Navarre Beach Marine Park is a beach park run by the county commission of

Santa Rosa County Santa Rosa County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2020, the population is 188,000. The county seat is Milton, which lies in the geographic center of the county. Other major communities within S ...

, located on Santa Rosa Island between

Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test Wing (formerly the 96th Air Base Wing). The ...

property and the residential and commercial area of

Navarre Beach Navarre is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Santa Rosa County in the northwest Florida Panhandle. It is a major bedroom community for mostly U.S. military personnel, federal civil servants, local population, retirees ...

. The address is 8704 Gulf Boulevard, Navarre, FL 32566.

History

State Park

This park was open as a state park for only four months before it was extensively damaged by

Hurricane Ivan Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived, Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlan ...

in 2004, suffering further damage from

Hurricane Dennis Hurricane Dennis was an early-forming major hurricane in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico during the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Dennis was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season. F ...

in 2005.

County Marine Park

In October 2005, the Santa Rosa County Commissioners announced that they were in negotiation with the state to return the park to county control. On the 9th of October in 2009, the Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners voted to take over the park. In this same year, the park was renamed to become, Navarre Beach County Park. In 2013, the park was renamed to its current name, the Navarre Beach Marine Park.

Science Centers

In 2008, a marine science center was founded at a former ranger station on the property. This center is known as the Navarre Beach Marine Science Center, and was the first of three science and conservation organizations based in the small park. The second of the three science and conservation programs based in the park opened in 2010. This organization is known as the Navarre Beach Marine Sanctuary, and has several artificial diving reefs located on both the gulf and sound sides of the park. The third and newest of the three science organizations is th
Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center
While they have existed as an organization for several years before this point, they began operations in the park after they opened a specially built conservatory in the park in 2016.

Recreational Activities

The park is home to several different facilities for

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...

and activity purposes. The park is home to five different beach access points, the three primary points on the gulf side of the park, and two additional, smaller access points on the

Santa Rosa Sound Santa Rosa Sound is a sound connecting Pensacola Bay and Choctawhatchee Bay in Florida. The northern shore consists of the Fairpoint Peninsula and portions of the mainland in Santa Rosa County and Okaloosa County. It is bounded to the south by San ...

side of the park. Two of these five access points also have diving reefs for

snorkeling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a ...

and

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

The park has a roughly one mile long path for walking, running, and bicycling. In addition, the park has a dozen pavilions with

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

tables and coal-fueled stoves, for picnics and outdoor meals. All five beach access points have public restrooms.

Public Safety

The park is patrolled by deputies of the

Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office (SRSO) is the primary law enforcement agency of Santa Rosa County, Florida. Both the cities of Gulf Breeze and Milton operates their own LEOs (law enforcement organization); however, the sheriff's office ...

and the waters are lifeguarded by the Navarre Beach Lifeguards, a division of the Navarre Beach Fire Rescue, one of the two fire departments operating in

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

References

External links

Map of the park and pavilions
{{Protected Areas of Florida County parks in Florida Parks in Santa Rosa County, Florida Santa Rosa Island (Florida) Navarre, Florida Conservation in Navarre, Florida Tourist attractions in Santa Rosa County, Florida