There is a state park there called St. Andrews that has a shallow tidepool called The Jetties, or at least there was in the late '80s. It would be very easy to harvest a lot of things from there, but also very illegal. If caught, one could be in a heap 'o trouble. Otherwise, it is a very nice place to dive/snorkel and see a lot of neat things. I used to feed the mullet and parrot fish. A lot of long spine urchins, crabs, jellyfish and stonefish. Lots of neat things to see there. Again, at least there was in the late '80s. Another spot is (or was) a small island off the shoreline from the air base called 'Shell Island' it would be another good spot to harvest sand as it is open water and quite clean. There are a lot of places to rent boats down there that would make the trip to Shell Island quite easy.
I also aquired some live sand from Panama City Florida on my last trip, My subsrate is 4 inches deep. I was not about to pay $5 bucks a pound from my local marine store, when I could get all I wanted from the ocean FREE. I also got a bonus of 50 or more drill snails and little white clams. All that combined may have had something to do with helping the Nitrates stay down.
