FL panhandle in March??

[KyDan]

DW retires next winter!! Woo Hoo!!
We've visited Topsail Hill Preserve SP in Feb several times.
Weather can be real iffy then. It might be great or it might be 40s cloudy,
drizzle and just plain uninviting. I've checked weather.com for annual averages as well as national weather service. ( I know we need to go
further south in Feb. I'll ask about that later....)

Every time I mention to my DW about "we can go in March once you
retire" she says NO we don't want to be there during spring break.

So I'm asking-- have you been there in March? Is it way more crowded?
Even early March is iffy weather but I'm just wondering about spring break
crowds?
Thanks!

[ret2006]

I own rental property in Destin and have been there many, many times over the past 30 years but I AVOID the area from March 1 to April 15. In the past few years schools have changed their spring break times and it is actually longer now. It use to be a week or two around Easter but not now, it last a lot longer. There are a LOT of people there during spring break.
I will be at Topsail and Gulf State Park between April 24 and May 17. Then I will get out of Dodge until after Labor Day. I then return to the area around the middle of Sept. to the middle of Oct.

[bend302]

KYDAN:

We have been there in mid-late March. The heavy Spring Break area is Panama City Beach, pure grid lock. We did not notice any spring break activity at the campground, although it was a bit busier than earlier in the winter and I am sure there were some families getting away while school was out.

Topsail is about 13 miles from Destin where some spring breakers start showing up about the middle of March.

Weather can still be iffy in the panhandle in March but USUALLY pretty nice. The biggest risk is rain.

Still, we love Topsail Reserve at any time!

Bill

[KyDan]

Thanks to you both!
Yes, we do plan to go there (Panhandle) in Sept/Oct.
Just wanting to go south at earliest opportunity which will be March 2015.
Anytime after that.

After that I'll be all about "where to go to be warm in Jan/Feb!"

We really want to go back to Sanibel Island but reservations are very hard
to get. We lucked out a couple years ago when I called on Christmas eve and got 5 days in Feb. It was a cancellation and just dumb luck.
We loved it! We rode our bikes for miles every day!
Thanks again and good to hear from you Bill!!

[HarleyBill]

We live in Florida. March is the peak tourist season everywhere we've been!

[OL Creeker]

We lived in Navarre Beach, between Pensacola and FT. Walton. Not many Spring breakers there.