[dread_surfer29]

Hey guys, a few questions for you. I just got back from Panama where I stayed a week on vaca, I have never been so im not even going to act like I know what i'm talking about, but I am from Myrtle Beach, SC so I do know a tad about what you all go through.

First of all, shell island, the hotel guy was telling me about how it was this natural secluded island on a 20 min boat ride etc, when I go, there are food places and it sort of looks like if you really wanted to you could swim to it from St. Andrews lol, far from what it seemed like the hotel guy told me. So my question, is it as "natural" as advertised?

Second, I did find a lot of black globs while on the beach, when I first picked it up it got all over me (thought it was a shell under water) just curious, is that oil from the spill? Being from a beach, thats a shame.

Third, I was here for a week and at times I was bored. This was not what I was expecting from spring break city. The pier park (I think was the name) was nice but it was honestly just full of over priced places to eat lol (sort of like our version called "broadway at the beach) but ours has a minor league baseball team and places to like zipline, fish, golf, the whole deal. So I guess my question here is, is that a newer place, are their plans to build on to it? I did notice the mini amusement park which was nice.

Last, I saw a lot of open buildings and some that looked like it was in much need of updating, how many places died from the impact of last year, and how much has it picked up this year?

Before you think my trip was bad, it wasn't, this is just what I was left thinking during and after, and never being there I don't have a clue lol. Ask me questions if you need, btw Gulf Coast people were great to us .

[beachmouse]

PCB's big problem wasn't really the oil spill, it was that it went whole hog during the housing boom from about 2003-2007- a whole bunch of condo towers went up, even more were proposed and went to the pre-sale stage. So you had a lot of older beachfront properties that got bought out as a result of the boom, and then those properties went into foreclosure before they could be demolished and rebuilt into something more modern. Some of those properties are now back in use (and looking the worse for the wear since there are typically years of deferred maitenance on them- why put money into them if they're just going to be torn down anyways?) The 'big' amusement park where the Pier Park rides came from was a casualty of this- I'm not sure if they ever got around to building anything where the roller coaster used to be.

Add in a good amount of general scruffiness to begin with- the tourist development council targeted spring breakers who tend to cause a fair amount of damage, and it's hard to get motivated to keep things nice summer through winter when they're just going to get trashed come March again anyways.

Pier Park was supposed to have another 2-3 phases open at this point, but again the housing crash pushed that all back.

[dread_surfer29]

I see I see, thats a lot of good info, thanks for that. So how big was/is this "Pier Park" supposed/will be when its finished?

[beachmouse]

There's a sign up there for a couple hundred thousand square feet of phase two that's supposedly happening Real Soon Now that's been there for years at this point.

[ihatepcfl]

You should of asked questions about Panama City Beach before you went. The place is a dump!