Le Grand Merci is located approximately 16.5 miles from the small town of Port St. Joe on the northern end of the St. Joseph Peninsula, and on the western (far) side of St. Joseph Bay. This is part of the larger area known as Cape San Blas. The drive from Port St. Joe to Le Grand Merci takes approximately 20-25 minutes by car. Much of the route has a 45-mph speed limit. The most important landmark to look for as you are driving in is what locally is called, “The Rocks.” This is a spot where you turn from the far-left corner of the “base” of the Cape back towards the north. The Peninsula is very narrow here and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico literally lap alongside the edge of the road. During storms, spray from the surf will occasionally wet the vehicles driving by. As you might find it easy to imagine, this section of roadway was heavily damaged during Hurricane Michael. Workers have rebuilt the road surface and added more very large boulders along its left border to keep it from being washed away by waves in the future. Colloquially, the spot is also known as “The Stump Hole,” because to the left or south of these rocks there is a section of beach where the trees reach all the way out into the Gulf of Mexico. This gives it a unique kind of beauty that lends itself to photography. Accessing the southernmost part of the Cape’s beachfront from The Rocks makes for a beautiful hike of a little over a mile with totally different scenery from the rest of the Cape.

As you travel past The Rocks and the road makes its final curve to the right and back towards the north, you will begin your drive up the St. Joseph Peninsula proper. After you pass Beach Planet and Scallop Cove (on the right hand), and you come to the Trading Post; Peachy’s Beach Eats; and the Port St. Joe Shrimp Company (on the left hand); Le Grand Merci is just two miles further north on the right side of the road. You will see the entrance to our driveway just beyond the white gate at the very northern edge of the Rish Park complex (a state-owned vacation facility for people with limited mobility). Rish Park is easy to distinguish because their buildings are mostly one story tall and have light blue metal roofs. There are not any street numbers painted on the road, but you will be able to recognize our driveway by the white and blue sign bearing our property name (see above).

It is easy to spot Le Grand Merci if you are driving up the Peninsula after dark, since we have one of the few exterior utility pole lights on the entire Cape. If you are unfamiliar with the area, the pole light is an easy landmark to look for that you can see from a distance after dark as you drive through Rish Park. Spotting it will help you get ready to turn into our driveway, which slopes sharply downward and to the right.