A calm-looking Gulf still drowns people. The flag system exists because tourists keep treating emerald water like a hotel pool. Learn the colors once. Then obey the pole at the walkover you actually use — Navarre is not Pensacola is not Destin, and a purple flag can fly with a surf flag.
/api/BeachCondition (hazard level 1, last API stamp 9:16 a.m. CT); Destin yellow + purple from Destin Beach Safety Facebook (~2h, “Yellow and purple flag flying today”); Panama City Beach yellow from Visit PCB Beach & Surf Patrol widget, corroborated by NWS Tallahassee SRF 11:04 a.m. CDT (Bay = Yellow). Fort Walton yellow + purple from the same Destin Fire / Destin Beach Safety post (synchronized Okaloosa Island flag). Perdido Key stays unknown / stale (no public Johnson Beach feed; Pensacola API and Orange Beach AL were not copied). Machine-readable file: data/flags.json.
The Florida Gulf flag language
Counties along this coast use the statewide surf-warning colors. Escambia County’s Pensacola Beach lifeguard explainer is the clearest public write-up we found. Santa Rosa County posts the same colors for Navarre. Destin Fire, Okaloosa County Beach Safety, and the City of Panama City Beach publish the same palette. Details differ — especially what a single red flag legally means — so read the local page, not a souvenir T-shirt.
Green — low hazard
Escambia: generally calm surf and currents; swim with usual caution. Santa Rosa: low hazards and calm conditions, still exercise caution. Green is not a guarantee.
Yellow — medium hazard
Moderate surf and/or currents. Extra caution. Stay near a staffed tower if one is open. Kids and weak swimmers should think harder about this one than the postcard suggests.
Red — high hazard
High surf and/or strong currents. Escambia calls it high hazard. Santa Rosa’s public guidance says no swimming or wading under a red flag. Destin / Okaloosa messaging is often “knee deep is too deep.” Do not split the difference in your head.
Double red — water closed
Swimming and wading during double red flags in the Gulf is prohibited in Escambia County. Santa Rosa: water closed to the public. Panama City Beach: water closed. This is not a suggestion. Stay on the sand.
Purple — marine life
Jellyfish, Portuguese man o’ war, or other stinging marine life. Escambia: exercise caution in the water and along the shoreline. Purple can fly next to green, yellow, or red. Read both. See the snorkeling guide for stingrays and why a mask is not a hunting license.
Escambia posts Pensacola Beach flags south of the Bob Sikes Toll Bridge, next to Casino Beach Pavilion, on the Gulf Fishing Pier, one mile east of Portofino, Park East, Park West, and at lifeguard towers. Absence of flags does not assure water safety. Santa Rosa posts at public Navarre accesses and lists five seasonal tower locations (walkovers 40F, 40D, 40B, west of the pier near Summerwind, 39C). Destin Fire tells you to check Destin Beach Safety on Facebook for the current color — we copied that public post when it named today’s color. Okaloosa County Beach Safety points at county Facebook or texting BEACH to 44144. Panama City Beach: text PCBFLAGS to 888777, and Visit PCB also posts a current-conditions widget. Facebook and text alerts are still not a color we invent; we only reprint a color we can actually read.
Beaches we track
Six stretches people actually drive to from Navarre. Each card is hydrated from data/flags.json. If JavaScript is off, the noscript note and the fallback cards below are the last copy we printed. Check the poles anyway.