T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park — Attraction in Port Saint Joe

Great place for family fun! Great stargazing place! We saw the ISS and several shooting stars. Good camping, the sites are close together but the sites are well maintained with power and water hookup for tent campers. The bathrooms are well maintained (the hot and cold in the showers are tricky). Bring a bike to cycle the large campground / state park and to get to the marina and then walk over to beach. Bring hammocks straps, no ropes allowed on trees. There are two posts at each site for a laundry line or hammock. Pets are allowed, but not on the beach or public facilities. Firepit with grill at each site. You can buy wood at the entrance for $6/bundle or bring your own in within 50 miles of park. You can have two tents per site. Bring a screen house and/or bug spray.

Nearest gas station/grocery store was 5-10 minutes from park entrance.

The rangers are helpful and informative. Lots of info at entrance- temp and wind forecast, high/ low tide times. Watch out for deer at night.

There's a concession/bait store at the Scallop Cove marina. The store is lightly stocked with mediocre essentials so be well supplied or pay inflated prices. They rent canoes, kayaks and inflatable paddleboards or signup for a boat tour. Or bring your own boat and launch yourself! Saw many a family out kayaking and paddle boarding. There is a fish cleaning station at the Cove. Pelicans will take an interest in your spoils.

There is bathroom available with separate changing rooms and an outside shower area on the beach side.

The walk from the Scallop Cove Preserve water access to the Gulf of Mexico beach is about 300 yards. Enjoy the wonders of nature. Bring a tube, shovel, bucket, snorkel and kite! A dive flag is required to snorkel. It can get windy since it's a slip of an peninsula, bring a hat and sunglasses.

Dolphins were seen at the beach in large pods feeding. Wish we had binoculars!

The Preserve side has lots of turtlegrass and is abundant with life- urchins, fish, crabs, hermit crabs, snails. There is also a warning for alligators. Bring a net scooper and a bucket for exploring!

There was one playground available with a few enclosed patio areas nearby with shower and bathrooms across Shady Pines camping area. Small parking lot, but plenty of overflow places...

Beautiful place to relax on the beach, snorkel in the sea grass, paddleboard, and maybe even see some dolphins. We went on a Wednesday in the middle of May, it wasn't crowded, and the water temperature was almost perfect. There was a double red flag on the gulf side due to rip currents, but the flags didn't apply to the bay side. The water was calm and a perfect place to try our paddleboard for the first time. If you enter the beach at the concession stand area and jeep walking to the left, you'll see lots of darker areas that are sea grass beds. These were the perfect places to snorkel, even for my six year old. The water is very shallow around a lot of the area, and he didn't need a floaation device to snorkel there. We saw so many hermit crabs, fish, crabs, and even a sting ray. The water was very clear. Dolphins frequently come into the bay area. We saw three fairly close to the concession stand area, and they stayed for 15 to 20 minutes. We rented a dive flag at the concession stand for $10 because the FL law said we needed one. The man working said we wouldn't need it and explained where we would need it, which ended up being way farther out than we wanted to go. So, unless you plan to go really far out to snorkel, save your $10. Make sure to pack a lunch and lots of snacks. There is a small convenience store/concession stand with very minimal snacks and some drinks. It had miscellaneous floats, fishing gear, etc. They rented kayaks, paddleboard boards, dive flags, and a few other things. All the staff we encountered when we entered the park and at the concession stand were very friendly and super helpful. There is a gulf side beach area, but we did not visit that side due to the double red flags. If you are near the area, we were staying in Mexico Beach, and the beach weather isn't cooperating due to double red flags or wind, this is the perfect...

T. H. Stone Memorial State Park is at the tip of Cape San Blas w the gulf on one side and the Port St Joe bay on the other side. This whole peninsula is hardly half a mile wide, narrowing down as you go towards its tip and gives you the feeling of a different country. Everything there is very relaxed. The gulf side is all private vacation houses w beach access restricted by those developments, an annoying feature all over the US. We got around the beach access issue by renting a townhouse that had beach access! You can also get to the beach by entering the state park and then driving to one of their parking lots that has access to the beach, in a rather convoluted way. The state park has a modest entrance fee. The beach is all white sand, it is an incredible feeling to walk there in the morning. We walked barefoot for a few miles on the beach, closer to the water, just touching the ocean waves. One has to be careful not to get oversoaked w salt water. It is a good therapy both for the feet and the soul. Nothing but the constant rumbling noise of the ocean waves and sunny at about 65-70 degrees around New Year's time!

Deep in the state park, there are small ponds, we were loitering around there carelessly, looking at those beautiful sights; later a park ranger told us that there are several crocodiles who call that pond their home, with a 10 or 15 footer among them! This made us stiffen up and stare at each other in disbelief. The ranger seemed to have enjoyed getting our attention. This park is as pretty as the Honeymoon Park at Dunedin, but it is different because of its remoteness. So beautiful ... all of it...