Beach Bound the World's Most Beautiful Beaches Prepare for Spring Break Pilgrimage

If you look through your window today, you may see traffic passing on the street outside or maybe the building next to your own.
Tom Cason looks out of the window in his office across from Miracle Strip Amusement Park and sees the sugar-white, sandy beaches of Panama City, back to their pre-Hurricane Opal splendor.
“This is one of the most picturesque jobs,” said Cason, director of the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It is kind of hard sometimes because you get to watching the activity – people walking by, the parasailers and jet skiers.
“But you don’t get bored because you always have something to look at.”
What Cason sees through his window has made Panama City Beach the No. 2 drive destination in Florida and one of the nation’s leading spring break destinations.
An estimated 2 million people visit “The World’s Most Beautiful Beaches,” Cason said. More than 500,000 students from schools nationwide came to Panama City Beach for spring break in 1995.
MTV has made trips to Panama City Beach’s Club La Vela, the nation’s largest night club, in the past four years to film footage for its “Top 20 Video Countdown.” The music network is back this week to film the entire program in Panama City Beach. It was scheduled to premiere Friday and be re-broadcast at least four times this year.
“It has been decided over the years that spring break is a very lucrative business,” Cason said. “This has been a family beach for years and spring breakers are our families of the future.
“Spring breakers, as a whole, are very well-behaved and the best come from great distances. They like the fact that they come here and are treated as adults. Our law enforcement does not hassle them as long as they act with respect.”
But no longer is Panama City Beach a primarily summer vacation spot. Its mild climate makes the beaches an option year-round.
“The major selling factor of Panama City Beach is we’re affordable, not over-populated and our Southern hospitality,” Cason said. “There are plenty of things to do, no matter what the age group, to keep you occupied.”
The 27 miles of sandy-white beaches and emerald-green waters may be Panama City Beach’s major drawing card, but there are plenty of other attractions, beginning with the water sports that are available, such as boating, jet-skiing, parasailing, snorkeling and scuba diving.

Some of Panama City Beach’s leading attractions are:
Gulf World, where visitors can pet a dolphin or laugh at the sea lions
Ocean Opry Concert Theatre features entertainment by the Rader Family, along with nationally-renowned country acts ranging from Doug Stone to the Oak Ridge Boys.
St. Andrews State Park’s 1,063 acres of beaches, dunes, pine woods and marshes. The beach was named the No. 1 beach in America by “Conde Naste Traveler.
Miracle Strip Amusement Park has more than 30 rides and attractions, with a giant roller coaster, 40-foot swinging “Sea Dragon” and the “Shock Wave.”
Shipwreck Island Water Park has 6 acres of thrilling rides, including the “Rapid River Run,” the “Wave Pool” and “Tree Top Drop.”
Zoo World has more than 350 animals and 17 endangered species in an award-winning botanical gardens, including alligators, jaguars, camels, bears and snakes.
Cruise boats, such as Ashley Gorman Shell Island Sightseeing Cruises, Capt. Anderson’s Glass Bottom Cruiser and Marriott’s Island Queen.
But it’s the beaches that set Panama City apart from South Florida, California and other beaches in the world, Cason said.
“We have a lot of people who come through the lobby who fly into Orlando and come through here in a car on the way to New Orleans,” he said. “A lot of times, they haven’t been anywhere, but the office, and they look through the window and see the beach.
“They’ve got to get down there then and feel the sand. You can take a picture or video or see a TV commercial, but none of it can do it justice unless you’ve seen it. We get so accustomed to these beaches that you forget just how pretty they really are.”
For more information, call the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, (904) 234-6575, or the Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce Referral Service, (904) 234-3193.