The Santa Rosa County Commissioners gave their approval Feb. 13 for the Sea Turtle Conservation Center (STCC) to seek state permits to drill a saltwater well near the facility on Navarre Beach. The exact location has yet to be determined.
Santa Rosa County is actively seeking lifeguards to start the season on the beach next month. At this point, lifeguard coverage is set to begin March 15. Lifeguards will fill stands on Pensacola Beach two weeks earlier on March 1.
Swordfish management is a success story. Overfished in the 1980s and ’90s, the swordfish stock has since been fully rebuilt, thanks to domestic and international conservation measures.
Snowbirds Jan and Terry Janke arrived from Wausau, Wisconsin just in time to see how Florida deals with ice and snow. “We were amazed at the panic,” said Terry. Jan thought it was funny that the local news had to tell people to use hammers or boiling water to get ice off of their windshields. “We would have had everything cleaned up in two hours,” said Terry.
Members of the Beach Beatification Committee, neighbors and friends gathered at the pavilion in the boat ramp parking lot Jan. 31 to honor John Conner for his tireless efforts to beautify Navarre Beach. Conner is retiring from the BBC, a committee he started several years ago.
Scott Rayner, representing TC’s Coastal Front Porch, presented Santa Rosa County Commissioners with conceptual plans for redesign of the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier’s bar area, which will feature a restaurant. The board approved the new management team’s conceptual design at the Jan. 23 board meeting.
The Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce (NBACOC) is seeking artists to design the official poster for the 30th Anniversary of the Navarre Fun Fest on Navarre Beach. The winning artist will receive a $300 cash award and a complimentary artist booth at the event, Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, 2014.
Snowbirds Dave and Sharyl Nye have been wintering on Navarre Beach at the Summerwinds Resort for five years from Decatur, AL which is 30 minutes from the border of Tennessee. And, yes, Dave is a distant relative of Bill Nye the Science guy. “You can trace every “Nye” to a guy that came over from England,” said Dave. Dave has never met Bill Nye but they have science in the gene pool. Dave retired as a chemist from General Electric and his wife, Sharyl retired as a technical specialist for a school system. South Dakota is “home” for both of them because that is where they met. They have two children, Greg and Susan and five grandchildren.
Several area sea turtles were rescued recently as a result of the below-freezing temperatures the area has been experiencing. A condition known as “cold stunning” occurs when sea turtles are exposed to prolonged cold water temperatures.
Linda Coley was voted in a second term as the president of the Navarre Beach Leaseholders and Residents Association (NBLRA) during the Jan. 18 board meeting.
