Navarre Beach Florida

Navarre Beach Florida - wow! What a beautiful place for a vacation. For some reason, it's not very well known (at least most everyone I tell hasn't heard of it) even though it's right in the middle of the popular destinations of Pensacola Beach and Destin on the beautiful Emerald coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. Oh, and did I mention the beautiful white sand beach! Yes. It's white and it's bright during the middle of the day so don't forget your sunglasses!

One of it's most popular landmarks is their fishing pier. It's not only the longest fishing pier in the state of Florida, but it's the longest of it's kind in the world as it extends out 7,890 feet into the Atlantic Ocean. We were lucky to stay in a condo right next to the pier with a balcony! If we wasn't on the beach, we was on the balcony as I can never get enough of the beach.

There's a small fee to walk on the pier but it's for the whole day and well worth it. I think we went on it 6 or so times while there. It's a must do during sunrise, sunset, and night! There's always fishermen and they start bright and early! I think some are probably restaurant business owners because we saw a lot of the same professional fishermen and fisher women there collecting lots of fish every day!

Seems a lot of storms happen at Navarre Beach also! At least it stormed every night we were there and I've heard others say it's common.

The storms don't last long, and some don't even produce much rain. I was able to capture some of the lightning while out on the pier. (I wouldn't recommend it though as it is dangerous.) If you happen to be on the pier when a lightning storm approaches, it's best to leave the pier. As a professional photographer I stayed and captured it though. I decided to leave when I could feel the static electricity cause my arm hairs to stand up. That was getting a little close.

Just a short drive is Gulf Islands National Seashore area. It sets between Navarre Beach and Pensacola Beach. It's a protected area and you have to drive the single road through it really slow to protect the wildlife and sand dunes. It's a must see especially early in the morning or late in the evening when it's really quiet. It's one of the most relaxing places you can go to in the panhandle of Florida.

One morning I got up really early before sunrise and took the drive to Gulf Islands National Seashore to capture the sunrise. It's an interesting drive early in the morning as you can see lots and lots of crabs crossing the road! Sadly, it's hard to not hit any because there are so many. I avoided as many as I could as I love all animals. It was so nice having the whole beach to myself that early! Well, I was the only human for a while. There were the crabs and a Great Blue Heron that was walking along the beach. A few people showed up after the sun came up.

If you go on the other side and across the Navarre Beach Causeway Bridge, you'll be on the town side of Navarre Florida. There's a great park there with a view of the Navarre Beach skyline and Santa Rosa Sound. This is the waterway between the beach side (Santa Rosa Island which is where Navarre Beach is) and the mainland. There's a visitor center there where you can find out all the things there is to do in the area.

There's a cool water park area in the middle of Santa Rosa sound that the kids will love! There's also different beach volleyball areas, and of course there's all things water (boats, jet skies, paddleboarding, surfing ect). Navarre really was one of those places we were able to just kick back and relax along with enjoying some of the entertainment options available. It's refreshing and beautiful. Our daughter loved it, as most of our vacations include trying to see as much in that area as possible. She loved to do nothing but chill out on the beach and at the condo with at least one trip a day to see something or go shopping for souvenirs.

If you'd like to see more of my professional photos I took there, click on the main photo of this article and it'll take you to them. Hope you get to visit there some day! You won't regret it! Below is a video of Things To See In Navarre Beach, Florida.