Guest Post by Gretchen: Navarre Beach, FL

Jill's Journal: As we're enjoying this special time with our extended family in beautiful Lake Tahoe, my wonderful friend Gretchen was kind enough to do a guest post for us today! I'm so excited to welcome her to our little corner of the blog world. She's certainly talked me into wanting to visit Florida's Navarre Beach. In the gorgeous water below is her adorable 7-year-old daughter, Lizzie, whom our girls adore. Thanks so much, Gretchen! :)

“God must have been thinking about heaven when he made Navarre Beach,” kept running through my head on this vacation. Navarre Beach is located between Pensacola and Destin on the Gulf Coast in Florida. It has emerald green waters and beautiful white sand that is so thick it’s hard to walk a straight line. It’s surrounded by water from the coast and the Navarre Sound so one can enjoy the waves of the ocean and the calm of the Sound in a matter of seconds from each other.



Fourth of July week happened to be their busiest week of the year and I sure didn’t
feel like it was very busy!  Look at those colors!



We stayed in a condo right on the beach that, like most of the condos there, has views of both the Sound and the beach, the best of both worlds.

If sand isn’t your thing, there are also other fun things to do in Navarre. There were actually many things we wanted to do, but ran out of time. One of our favorite things was the Butterfly House right next to the Navarre Bridge.


My mom, daughter, and husband outside the Butterfly House.

This little place was a delight; it contains 200 species of butterflies that are shipped in from a farm in South Florida, as well as the ones they cultivate at the house. It’s one of the few establishments that specializes in butterflies and plants found mostly in this region. Admission is free but donations are accepted to support the large number and variety of butterflies. Early morning visits are strongly encouraged. We waited until after lunch and the heat made a lot of butterflies hide. The lady working there told us they had released over 100 butterflies into the caged area early that morning, and I’m sure that would have been wonderful to see.

Inside the place there is a wall lined with pictures and samples of species from all over the world. We all oohed and aahed over the beautiful colors.

Destin Beach is also close, so you can do anything touristy that your heart desires. I have always wanted to snorkel so we took a snorkeling trip and it was the highlight of the trip for my daughter and me. We went to a man-made rock formation in Destin where the fish like to hang out and we were lucky enough to see many colorful fish. I brought along a disposable underwater camera but it definitely didn’t do the job well! Our guide brought corn on the cob and frozen peas to feed to the fish. Once I got used to all the fish swimming around me and realized the Cucumber Jellyfish were not going to bite me, I had a great time. I did live up to my nickname as the “sea creature magnet” when my daughter started screaming because a crab had attached itself to the back of my neck. Every time I tried to remove it, it pinched me and kept crawling back and forth across my neck. The whole group got a great laugh as the guide removed it. The crab was pretty darn big!


Here is a blue crab and a sea urchin that our guide found to show us.

We also were lucky enough to enjoy the 10am dolphin show from our deck. It was definitely one of our highlights as we tried to count how many different dolphins we could see. We saw a LOT.

I really hope Navarre Beach doesn’t get spoiled by tourists when it is finally discovered by the rest of the world. It’s peaceful and clean, and close enough to the crowd for me!