Santa Rosa Recreational Facility - Gulf Breeze Beach

Santa Rosa Island
Florida, USA

Not so many years ago, you were lucky to find a hot dog stand on the beach. The early Spanish colonists had it tough, too. The first out-of-town visitor to Isle de St. Rose was don Tristan de Luna. In the summer of 1559, he sailed up the Gulf from Mexico, his 11 ships laden with gear and food for survival. The adventurous Spaniard, within three years, was forced to abandon camp--and not just because the no-see-'ums drove the settlers to swat themselves silly. The locals (at that time, the Ochuse, later the Panzacola) were leery of the new arrivals and therefore didn't trade with them or teach them survival skills, so de Luna and his band failed to utilize the abundant food supply ... more on goingtothebeach.com