Beach Archive

People from across Navarre came together Thursday, May 22, to bless Navarre Beach for the upcoming tourist season and beyond.

The annual event, known as Blessing on the Beach, is organized by the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and features a pastor from a church in Navarre as the main speaker. This year’s speaker was Pastor Stacy Clearman of East Bay Church.

A staple on Navarre Beach, the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center (NBSTCC) celebrated the long-awaited expansion of their facility Monday, May 19.

The 1,152 square foot facility features two rooms, one is used by the sea turtle stranding rescue team to store their equipment and the other houses a 3,000-gallon observation tank, along with educational conservation focused exhibits.

All is quiet on Navarre Beach, for now.

The four mile stretch of sand, laden with condos, beach equipment and people, is also home to sea turtle eggs each summer and early fall. Beginning May 1 and running through the end of October, sea turtles, namely Loggerheads, scoot up on Navarre Beach to lay their nests. This year’s season has started without any action.

Every May, Keller Williams offices across the country close for one day to give back to the community. In Navarre, Keller Williams Emerald Coast, used their day out of the office, called “Red Day,” to serve the people (and animals) of Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center.

At a news conference in Destin, Gov. Ron DeSantis was excited to announce the longest Gulf red snapper season in Florida’s history. The 126-day recreational season for Gulf red snapper will begin Memorial Day weekend (May 24-26) and reopen June 1 through July 31 before closing again. It will restart in September and end Christmas weekend, with periodic pauses in between.

April 20, 2010, 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana, an explosion on an oil rig would change life along the Gulf of America as we knew it. 

Leased by BP, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was drilling an exploratory well site when it experienced a ‘blowout,’ or the uncontrolled release of crude oil and/or natural gas from a well after pressure control systems fail. The blowout caused the explosion, killing 11 crew members.

Sandollar Owners’ Association Inc. has gained authority to demolish a portion of Navarre Beach Residential Section known as Sandollar Condominium.

Located at 7885 Gulf Blvd., the building is on lot 11 of block 3 in the Navarre Beach Residential Section. The authority was granted by the Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners during the April 24 regular board meeting.

FishingBooker, the world’s largest platform connecting anglers with fishing guides, has named the winners of the 2025 Angler’s Choice Award. Five fishing charter captains in Northwest Florida are a part of this year’s list.

On the evening of Easter Sunday, April 20, a teenage boy was swimming with family members out in the Santa Rosa Sound east of Navarre Beach Bridge. At some point during the evening, the teen’s family lost track of him, leading to a missing person report and a search and rescue effort which lasted until the next morning. Shortly after 6 a.m. April 21, the teen’s body was discovered in the Sound near Navarre Beach Marine Park’s Pelican and Black Skimmer pavilions.

If you were on the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier April 5, then you caught a whale of a sight.

Two North Atlantic right whales, dubbed “Koala” and “Curlew,” were spotted just off the pier and have been seen numerous times along the Gulf Coast, with sightings from Southwest Florida to Alabama. Most sightings have taken place since January.