Beach Archive

On Sept. 21, Navarre Beach Fire Rescue Fire Chief Danny Fureigh honored several lifeguards and a member of Navarre Beach Fire Rescue at an awards ceremony.

Lifeguards Garrett Edwards, Daniel Walsh, Ryan Conner, and Austin Koenigseder were honored for helping save a diver in distress at the reef near Navarre Beach over the Summer. John Becker was recognized as a Lifeguard of the Year for the 2022 season. Cole Burton received recognition as the Most Improved Lifeguard of the Year for the 2022 season. Zack Miller was named Lifeguard Rookie of the Year for the 2022 season. The NBFR member who was honored was Patrick Wissing, who became a full time member of NBFR recently. Wissing is a firefighter/paramedic.

Gulf Islands National Seashore has closed the Florida areas of the park to all visitors since 8 p.m. on Sun., Sept. 25, in preparation for then Tropical Storm Ian.

Closed areas include the Fort Pickens Area, Perdido Key Area (Johnson Beach), Opal Beach, and Okaloosa Area.

On Saturday, August 6 Jimmy Streacker caught a 50-inch red drum off Navarre Beach. He caught it using a live pin fish off the shore on a 50-year-old rod and reel.

Last August, his dad Jim Streacker caught the same species of fish off Navarre Beach using the same rod.

Fishing was just supposed to be a hobby for Benton Parrott. A way to escape his busy schedule and relax.

He had no idea when he started out that it would become a far bigger deal than he ever imagined.

The Healthy Gulf press conference conducted last week at the Milton Marina, where stakeholders’ worry about shellfish harvesting closures appeared palpable.

Christian Wagley of Healthy Gulf, community businesses and stakeholders expressed grave concerns about the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ planned closure of thousands of acres of area waters to shellfish harvesting because of continuous high fecal bacterial counts.

The Navarre Beach Lifeguards are used to giving their best on the Emerald Coast, but for several days in mid-August, they had the chance to tackle the sand and water of the west coast at the USLA Nationals.

The USLA Nationals is a national lifeguard competition. The annual event is put on by the United States Lifesaving Association, a nonprofit organization of beach lifeguards and open water rescuers.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is closing the recreational harvest of red grouper in state waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 30 for the remainder of the 2022 fishing season. Harvest will reopen on Jan. 1, 2023.  

According to FWC, this closure is consistent with the closure in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service. The recreational red grouper fishery was closed in federal waters because landings information indicates that the 2022 recreational quota is projected to be met on Aug. 29, 2022.

From July 24 to July 30, UF/IFAS Florida Sea Grant Extension in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties had volunteers search for scallops in the waters around Pensacola Bay, Big Lagoon, and the Santa Rosa Sound.

There were approximately 40 volunteers.