Crooked Island Beach — Attraction in Port Saint Joe

As far back as my teen years in the mid 70's, this beautiful stretch of beach was my go-to place for summer sunshine, emerald green waters, crystal beaches. I labeled this beach on Google Maps and admin the Facebook page. The hours spent here with my best friend, my family, my own self, over the years are countless. It is the inspiration for my love of photography and all things natural. Many sunrises have found me walking these sands, breathing in the salt air, relishing in the beauty of it all.

And then there was Hurricane Michael.

Never before has this region experienced a Category 5 hurricane, and even now, nearly ten months later, we Bay Countians are still reeling from the shock of such massive devastation.

Crooked Island Beach is no longer open to the public because of the total destruction wrought by this storm.

What once was easily accessible is now reverted back to its original ecosystem, bereft of anything man made save the few remaining boards and planks of the boardwalk. The shoreline has changed dramatically, and continues to do so with each subsequent storm that visits this area. It is an ever evolving ecosystem, completely natural again, no longer littered with human footprints.

And perhaps it should remain this way. Penaperhaps this isn't a bad thing after all.

Even still, it...

I live in Mexico Beach and Crooked Island is definitely one of our favorite local beach spots. Up until the summer of 2018, it was open to the public, you must have a military pass from Tyndall Air Force Base(not hard to get- they do a quick back ground check and then you must pay an $11 fee). The reason they changed it is bc they caught on video an older lady climbing over the barrier and stealing the protected Snowy Plower eggs out of a nest on the beach(if you do a Google search for Snowy Plower eggs stolen from Crooked Island, FL you can watch the disgusting, heartbreaking video). The video shows the Mama bird coming back and searching for her eggs, it really is heartbreaking. As far as I know she hasn't been caught but I hope they do! She'll have some pretty serious charges too bc she stole a federally protected species off of a military base. I mean, how dumb can you be?! And what the hell is she doing with them?! Eating them?! I hope not. So, yeah, she ruined it for the people who come down every year and enjoy going to Crooked Island bc most people aren't going to have time to go to Tyndall to do a background check and get a pass on their vacation! I haven't been to since the hurricane so I'm not sure what kind of shape it's even...

We learned of this beach 7 years ago, its a hidden gem of natural beauty, there were tons of sand dollars and shells. Get there early in the morning!! After hurricane Micahel in 2018, we visited in 2022 and there were no sand dollars. A local walked up and asked me if I had found any I told him no but we returned this week July 23, 2023 and the sand dollars are back. We found 7 sand dollars, 4 perfectly shapped, and as you see in the picture tons of shells. The only drawback, for me is the brackish water, it's not the tropical blue water over in Panama City Beach and the beaches down Hwy 98. If you love hunting for shells its worth a...