By late July the calendar on the refrigerator has one square circled in ink. Not a birthday. Not a hurricane track. August 16, the morning the shallow flats of St. Joseph Bay open for scallop harvest, and the day daily life on the Cape quietly reorganizes itself around a stretch of water fifteen miles long.
If you live here, you already know the drill. What is different in 2026 is where the day starts, where it ends, and which corner of Cape San Blas Road is still a fenced construction lot instead of a coffee stop.
