Magazine names Destin the best place to live and boat
May 28, 2011 7:18 PM
Florida Freedom Newspapers
TOP PLACES TO LIVE AND BOAT:
- Destin, Fla.
- Long Island, N.Y.
- Newport, Ore.
- Lake of the Ozarks, Mo.
- Chattanooga, Tenn.
- Phoenix
- Seattle
- Columbia, S.C.
- Green Bay, Wis.
- Traverse City, Mich.
SOURCE: Boating magazine
DESTIN — The area has another feather in its cap after scoring the top spot in Boating magazine’s Top 10 Best Places to Live and Boat.
“Once people go boating in Destin, they’re hooked,” said Fred Pace, managing partner for Legendary Marine.
When deciding the best places to set sail, Boating magazine considered “livability, public access, convenience and also relaxing getaways …”
“Destin has great cruising ability and it’s a terrific place to fish,” Pace said. “There are so many places to boat. There is Crab Island, the magnificent waterways … I’m not sure there is a close second.”
Among the local landmarks for the magazine were Crab Island, Choctawhatchee Bay, the Intracoastal Waterway and the “plentiful” vacation rentals.
Peter Wright, owner of the Ship’s Chandler in Destin, said he thinks there are a couple of reasons Destin took the top spot on the list.
“It’s a big vacation area. A lot of people from cities that placed on the list come here,” he said. “There are places you can catch bigger marlin and more shellfish, but if you drew a five mile circle around the East Pass, you will catch such a variety of fish unlike anywhere else.”
Wright moved to the Emerald Coast in the 1970s with his family and got his first job on a fishing boat in Destin.
“This is going to help everybody out, especially the charter boat captains who took one on the chin” during last year’s oil spill, Wright said. “For boat dealers like myself, we’re starting to pick up that pace, but there is still a lot of work to go. I’m just glad the fish are biting.”
Shane Moody, president and CEO of the Destin Area Chamber of Commerce, said even after living here for nearly eight years, being on the water is still a magnificent experience.
“The colors, the clarity, the marine life — we see dolphins near or around the boat every time we go out. You can’t get that anywhere else,” Moody wrote in an email. “You have Crab Island, the most unique boating destination
I’ve ever seen. You have the Intracoastal Waterway and the sound where you can pull your boat up on one of numerous islands or beaches and have a day-long outing.”
I’ve ever seen. You have the Intracoastal Waterway and the sound where you can pull your boat up on one of numerous islands or beaches and have a day-long outing.”
He also noted Destin’s location on the Gulf of Mexico and its great fishing.
“Destin’s history is full of boating, from charter boats to commercial fishing to recreational boating,” Moody wrote. “It’s not really part of our lives, it is our way of life, and that’s what makes living and boating spectacular in Destin.”
Read more: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/destin-40589-live-magazine.html#ixzz1YPMDh4NW
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