The June Grass Report recommends the Florida Beaches Android App. You can find it in the Google Play Store for FREE! Like all free things: you get what you pay for since it doesn’t always work. It works most of the time so I’ll recommend it.

The app gives you a map of Florida and you zoom into the area that interests you (the Panhandle) and then select a beach. It will also show your location (depending on your phone permissions) in case you want to choose a beach near you. The icons for the beaches are a green check if all is well and a red or yellow exclamation point if there is an advisory.

Advisories are usually for bacteria counts in the water. Other information supplied by the app includes: surf, water temp, air temp, weather, wind direction and speed, sunrise and sunset, tides, and date the data was last updated.

I specifically recommend this app because finding the water quality reports for the local beaches on the web can be hard and you want to know if there is a high bacteria count before you arrive and find a sign from the health department. This is especially relevant in Walton County if we’ve had heavy rain recently and for Crab Island in Okaloosa County.

Just think about all those people out there on Crab Island. They have to “go” somewhere and (unless there’s a porta-john on one of those little barges out there) you know where they’re “going”. Ewww! Then of course the tide will change and all that water will be coming out the pass and if you happen to be at the jetties or over on the Air Force beaches, well gross, you want to know. Check out this app and add any additional thoughts in the comments section.