Thomas Drive Beach, Panama City Beach Live Cam

Sea oats, white sand and the turquoise Gulf of Mexico fill this wide view from a dune walkover on Thomas Drive in Panama City Beach, Florida. A wooden walkway with railings bends over the dune toward a beach set with lounge chairs and a small roofed stand.

Thomas Drive runs along the east end of Panama City Beach in Bay County, where condominium towers and low-rise complexes face the Gulf. A broad band of dunes separates the buildings from the beach, and raised walkovers cross it. Sea oats are protected by Florida law because their roots hold the dunes in place.

The camera hangs under a roof at the head of the walkover, so the edge of an eave shows in one corner and the railings fill the foreground. The wide-angle lens bends the horizon and takes in a long stretch of shore. After dark, small lights along the railings mark the way over the dune.