Spring breakers pour onto beaches (PHOTOS)
DESTIN — The party has officially started for spring breakers on the Emerald Coast.
College students were drinking beer and playing beach volleyball on a partly-cloudy Wednesday afternoon near the public access on Shirah Street. Many came from colder places to let loose after they had just finished mid-term exams.
View Wednesday's photos of college spring breakers »
“It’s magical … no classes, no worries,” said D.J. Virtue, from Miami University in Ohio. “You come down here, you just feel like getting drunk.”
He said the atmosphere was conducive to strolling down the beach and meeting spring breakers from other schools. He also said he had been drinking since he woke up.
“Everyone’s just trying to meet everyone else,” Virtue said. “Destin, specifically, is a little microcosm of Panama City.”
Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Lt. Ted Pecot said the Sheriff’s Office started its spring break schedule Sunday. During the season, which runs through April 15 this year, the Sheriff’s Office runs proactive patrols along the beach to look out for large crowds and “trouble spots,” Pecot said.
While almost every spring breaker has a can of Natural Light in hand, not all of them are 21. Pecot said the Sheriff’s Office has a “zero tolerance” policy for underage drinking.
Last year, the Sheriff’s Office issued 542 citations for underage drinking. In 2008, 267 were issued. Between Sunday and Wednesday morning, the 2010 season had seen 35 citations.
Early Monday, 10 20-year-olds, nine of whom were from Tennessee, were cited for underage drinking on Shirah Street.
“At this point, it’s fairly steady activity, but it’s not overwhelming,” Pecot said.
Ross Jaklik, who was visiting with a group from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., said police gave him a ride home Tuesday night after his friends left him at AJ’s Seafood and Oyster Bar.
“I got left and I was hammered,” Jaklik said.
Katie Hall, an Appalachian State student from Tallahassee, said spring break in Destin will be busier next week, and will get even busier when high schools are on break. She said some of the larger schools on break this week are the University of Florida and University of Tennessee.
“Next week a lot more schools are out,” Hall said.
Pecot said the Sheriff’s Office keeps track of when students from certain places start spring break. He said some states have more underage drinking citations than others. He mentioned that schools from Mississippi and Alabama start spring break this coming Sunday.
“We’ve learned that when certain schools come in —certain states — our activity picks up,” Pecot said.
