The Resort Collection would like to say “thank-you” to all of their fans on Facebook for making them the most-liked property management company in Northwest Florida.  They are giving away an eight-megapixel digital camera dive mask from Liquid Image to one lucky fan.  “This is our way of saying ‘thanks’ to our guests and Facebook fans for being so supportive of us on Facebook,” says Paul Wohlford, vice president of sales and marketing for The Resort Collection. “It makes our job fun. When our guests are happy, we at The Resort Collection are happy!”

How to enter?

The drawing is open to fans of their page only, so make sure to “like” the page first!  Once a fan of the page, enter using your email address on the “Giveaways” tab.  Just make sure to enter before January 15th, 2012!

Good Luck to those who enter!  Congratulations to The Resort Collection and their properties!

Looking for a holiday getaway?  Know someone who deserves a vacation?  BookIt.com is bringing back their most popular giveaway this December.  With “Trip-a-Day Replay,” BookIt.com is giving away a free trip to one lucky traveler each day this month.  You can enter to win for free by visiting BookIt.com online or by visiting them on Facebook.

Contestants will enter to win a three-night stay, plus coach airfare for two.  The restrictions? U.S. and Canadian winners must be 25 years or older to redeem their prize.

Where are some of the free vacations? A different trip will be given away each day of December!

Majestic Elegance Punta Cana – All-Inclusive (see the picture to the left)

Hotel Riu Palace Riviera Maya – All-Inclusive Resort (see picture above for a sneak peak)

Las Vegas – PH Towers Westgate

Good luck to everyone entering, and have a great time on your getaway! If you are one of the lucky winners, please post pictures to share with us!

Don’t know how to cook? Out of town for the holidays?  If you are looking for a place to sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner in Panama City Beach, we have your options!

Breakers — Our Traditional Holiday Buffet

Serving from 11am-6pm

On the menu:

Roast Turkey, Baked Ham, Baked Fish, Roast Baron of Beef, Popcorn Shrimp, Cocktail Shrimp, Giblet Gravy, Traditional Dressings, Sweet Potato Casserole, Steamed Vegetable, Tossed Green Salad, Waldorf Salad, Fresh Baked Rolls, Cranberry Sauce, Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, and of course- all the trimmings!

You can make reservations for your Thanksgiving dinner with a view of the gulf at 850-234-6060!

Dirty Dick’s Crabhouse — Dick’s Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner

Contact Dirty Dick’s for their menu 850-230-3425.

Saltwater Grill – Saltwater’s Famous Thanksgiving Day Buffet

Serving from 11am

On the menu:

Sweet Potato Cider Bisque, Mixed Green Salad, Cucumber Tomato Salad, Caesar Salad, Roasted Turkey, Hand Carved Roast Beef Au Jus, N’Awlins Style Glazed Ham, Baked Mahi & Pineapple Salsa, Baked Macaroni & Cheese, Garlic Whipped Potatoes, Sweet Potato Souffle, Traditional Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Green Beans Amandine, Andouille & Pecan Stuffing, Rice Pilaf,
Pumpkin Pie, Peach Cobbler, Southern Pecan Bread Pudding, Yeast Rolls & Butter.

Call them at 850-230-2739 if you have any questions!

Sharky’s Beachfront Restaurant and Tiki Bar

On the menu:

SteamShip Round, Honey-Glazed Baked Ham, Cajun Fried Turkey, Grilled and Fried Shrimp, Grecian Grouper, Fried Oysters, Biloxi Crab Cakes, Alaskan Snow Crabs, Potato Salad, Pasta Salads, Chicken Salad, Tossed Salad, Au Gratin Potatoes, Fried Okra, Mashed Potatoes, Southern Style Green Beans, Traditional Stuffing, Candied Yams, Squash Casserole, Broccoli Casserole, Fresh Baked Bread, home-made Cornbread, Apple Pie, Key Lime Pie, Pumpkin Pie, and Pecan Pie.

The dinner buffet is available for $19.95 and kids under 4 will enjoy their holiday meal for free.

Sonny’s Real Pit Barbecue

On the menu:

Meals for carryout include a smoked turkey or spiral sliced ham and your choice of three sides.

Call 850-230-4742 before November 20th to reserve your meal!

The Boatyard — Family Style Thanksgiving

Serving from 11am-7pm

On the menu:

Turkey, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Andouille Sausage Cornbread Stuffing, Sweet Potato Souffle, Green Peas and Onions, Green Bean Casserole, Orange-Cranberry Relish, Rolls and Butter, and the traditional Pumpkin Pie

Dinner will be $19 per person plus drinks (and taxes and gratuity), and for 4 people or $76 you can reserve a whole turkey!  All leftovers will be packaged to take home- just like you cooked dinner at home!  They will also have other traditional meal options available as well as drink specials.  Find the detailed menu online.

Happy Thanksgiving from PCB Daily!

On Saturday, March 26 the Geography and Environmental Science Student Association will be hosting a UBB cleanup at Panama City Beach.

Come out for a UBB cleanup with an active group of Florida State University students. The event starts at 10am and runs till 1pm.

More Information

Our beaches are more then just miles of breath-taking sand, and emerald waters. It’s also home to numerous types of marine life.

As the tourist season begins to heat up, our beaches will play host to families, couples and numerous types of vacationers.

With a little loving prevention, we can keep our beaches clean and free from any trash that may be left behind, while avoiding any potential damage to our gulf marine life.

FSU’s GESSA is an organization of dedicated members that want to make sure our oceans stay clean. You can find out more about this event on their website at www.unitedbyblue.org

As a community, we may not always agree on the same things.

However, there’s some thing in town that equally hit us all.  For example, Traffic, Real Estate, Tourism, even that smell the Paper Mill gives off.

Gas Prices-  another solid example of something we all deal with.

Granted, our daily drive is easier then commuters in other cities (ahem, Atlanta. Where a milk run to the local store can run you about 45 minutes, one way)

Yet, most of us still end up spending quite a bit of time behind the wheel and if you work in town but live on the beach, forget about it.  All that back and forth driving can really add up at the pump.

Digital Guide Below

Click to view larger image.

These gas prices are from Motortrend.com, and are updated daily from over 100,000 stations through out the Nation. Due to the nature of fuel prices, there’s no way to guarantee correct pricing. The price may have been accurate at the time of entry, then raised/lowered with in hours. MSN has a similar guide to local gas prices, but comes with a nifty interactive map. Same disclaimer stands for MSN Gas, who obtains information through the same source Motortrend.com utilizes.

*side note: the image isn’t the best quality, link to site has been included for better clarity

Looking for weekend weather updates? Bookmark our Weather category!

Head for the parks, the beaches or someone’s inflatable pool this weekend because the temps are heating up and the skies are begging you to get out of the house.

If you don’t have a legitimate reason to leave the house, make one up. Practice the fine art of Garden Gnome Liberation (preferably not your neighbors please), pretend to get lost en route to the Grocery store, or simply do what my Mom used to do to me as a kid. Offer up two options and let the family decide. My Mom’s tactic was “Play outside or Take out the trash” and with that, off to the great outdoors we went!

Weather For March 23-27

Wednesday, March 23: Partly Cloudy, highs hovering at 79. Lows around 59.  Looks like the weather is having an issue committing to round numbers.

Thursday, March 24: Partly Cloudy, highs around 80. Lows drop to about 47. Well, guess the weather sorted out some issues.

Friday, March 25: Hello Sunshine! Sunny, highs about 78, and look for lows around 58.

Saturday, March 26: Partly Cloudy, highs back to 79, with lows in at 60.

Sunday, March 27: Isolated Thunderstorms, highs about 79. Lows in the mid-50′s.

*Since Monday breaks the 80 degree mark, here’s a bonus weather round (waiittt for it)

Monday, March 28: Some showers, precipitation only around 30%. Highs about 81, lows again in the mid-50′s.

TA-DA! Our big finale, ladies and gentleman! 81 Degrees! Time to shimmy in celebration *dances off screen*

Looking for Panama City Beach events? Bookmark our Events section!

There’s so much happening around here lately, that this one tiny old weekend is beginning to burst at its seams.

In an effort to help out the coming weekend with it’s ever expanding proverbial waistline of things-to-do, we ventured out a bit and found an extra event here and there for you.

March 22, March 23 and March 25-27

Tuesday, March 22: Club Le Vela presents Ying Yang Twins live in concert, 7pm.

If you like the Ying Yang Twins, then you’re probably already going the show. In the hip-hop world, they’re kind of a big deal.

Wednesday, March 23: Apalachicola Museum of Art, Apalachicola. 2-5pm

Apalachicola Museum of Art. A selection of paintings from artist Christopher Still’s “Visions of the Gulf” exhibition will be on display for one day only with an opportunity to meet the artist. 2-5pm. Read more about this event on the Museums website

Friday, March 25: Ron White Live at the Marina Civic Center, 7-8pm

Known for performing on stage with a cigar and a glass of scotch, comedian Ron White has made a name for himself with his jaded, sarcastic & hard-drinking character. He rose to stardom performing with the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and has continued on to carve out a successful career on his own. Heads Up: Ron WILL be smoking cigars and drinking onstage. The performance, while hilarious, does contain heavy profanity and questionable content. Marina Civic Center is not responsible for the content of the performances.  Tickets on sale at Marina Civic Center’s site.

Saturday, March 26: Man in the Seas Museum

3rd Annual Golf Tournament, 8-9am. Be ready by 7am for registration, with Tee time at 8am! Four man scramble format – Shotgun Start, Cash Prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each flight, plus Longest Drive for Men and Women.  More event info here.

Saturday, March 26: POPS Magic, Arnold High School Auditorium.

Concert offers a variety of music styles, perfect for audiences of all ages. From classical to Broadway and film scores to current hits, you will hear it at The POPS! Tickets: $25 adult $10 for children 18 and under. Tickets online at www.panamacitypops.org.

Saturday, March 26: St. Andrews Waterfront Market

Fresh Produce and Seafood!

Saturday & Sunday, March 27-27: Gulf Coast Salute 2011 Air Show

This year’s event is highlighted by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, in their 57th season representing the pride, precision and professionalism of the men and women of the United States Air Force. Check out the jaw dropping aerial maneuvers, skill and capability of the world’s most advanced and respected air, Space and Cyberspace force. Admission and parking are free.  Shuttle bus transportation will be provided from the parking area to the flight line. Security will be emphasized: no coolers (unless needed for medical reason), no pets, weapons, glass bottles or containers will be allowed. Backpacks will be permitted, but are subject to search. Begins Saturday at 8m. More information on this event can be found at www.gulfcoastsalute.com

According to Tripsmarter.com, over 2 million kids were turned loose for Spring Break during this past week, making these past 5 days the official juiced-up, mega-week of Spring Break.

In fact, it’s so big, it needs it’s own intro-music. *ques theme to Rocky*

(wakka wakka)

This last week brought hordes of college kids to town, who promptly set about shimmying and raising toasts with cold beers or those fruity, umbrella drinks.

Immediately following up all that shimmying, toasting and the mandatory high-fiving, they torpedoed onto the beach. Which is where they remained, fully focused on turning various shades of cocoa brown and repeating aforementioned actions.

I’ve been holding off on posting this article due to some irrational fear that as soon as we stated “all is well” here, it would cause some cosmic shift and break the spell of decent behavior. Maybe I’m just paranoid, or more likely I’ve seen one to many cheesy horror flicks. You know the kind, somewhere some young cheerleader states “it’s OK guys, there’s nothing bad going to happen” and whoosh, crazed leprechauns shoot out of the woods.

In an effort to get over my superstitions (and to keep the bosses happy) we’ll finally just go for it but if it starts raining frogs afterward, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The reality is that during these last few weeks of Spring Breakers swarming in to town, the news has remained relatively positive. The revenue influx is encouraging and the positive turn-out for the first big run of the tourist season, is offering a ray of hope for business owners affected from last year’s oil-spill sucker punch.

Granted, there’s been a few nitwits who’ve managed to make the nightly news but thankfully, it was more from stupidity then anything else. In all, considering the increase in traffic and our beaches being held hostage by a ton of college kids, it’s been relatively smooth sailing. The Panama City Beach Police Department has reported an increase in citations, mostly issued for under-age drinking or public intoxication. Which should come as no surprise to anyone when you realize some of these folks were already planning on breaking the law before they left campus.

As this mega-week dies down, and we start to gear up for another round of visitors,  let’s take a moment to check out the live cams perched above Schooners.

Ahhh, look at that sand! The emerald water! Jealous yet?

Numbers Break Down from tripsmarter.com

According to our friends over at tripsmarter.com, there are roughly two million kids turned loose from colleges nationwide, all in the name of Spring Break and shaking off the past Winter Quarter.

I’m willing to bet that about 500,000 of those kids on break right now can be found in the beer aisle at Wal-Mart on Front Beach Rd.

Article

Ok, well maybe I’ve inflated that number a bit (the Wal-Mart estimate, not the Tripsmarter.com one) but all it takes is one adventurous jaunt to Wal-Mart at 7:30am on a Saturday to understand where that estimate stemmed from.

Sure, we can look at hotel bookings, or in-bound flights, but personally, the real test of numbers comes from those of us who live here on a day-to-day basis. We’re the ones who have to add an additional 15 minutes to our morning commute due to the surge in traffic and more recently, the surge in accidents from crazed college drivers.

It’s a strange love-hate vibe our community harbors for Spring Breakers. In fact, it’s almost along the lines of a kid-brother, or sister. Sure, the younger sibling may drive you batty, but we’re the only ones who’ve earned the right to talk smack about them. After all, we loan them our town, our beaches, and our homes for a couple of months every year and we do love them, despite how much they annoy us.

Yet, when a national magazine like Seventeen Magazine decides to run a piece on the evils of our town and our young Collegiates, it’s only natural that we would take a few moments to address some of the things the magazine stated.

It’s shocking that a relatively credible magazine like Seventeen, would opt to run such a slanderous piece on Panama City. Especially considering the run of hard luck the Gulf had last year and the extensive campaigns we’ve launched to rectify the negative PR during the Oil Spill.

The article used some pretty bold words to describe our town, referring to Spring Break in Panama City Beach as “disgusting, degrading and dangerous, especially to Women.” Ironically, this is the same Magazine who runs articles offering  ”Flirting Tips” or  ”How to Attract Men” and a “Fertility Calender” to their demographic predominantly comprised of teenage girls and tweens.

Seventeen Magazine went on to state that Spring Break in Panama City Beach was a “grim reality” filled with trash, drunks and casual sex.  Descriptive words capable of summing up any Frat Party. Hell,  if you want to get really down to it, out-of-control antics like those, are present in every town across the nation.

A large concert in Atlanta suddenly erupts in gunfire, some party in New York lands the kids in the hospital for excessive drinking, and then of course, for some college-age kids, that might just be any random Friday night out in San Francisco.

My point is, that it’s the people that bring the excess, not the location. A more constructive article would have been one that offered tips on enjoying the school break while remaining safe and aware. As opposed to running a piece dismissing Spring Break in PCB.

There’s a level of responsibility that needs to be accepted by those visiting our town. If you want to enjoy Spring Break, don’t make dumb choices.  Don’t drink too much, drink some water, eat some food, use sunblock and don’t make out with weirdos or strangers.

Our Police Department works hard to maintain the safety of everyone who visits or lives in Panama City Beach but it’s up to those visiting to meet us in the middle.

March 14-18 is the second largest week for Spring Breakers

According to tripsmarter.com there are 2,112,478 students running around the nation, currently enjoying their school break

Graph Below

Get ready, since the following week is listed as the largest week for College Spring Break.