparently management change and fees have gone through the roof? Anyone have any recent experiences there?
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The people at the FBO are great!! A couple of them bring dog treats to the plane and when they see our tail number on the incoming flights they will make sure they have peanut butter cookies for my wife!! The management sucks donkey balls!! $95 per night for me to tie down outside!! I did negotiate one night free if I buy 120 gallons instead of my usual 80! Fuel prices aren't too bad for a resort area. If you go, go to the south FBO, it's much more accessible and the ramp is huge, the north ramp is pretty tight.
 
Hang on. $95/night to tie down. WTF? I'm not a cheapskate but I do draw a line somewhere... and it's well short of $95. I got red carpet treatment at JKA (gulf shores) and was offered a hangar since thunderstorms were forecast all week we were there. I think tie down was $15 / night but I splurged and paid $30? / night for the hangar.

At $95 / night or even close I'll go somewhere else. $600 can buy several nice meals over a week.
 
We are going Lewes DE this year, and probably next too. Shhhhh, its super low key.
There is an airport near town but I think its spendy. KGED

Was planning on flying everyone this year, but wont have my ticket till shortly after.
 
I called Lynx (Destin executive) today and spoke with them regarding nightly fees / rental cars / etc. idk where the $95 came from (what was the plane?).

I'm sure the fuel is high but it's $15/night for a piston single. One night free with 15+ gallon fuel.

Got a condo booked on Miramar island just down from the airport.

When approaching Destin at a SE heading is it preferable to "swing out" and approach from the east or west? I will be VFR on flight following most likely.
 
arkvet said:
I called Lynx (Destin executive) today and spoke with them regarding nightly fees / rental cars / etc. idk where the $95 came from (what was the plane?).

I'm sure the fuel is high but it's $15/night for a piston single. One night free with 15+ gallon fuel.

Got a condo booked on Miramar island just down from the airport.

When approaching Destin at a SE heading is it preferable to "swing out" and approach from the east or west? I will be VFR on flight following most likely.
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This is stale knowledge, but when we went to Destin we were IFR and typically brought in from the north from the Crestview VORTAC. Been a while since I've been there.

If you are flight following, you are already talking to the people you need to.. so you can EITHER do the coastline at below 8500 with required advisories or traverse the north-south corridor with clearance at or above 3500 ft. Its whatever floats your boat.
 
Went to DTS in May. 15.00 per night sounds right, may have been a landing fee, I think fee and maybe one night waived with fuel purchase. FBO was fine, they have a rental car facility on field and will show up at your plane with the car.

Busy airspace around Eglin, I was IFR so I don't have any advice if you are going in VFR. I think we stayed in the Miramar area, it was nice. There is a large resort to the south with a Hilton? that has a very nice restaurant if you want something on the fancier side.

Hands down my favorite restaurant was a wine bar in a strip center. All the locals eat there, they have a wine store in the restaurant. You can go pick a bottle, pay about the same as if you purchased it from a liquor store and then pay a 5.00 corking fee. If you are interested, I will get you the name. We are there twice and met a couple there that was on there third meal and go there every time the are in Destin.

Jim
 
There is/was an online course for the specifics of flying in/out of Destin. IIRC, it took about 10-15 minutes to read through. It explains the expected altitudes/routes to use to get through the busy MOAs around the area. It had GPS coords for visual waypoints, which I loaded in the GPS. It was actually good useful info.

Get ready for a miserable car ride leaving the airport. The airport road dumps you right in the middle of tourist central. You'll spend a good while driving past the chain restaurants (Bubba Gump's, anybody!?) to get to the edge of town.

Once you're away from the middle of the chaos, Destin's beaches are pretty darn nice.
 
I like Panama City Beach.

From Paragould, Galveston TX is almost as close. It has the beach, restaurants, and also airplane museum and aquarium. (But parts of the town are kind of shabby -- it's been hit with a lot of hurricanes)
 
arkvet said:
I called Lynx (Destin executive) today and spoke with them regarding nightly fees / rental cars / etc. idk where the $95 came from (what was the plane?).

I'm sure the fuel is high but it's $15/night for a piston single. One night free with 15+ gallon fuel.

Got a condo booked on Miramar island just down from the airport.

When approaching Destin at a SE heading is it preferable to "swing out" and approach from the east or west? I will be VFR on flight following most likely.
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I'm sure you will enjoy it. Look into a boat rental and head to crab island if you can. It's a knee deep island in the bay that has a lot of boats anchored with food, music and drink. They occasionally have floats for the kids to play on. It's a lot of fun for the whole family.

Disclaimer: Even though it is family friendly mostly there may be a topless lady or two at times.

As far as flying there, I've done all directions a lot. Nothing much to worry about except it has some goofy military airspace around. I would suggest getting familiar with the chart and talk to ATC at all times down there if not familiar. You either approach from east or west along the coast or a north south corridor from Crestview talking to Eglin Approach.
 
vintij wine bar destin Highly recommend!
 
tinerj said:
I like Panama City Beach.

From Paragould, Galveston TX is almost as close. It has the beach, restaurants, and also airplane museum and aquarium. (But parts of the town are kind of shabby -- it's been hit with a lot of hurricanes)
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Bwahahahah... Galveston's shabbiness isn't because of the hurricanes.. just the local "flair"...
 
I was being polite.
 
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