Okaloosa County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Alabama state line. As of the 2020 census, the population was 211,668. Its county seat is Crestview. Okaloosa County is included in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Santa Rosa County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2020, the population was 188,000. The county seat is Milton, which lies in the geographic center of the county. Other major communities within Santa Rosa County are Navarre, Pace, and Gulf Breeze. Navarre is the most populated community with a population of approximately 45,000 residents. Santa Rosa County is included in the Pensacola—Ferry Pass—Brent, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which also includes Escambia County.
Destin is a city located in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. It is a principal city of the Crestview–Fort Walton Beach–Destin, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,931 at the 2020 census, up from 12,305 at the 2010 census.
Fort Walton Beach, often referred to by the initialism FWB, is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 20,922, up from 19,507 in 2010. It is a principal city of the Crestview−Fort Walton Beach−Destin, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Florida panhandle is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a salient roughly 200 miles (320 km) long, bordered by Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is arbitrarily defined. It is defined by its southern culture and rural geography relative to the rest of Florida, as well as closer cultural links to French-influenced Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Its major communities include Pensacola, Navarre, Destin, Panama City Beach, and Tallahassee.
Santa Rosa Island is a 40-mile (64 km) barrier island located in the U.S. state of Florida, thirty miles (50 km) east of the Alabama state border. The communities of Pensacola Beach, Navarre Beach, and Okaloosa Island are located on the island. On the northern side of the island, are Pensacola Bay on the west and Choctawhatchee Bay on the east, joined through Santa Rosa Sound.
The Emerald Coast is an unofficial name for the coastal area in the US state of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico that stretches about 100 miles (160 km) through five counties, Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, and Bay, which include Pensacola Beach, Navarre Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, and Panama City Beach. Some south Alabama communities on the coast of Baldwin County, such as Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, and Fort Morgan embrace the term as well.
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 and defense contractors. Due to Navarre Beach and the 4 miles (6.4 km) of beach front on the Gulf of Mexico thereof, as well as several miles of beaches within the Navarre Beach Marine Park and the Gulf Islands National Seashore, it has a small, but rapidly growing community of nature enthusiasts and tourists. Navarre has grown from being a small town of around 1,500 in 1970 to a town with a population estimated at 43,540 as of 2022, if including both the Navarre and Navarre Beach Census Designated Places. The Navarre CDP recorded a population of 40,817 at the 2020 census.
Gulf Islands National Seashore is an American National seashore that offers recreation opportunities and preserves natural and historic resources along the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida and Mississippi. In 2023, it was the fifth-most visited unit of the National Park Service.
Pensacola Bay is a bay located in the northwestern part of Florida, United States, known as the Florida Panhandle.
The Fairpoint Peninsula, also referred to as the Gulf Breeze Peninsula or the Navarre Peninsula or historically the Santa Rosa Peninsula, is located in northwest Florida between Santa Rosa Sound and Pensacola Bay.
The Pensacola metropolitan area is the metropolitan area centered on Pensacola, Florida. It is also known as the Pensacola–Ferry Pass–Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) used for statistical purposes by the United States Census Bureau and other agencies. The Pensacola Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area was first defined in 1958, with Pensacola as the principal city, and included Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. The MSA was renamed Pensacola–Ferry Pass–Brent MSA in 2003, with the unincorporated census-designated places Ferry Pass and Brent added as principal cities. The population of the MSA in the 2020 census was 511,502.
The Mid-Bay Bridge is a 141-span, 3.6-mile (5.8 km), two-lane toll bridge in Okaloosa County in the Florida Panhandle. It connects U.S. Highway 98 in Destin to State Road 20 in Niceville. The bridge generally runs north-south; the approaches to the bridge carry the State Road 293 designation while the bridge itself carries the TOLL 293 shield.
State Road 399 is a state road in Santa Rosa County, Florida. Although it only extends 0.319 miles (0.513 km) from U.S. Route 98 (US 98) to the Bob Sikes Bridge, County Road 399 continues over the bridge, along Santa Rosa Island, and back to US 98 via the Navarre Bridge. Other segments of CR 399 also exist on the mainland.
Okaloosa Island is an area on Santa Rosa Island, Florida, United States.
Choctawhatchee Bay is a bay in the Emerald Coast region of the Florida Panhandle. The bay, located within Okaloosa and Walton counties, is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico and has a surface area of 334 square kilometres (129 sq mi). It connects to Santa Rosa Sound in Fort Walton Beach, Florida to the west and to St. Andrews Bay in Bay County to the east, via the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. East Pass is the only outlet of the bay flowing directly into the Gulf of Mexico, and is crossed by US 98. The Choctawhatchee River flows into the bay, as do several smaller rivers and streams. The tolled Mid-Bay Bridge crosses the bay, connecting the city of Destin to Niceville, Florida. The Judge Clyde B. Wells Bridge crosses the eastern part of the bay, connecting Freeport to the coast.
The Brooks Bridge is a four-lane steel and concrete structure that carries highway U.S. Route 98 (US 98) over Santa Rosa Sound just west of the Choctawhatchee Bay between downtown Fort Walton Beach, Florida and the 3-mile-long (4.8 km) section of Okaloosa Island controlled by the city of Fort Walton Beach. It is named for John Thomas Brooks, who, in 1868, purchased 111 acres of what is now downtown Fort Walton Beach. The area on the north side of the sound where the bridge connects was known as Brooks Landing. It has a charted clearance of 50 feet (15 m) above the water.
Tropical Depression Six caused significant flooding along the Gulf Coast of the United States, especially in the Florida Panhandle. The sixth tropical cyclone of the 1975 Atlantic hurricane season, the depression developed from a trough of low pressure in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico on July 28. The system strengthened slightly, but peaked with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (56 km/h) – below tropical storm intensity. Early on July 29, the depression made landfall in eastern Louisiana. Once inland, the depression slowly weakened and re-curved northeastward on July 30 into Mississippi, shortly before degenerating into a remnant low pressure area. The remnants moved through northern Louisiana and Arkansas until dissipating on August 3.
The Navarre Beach Causeway, also called the Navarre Beach Bridge, is a concrete bridge in Navarre, Florida, connecting the beach and mainland sides of the community. The bridge travels over the Santa Rosa Sound, which in turn, is part of the Intracoastal Waterway. The bridge is currently owned and managed by Santa Rosa County, as part of the roads and bridges department.
