Waking Up in Margaritaville

Pensacola Beach in front of the Margaritaville Beach Hotel

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Unless you live in Northwest Florida — or Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana — Pensacola Beach is probably not where you plan to spread your towel on the weekend — too bad. My trip to this shore, where the quartz sand is as pure as it comes and the waters glisten from sunrise to sunset, gave me a taste of the lifestyle Jimmy Buffett sings about. Floor-to-ceiling windows bring the beach inside the Margaritaville Beach Hotel whether you’re in the lobby, at the pool or in your room. As I crossed the deck over the soft dunes studded with sea oats and looked west, I could see the pristine Gulf Island National Seashore with 20-foot-high dunes. A short walk to the east took me to the Pensacola Pier where fishermen reel in bonito. Yet, it’s the hotel’s Land Shark Landing with its hammocks swaying between palm trees, picnic tables painted pink and a fire pit shaped like a fin that captures the carefree island feeling that’s way too hard to resist. So along with the vacationers on this barrier island, I kicked off my flip-flops and ordered an ice cold beer (Land Shark of course) as “wasted away in Margaritaville” played in my head.

Tags: Margaritaville | Margaritaville Beach Hotel | Pensacola | Pensacola Beach