Blue Horizon Motel:
Located about an hour’s drive east of Pensacola, between Navarre and Destin, is Fort Walton Beach, another military and tourism metropolis. It is one of the better towns for bombing surf in North Florida, as there are numerous, consistent beachbreaks and a few fickle, tide-dependent mysto spots. Take Highway 98 east from Pensacola or west from Panama City to Fort Walton, and go over Brooks Bridge. Don’t worry about crashing the party, as the locals are a friendly mix of transplants themselves.
The Blue Horizon Motel has been a popular summer spot for years. Located next to the motel on Okaloosa Island, it is a hangout for the generally hung-over locals who live and work on the island, and also for some of the most hardcore surfers, who live in the notorious “surf ghetto” across the street, off Bluefish Drive. From the east, turn left after Brooks Bridge to the Blue Horizon motel. It is a half-mile off Highway 98 on Okaloosa Island. Look for the first beach-access parking lot on the left. From the west, follow Highway 98 east to Fort Walton and take a left at the intersection, before going over Brooks Bridge. The B.H. has a fun, snappy inside break.
Dead Man’s:
Originally named in the ’70s after a body washed ashore, Dead Man’s is also known as the Gulfarium — it breaks in front of Fort Walton’s small-scale answer to Sea World — or the Poles, referring to the remnants of the first Okaloosa Island Pier. The pier is long gone, but the outflow pipe from the Gulfarium Marine Life Park’s porpoise tanks continues to chug out saltwater, acting like a tiny rivermouth. This spot is a fast, hollow lefthander on small to medium east swells, spinning over a very shallow sandbar with head-busting force. Dead Man’s is located off Highway 98, heading east toward Destin, at the Okaloosa Island Pier. Follow Highway 98 east, on Okaloosa Island. Turn into the Okaloosa Pier parking lot, which is on the right about two miles from the Brooks Bridge.