In the game
Nothing in the trailers points at this park by name, and we are not going to pretend it does. What Rockstar has shown of Port Gellhorn is a beach town, and a beach town needs a beach. The white sand and pale green water in the Port Gellhorn shots are the Panhandle’s, and the Panhandle’s cleanest, quietest version of that beach is here, at the east end of Panama City Beach.
So this is a travel idea, not a match. If Port Gellhorn’s strip makes you want to see the Gulf without a condo tower behind you, St. Andrews is where locals send you. Fans who have visited say the same. Keep it in that category.
The real place
St. Andrews sits on the point where St. Andrew Bay meets the Gulf. The land was a military reservation during the Second World War and opened as a state park in 1951, which is why it never got built on. Today it is about 1,200 acres of dunes, pine flatwoods, a freshwater lake with resident alligators, and a mile and a half of beach that is regularly named among the best in the country.
The signature is the jetties: two long rock walls that keep the pass open for boats. On the beach side of the jetty, the rocks form a calm pool, shallow and clear, that is the easiest snorkeling in the Panhandle. You will see sheepshead, snapper and the occasional ray without leaving the sand. Across the pass is Shell Island, seven miles of undeveloped barrier island reachable only by boat.
The detail a GTA fan will recognize is the color: quartz sand so white it hurts, and water that goes from glass to turquoise to navy in the space of a hundred yards.
Go there
Drive to the east end of Thomas Drive; the park entrance is where the road ends. Entry is about $8 a car, and on summer weekends the park hits capacity by mid-morning and closes its gate, so go early or go late. Bring a mask and snorkel for the jetty pool, and water shoes, because the rocks are sharp.
The Shell Island shuttle runs from inside the park in season, roughly spring through early fall, for a fee on top of park entry; check the schedule, it changes yearly. Give the whole thing three or four hours. There is a campground if you want to wake up here.
For food, head back up Thomas Drive, where Schooners and the marina restaurants on Grand Lagoon have been feeding beachgoers for decades.
The honest warning is rip currents. The pass and the beach either side of the jetties have strong currents, and the flag system is not decorative. Red flag means stay out; Panama City Beach records drownings most years from people who ignored it. Inside the jetty pool is fine. Outside it, respect the water.
Nearby
- The fishing pier at Panama City Beach: the busy end of the beach, twenty minutes west.
- Port Panama City: the working port: across the bay from the park’s lagoon side.
- The Forgotten Coast: Apalachicola to Mexico Beach: keep going east for the empty version of this coast.
Updated September 12, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.