Gulf World and the Marine Park Era

Along Front Beach Road stands Gulf World Marine Park, one of the oldest attractions on this beach and a piece of a bygone era of roadside Florida tourism. It was founded in nineteen sixty nine by a group of five businessmen from Alabama, who announced their plans that September, and it opened to the public on Memorial Day of nineteen seventy. Its first residents were four bottlenose dolphins caught nearby in the Gulf of Mexico.

In an odd early detail, those dolphins were trained in a motel swimming pool before being moved into the new park in the spring of nineteen seventy. Over the decades Gulf World grew, expanding around the turn of the century, and it became one of only a few facilities in the country to house rough toothed dolphins. It reflects a whole generation of Florida beach towns that paired sun and sand with wildlife shows, alligator farms, and amusement parks lining the strip.

The industry that gave rise to places like this has changed enormously, and marine parks in particular have faced growing scrutiny over keeping dolphins in captivity. Whatever your view of that debate, Gulf World remains a landmark of the classic Panama City Beach strip, a survivor from the age when a marine park was the centerpiece of a family vacation here.