IF YOU GO
The Turtle Beach Inn and cottages is at 140 Painted Pony Road, Port St. Joe. Accommodations include the four-room inn, a two-bedroom cottage and two one-bedroom condos in the Turtle Tower. Rates start at $200 a night. For information or reservations, call 850-229-9366 or visit www.turtlebeachinn.com.
There's something so calming about listening to waves rolling as you fall asleep. It's one of the reasons I enjoy the Turtle Beach Inn in Indian Pass Beach near Apalachicola.
But there are other reasons, too.
The Indian Pass beach is one of the best shelling spots outside of Sanibel. I found my first angel wing (a clamshell that looked like it might have been torn from a heavenly messenger) in front of the Turtle Beach Inn. I didn’t find its mate, but I did find more shells — many shells — from scallops and whelks to conchs and augers. Many of them have become part of my patio décor.
The Turtle Beach Inn, built in 1997, sits on stilts and overlooks the Gulf of Mexico. It has four ocean-view guest rooms and a two-bedroom cottage, all with private baths, and a Turtle Tower with two one-bedroom condos.
Swings and rocking chairs line the porches and the beach, with its sugar-fine sand, remains a favorite of guests who return as often as their schedules and budgets permit.
Sea turtles are frequent visitors, which is how the B&B came to be called the Turtle Beach Inn.
Besides shell collecting, turtle watching and sunset gazing, guests pass the time canoeing, kayaking, motor boating, fishing, swimming, and horseback riding or biking. St. Vincent Island, a wildlife preserve, is just a short boat ride away.
The family owned and operated B&B is a Florida DEP-certified Green Lodging establishment, too.
And last, but not least, guests can count on a yummy complimentary breakfast every morning.
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