What time zone is Port St. Joe, FL in?

A weird thing to write about but is often misunderstood for first timers to our area. St. Joe Beach, Port St. Joe, Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, Apalachicola, and St. George Island goes by Eastern Time Zone. The time zone follows the Apalachicola River from Georgia down to the fork just north of Apalachicola at the Jackson River. The Eastern Time Zone then heads west up the Jackson River through Lake Wimico, and follows the Gulf Intracoastal through White City to Overstreet.

To keep things simple, Highway 386 at Overstreet and southward to highway 98 at the Gulf/Bay County line is the western dividing line. Once you cross into Bay County/Mexico Beach on Highway 98, you then enter the Central Time Zone. A quick explanation for this odd time zone for our area dates to when Port St. Joe was a large shipping and railroad town. To make things convenient for the railroad, they acted to keep this area in the Eastern Time Zone.

You will want to force a time zone on your phone while staying in the area due to the cell towers jumping back and forth often. Typically, we go by sunrise and sunset as a local, but while visiting you want to make sure to hit your check out time, on time.