Need to Know Info

If you experience an emergency call 911

CONTACT INFORMATION

Teresa’s Beach Homes Reservation Line – 850-229-1522 (Terri)
Teresa’s Beach Homes Maintenance & Service Line – 850-229-6619 (Teresa)
Non-Emergency Gulf County Sheriff/ Dispatch – 850-227-1115

BEACH FLAGS & Rip Currents

Rip currents are strong currents and sometimes deadly currents that are present in large bodies of water. Even to a trained eye these can be hard to spot. Check beach safety flags each time before entering the water and review rip current safety information. Life jackets and other flotation devices save lives! On double red flag days ankle deep is too deep. If the Gulf is too unsafe consider visiting St Joe Bay instead.

Mexico Beach does not have a beach flag system. Check online beach safety warnings before entering the water.

Helpful Links:

• Gulf County Beach Safety Guide
• Rip Current Awareness Safety Information
• NWS How to Avoid Rip Currents
• NWS Rip Current Outlook – Panhandle Gulf Coast
• South Gulf Fire & Rescue Safety Links

• Cape San Blas Beach Flags
• Panama City Beach Beach Flags (Mexico Beach Resource)
• Apalachicola & St George Island Beach Flags

WEATHER, TRAFFIC AND SAFETY ALERTS

Gulf County Sheriffs Department has an outstanding app that has notifications for local weather, traffic, and safety alerts. I recommend downloading this app and turning on notifications for the duration of your stay. The best part is you can delete it when you leave! Other weather information can be found under our Tropics webpage.

Gulf County Sheriff’s Office Google Play Store App
Gulf County Sheriff’s Office Apple App

TIME ZONES

All of Teresa’s Beach Homes are in EASTERN time zone. Mexico Beach, Panama City, Panama City Beach, Wewahitchka, and White City are all CENTRAL time zone. Port St Joe, Windmark, St Joe Beach, Cape San Blas, & Indian Pass are all EASTERN time zone. To prevent your phone from changing time zones check your settings, turn off auto, and select a time zone manually.

LEAVE NO TRACE

Gulf County along with nearly every other Florida Beach participates in LEAVE NO TRACE. This means, simply, that nothing should be left on the beaches when your family leaves the beach in the evening. No trash, gear, food, debris from fires, or anything else may be left on the beaches overnight. Leave Only Footprints! Also, no glass is allowed on any Florida beaches. Please only use plastic or cans and bring in all trash at the end of the day.

FILL IN ALL HOLES- Holes left on the beaches are extremely dangerous for both wildlife and humans. We have actually had a guest who broke their femur after stepping in a hole left on the beach. Digging deep holes on the beach can also be quite dangerous due to risk of collapse. Please enjoy our beaches but do so safely. Always kick down sand structures and fill in holes at the end of every day.

LIGHTS OUT – May 1 thru Oct 31

Our area is home to hundreds of nesting sea turtles every year. The sea turtles are disoriented by the artificial lights coming from our homes. Please limit lights, interior and exterior, to only what is needed. Pull curtains and close blinds to limit to amount of light pollution. Flashlights or any other light used on the beaches after dark should have a red light filter so not to distrupt the nesting sea turtles.

ACCESSIBLE BEACH & POOL ACCESS

We have a wonderful resource of Rish Park on Cape San Blas which offers ADA compliant facilities including a larger swimming pool with lift and a accessible boardwalk to the beach. Beach and water wheel chairs are provided to guests who pay to enter the park on a first come first serve basis. You can also rent a beach wheelchair for yourself through many different businesses some of which are are listed under our EAT PLAY SHOP tab.

Golf Carts & Gulf County

Unfortunately none of our current homes are Golf Cart friendly. You may not drive golf carts or ATVs on, next to, or across any roadway with a speed limit over 35 MPH or on an unapproved State highway. Cape San Blas Road and HWY 98 are both a state highways and 45 MPH. This is Florida law. This means if you rent a golf cart while staying at one of our homes you will not be able to drive it anywhere except on the side road of the home you have rented (if applicable.) Save your money and rent some fun beach gear or a beach wheel chair instead!

Electric Bikes & Electric Scooters

Florida has strict rules regarding electric bikes and scooters. Please look up local and state regulations regarding both as they change(get more strict) often. Additionally, no motorized vehicles, including E Bikes and E Scooters, are allowed on the Loggerhead Bike Path. The local cop and FHP love to pull people over and are cracking down after some close calls. Additionally, Cape San Blas Road is not exactly the safest road to do this on. Please consider carefully when deciding if it’s a good idea to bring them. However, I do hear E-bikes can be fun on the beach if you don’t mind the salt and sand on them!

FIREWORKS, BONFIRES, & FIRE SAFETY

FIREWORKS– Recreational fireworks, except sparklers, are illegal in the state of Florida except for on New Year’s Eve and the 4th of July. Fireworks are extra dangerous in our dry beach environment! All it takes is a spark.

Apalachicola, Port St Joe, & Mexico Beach all have free community fireworks events around July 4th for your family to enjoy. There are also a ton of community events around these holidays. Click the links above for community calendars. Port St Joe and Mexico Beach usually also have them during New Year’s Eve celebrations, but please check local event guides to verify.

Apalachicola Fireworks – July 3, 2026 After Dark with events starting at 5:00PM
Mexico Beach Fireworks – July 4, 2026 8:30PM Central
Port St Joe 4th of July Fireworks – July 4, 2026 10:00PM Eastern

BEACH BONFIRES– Gulf County is unique in that it allows its visitors to have fires on the beaches. When you have a fire on the beach you must be 100ft from any structure. This includes boardwalks. Please look to official sources for up-to-date burn ban information. As of 8/3/2026 there are no current burn bans.

Our advice: Dig a hole deep enough to protect the fire from winds. Once you’re done, make sure that the fire is completely out and remove all debris including burnt wood and ash before you leave the beach. DO NOT leave your fire unattended by an adult OR bury your fire debris with sand. This pollutes the beaches. Once cleaned out fill in the hole to help keep our beaches flat, dark, and clean for our wildlife. It is also recommended to bring a shovel and a metal bucket to help make all of this easier.

You can purchase firewood at almost any store in our county including Scallop Cove Convenience Store and once it’s built back, the Trading Post. Please do not bring wood from out of the county, use pressure treated wood that you may have found on the beaches, or any wood with nails.

GROCERY SHOPPING IN PSJ

We are a small town with small town resources. On Saturdays during the summer “The Pig” is a bit overwhelming. Often times the shelves will be very slim pickins due to everyone shopping all on the same day. Rest assured! They restock overnight and have completely full shelves ready for you all the next day. The reason it feels like our store is not big enough for the summer crowd is because it’s not, however, outside the 8-12 weeks of summer we have more than a enough to go around and a lot of business actually hurt pretty badly. So, we make due with what we have. We do have enough, we just have to come prepared with the right expectations!

PRO TIP FROM TERESAS BEACH HOMES: Come prepared with supplies for Saturday night and to get you through to the next morning. Go grocery shopping in town Sunday morning before church lets out. I also recommend grabbing breakfast while you’re out! Super pro tip, grab a butt from Paul Gants and come prepared with a few packs of buns on your way to the rental home on Saturday! You’ll have dinner for the first night and lunch for Sunday. We get a half butt for our family and usually have two meals plus leftovers. Pay $1 to upgrade your sauce to the next size up. This was our absolute favorite first stop as a vacationing family coming into town. I know that going back out to town on your first morning in isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to do, but if you are like me and hate being in a crowded place it’ll save you some anxiety. If you enjoy being in a grocery store with everyone who is renting on the cape for the week then by all means, go meet your neighbors and have a wonderful time! If this tip saved your sanity let me know!

LEASH LAW

All pets must be on a handheld leash at all times. All pet waste must be bagged and disposed of in a trash can and not just covered up by sand. Please be a good steward of our beaches and follow our rules and ordinances even if those around you do not. Also, if your dog loves to swim in the ocean make sure to bring a long lead. Regardless of the leash law a dog might not know how to get out of a current and would tire quickly without proper flotation device and lead to reel them back in.

PET ADVICE

-Avoid letting your dog drink the Gulf or Bay water (including tide pools!) This can cause salt toxicity which is extremely dangerous.
-Avoid letting your dog ingest too much sand. Most of the time this happens digging in the stand OR playing ball or frisbee. This can actually cause an intestinal blockage which is a very pricy emergency surgery.
-Dogs can get sunburn, dehydrated, and burnt heir paw pads just like humans. Please use caution when having your pet outside, especially in the dead of summer. Test the ground with your own foot or hand before letting your dog walk. If it’s too hot for you it’s likely too hot for them.

-Bring your dogs vaccine paperwork with you including rabies in case you need to visit a vet while in town. This will cut down on any chaos trying to get records sent over from your vet should you experience an urgent care or emergency situation.

I hope this helps you avoid some not so obvious pet emergencies! Please note I’m a property manager…. not a medical doctor of humans or pets. All of this is just friendly advice and should be confirmed with official sources.

EVENTS CALENDAR

Gulf County has a plenty of wonderful events including farmers markets, sea turtle festivals, 4th of July Fireworks, crafting events, and live music among other things to experience while you are in town. Check out our Welcome Center’s Calendar Events to find something fun to do during your stay.

WILDLIFE

Florida is home to a whole host of wildlife both land and sea. Among these include animals that are completely harmless and some that can be dangerous when safe practices are not observed. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the Wildlife of Northwest Florida so that your family can have an informed and safe trip to our area.

If you arrive to town early…

Medical Resources – Pets Too!

We hope that you do not experience a medical emergency while on vacation, however, while we vacation to its fullest sometimes things happen. Here are some resources to help you find the best care for your family. If you are having a medical emergency please call 911!

Helpful Tips & Information

• SUNSCREEN You can get burnt even if it’s cloudy. The sun bounces off the water, the sand, and our metal roofs giving you a quadruple whammy. We recommend purchase before you arrive. It seems a bit cheaper outside of the coastal regions, but if you forget or need more all of our stores sell it! Even the gas stations. Apply liberally and often! ** Check out St Joe Outlet in Port St Joe for IN DATE discount sunscreen!
• Pool Access: Rish Park is now offering a day pass for access to their pool to all area guests and not just those with special mobility needs. It’s $6 for a car with up to 8 people or $2 per individual on a bike(CASH ONLY?.) Rish park is located on Cape San Blas/St Joseph Peninsula between the Cape Tradin’ Post and St Joseph State Park. Rish Park Website
  
• BUGS Florida has bugs in every season. Black & yellow flies come and go and hopefully are gone in a day or two. LOCAL PRO TIP- Buy a bottle of Australian Gold AND/OR Cactus Juice and bring it with you. If you use Australian Gold with bronzer please DO NOT wipe it off with our white towels! It ruins them. Australian Gold without bug spray will not protect you against mosquitoes or other bugs. We personally wear bug spray with deet, but you can use anything else you feel comfortable with starting at dusk. Be aware of this when swimming at night as it will wash off in the chlorine. No See Ums are small gnat like bugs that can get through screens. Do not leave your windows or doors open at night even if they have screens. Sometimes these bites can take a day or so to show up and are very itchy. Palmetto bugs also come out in when it rains! These are large bugs that fly. They can only live outside are not infestation roaches. They come inside when you open doors or windows, but die within 24 hours of entering your home. Don’t believe me? Google it!
• CRITTERS Florida plays host to a wide variety of critters including friendly and not so friendly. We recommend you always wear shoes when walking to and from the beaches as well as walking around our trails and homes. Ensure your dogs are always on a leash and that you have a flashlight while out and about after dark. (Red light filters for flashlights on the beach can be purchased at Scallop Cove.)
• WIFI, TV, PHONE For outage try unplugging your router/modem for 10 seconds and plugging it back in. Wait a few minutes. If it says you have the incorrect password also try this. If that does not help please CALL 850-229-6619 to report an outage. Do not hit the reset button it will require a service call. If you’ve already done this call the service line to report.
• TRIP PLANNING VisitGulf.com offers a concierge program that gives you 1 free hour of trip planning services! Give them a call and they can help you plan some awesome adventures.
• WATER PRESSURE The county has recently upgraded our water system on Cape San Blas and has made great improvements in regards to water pressure. However, during peak times of the year you may experience low water pressure. The pressure should improve the lower in the home you are. If your top floor has having poor pressure, consider using the lowest floor with a water source. Unfortunately, this is part of being in the middle of no where and that’s why we love Cape San Blas, right?

Teresa’s Beach Homes Reservation Line – 850-229-1522 (Terri)
Teresa’s Beach Homes Maintenance & Service Line – 850-229-6619 (Teresa)
Non-Emergency Gulf County Sheriff/ Dispatch 850-227-1115

If you experience an emergency call 911