The Sea Turtle Soiree, an annual fundraising event for the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center, has been moved to March 2026 and renamed the Sea Turtle Social, according to Cinnamon Tyler, a volunteer with the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center and the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Patrol.
While the Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners has expressed interest in building a new Navarre Beach Bridge, the county must still maintain the existing bridge, which, according to a Florida Department of Transportation study, needs repairs.
Only one named storm, Tropical Storm Chantal, and zero hurricanes made landfall in the continental United States this year, according to hurricane researchers and forecasters from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Sunday morning, Dec. 14, at approximately 9 a.m., firefighters with Navarre Beach Fire Rescue District were dispatched to assist two kayakers in distress offshore.
The community came together earlier this month to help the Navarre Beach Fire Rescue District replace its Christmas tree.
The 22-foot Christmas tree light display, which normally tops Station 49, was accidentally discarded from the roof by a contractor who assumed it was scrap.
Holley Navarre Fire District personnel spent part of this fall getting Public Safety Water Rescue Dive certified.
The training consisted of open water diving, scuba diving and public safety diving, which is a weeklong class in swimming pools, the East River and Santa Rosa Sound.
While the Navarre Beach Lifeguards are no longer patrolling the beach, they are still working to get ready for next year.
Navarre Beach Safety Division Chief Austin Turnbull said the work required to be ready for 2026 is complicated by the fact they don’t have anywhere to practice.
The beginning of the holiday season marks the end of lifeguard season on Navarre Beach. The official final day for the Navarre Beach Lifeguards was Oct. 26.
The 2025 season (March 8 to Oct. 26) saw a busy beach with 1,991,487 people in attendance but not too much action, according to Navarre Beach Safety Division Chief Austin Turnbull.
A soon-to-be published study on the impacts of watercraft upon sea turtles has found nearly one out of every four sea turtles stranded along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts show signs of vessel-strike injuries (VSI).
The study covered areas including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
Sea turtle nesting season in Florida runs from springtime through the end of October. In Northwest Florida, the season officially starts May 1 and ends Oct. 31.
The 2025 nesting season brought 18 nests, a high number for Navarre Beach, but mixed results overall.
