Destin bills itself as the World’s Luckiest Fishing Village, and the proof is on the docks at HarborWalk Village every afternoon around four, when the charter fleet comes in and mates hang the day’s catch — red snapper, grouper, amberjack — for photos before it heads straight into the restaurant kitchens behind them.
What to order
Order whatever came off the boats: blackened grouper sandwiches, char-grilled amberjack, royal red shrimp that only trawl in deep Gulf water. Several harbor restaurants will even cook your own catch if you book a charter — bring in your fish and they’ll do it three ways for the table.
Stay for the show
Thursday nights in summer the fireworks go up over the harbor at dusk, best watched from the boardwalk with a snow cone or from the water on a sunset cruise. It gets busy — park once in the garage and walk, or take the water taxi from the east harbor and skip the traffic entirely.
