Blue Angel Naval Recreation Area

This used to be a very nice campground but now it's starting to get run down and it seems the Navy doesn't want to put any money into it. Almost 3 yrs ago Hurricane Sally hit the area and caused a lot of damage. Aside from clearing tree debris and such, it seems not much else has been done. Of course, they had to clear the debris, they wouldn't be able to make any money had they not. But they covered the entrance/gate shack with a blue tarp and also the large red bath house in the Battleship row. The three years has taken its toll on the tarps and they have shredded and pretty much blown off the roofs. The camp store is only open on the weekends and the A/C in the nice bath house in Battleship row has a weak A/C system. And get this, the large red bathhouse in Battleship row has no A/C at all. It's broken and I didn't see any repairmen work on it the entire time I was there! To top all this off, they raised their rates by about 30% last spring! Sigh....

We stayed here for five days while we explored the Pensacola/Gulf Shores area. It's a great park with full hookups, a playground, boat and kayak rentals, wooded walking trails and even a Frisbee gold course. The campground was easy to access as it is not on the base proper. We made reservations in February for an April stay. I think this is the time when most of the snowbirds start heading north. Check in was easy, the camp host met us at the entrance and gave us a choice of several sites. We picked site 71, a small pull through in the Battleship Row section. All sites in this section are concrete pads. The roads are asphalt and easy to navigate. The park is very well managed. We did not use the shower/bathroom facilities, but I did find them to be clean and in good repair. Garbage dumpsters were emptied twice in our short stay. Overflowing dumpsters are a problem with many campgrounds, but not here. We camped at Blue Angel Naval Recreation Area in a Travel Trailer. Historical Note: The large boat ramps you can see in the pictures, which are adjacent to the campground are seaplane ramps from the decommissioned NAAS Bronson Field, which once stood on this site. The base was opened in 1942 and last saw active use in 1967. During the war, it was a training base for dive bombers, fighters, and seaplanes. According to Wikipedia, Ted Williams trained here. Pretty cool for a campground!

Loved it here. Some of the buildings and beach area stuff seemed a little run down. Great showers, but vents were not working and it was like a sauna in them, and a nice laundry room. Level pads, great hookups, nice space between rvs, and quite a few trees for shade. Located some ways from NAS services, so need vehicle to get to the nice NEX, Commissary at Corry Station and a great Beach on Pensacola NAS. The park's beach is an inlet area, water a lot more brackish, and lots of dead jellyfish when we were there. The Light House and National Naval Aviation Air Museum on the NAS is a must for any visitors. When in town the Blue Angels practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Lot's more to see, but the grandkids drove our trip. Definitely would stay here again.

This famcamp is always full when we come to Florida. This time we were able to secure 6 nights on Battleship row. A very nice campground by the waterfront with good utilities and facilities. The NEX and Commissary are a drive as the base is spread out over a large area. Reservations are a must for an extended stay in any famcamps in Florida in the wintertime. We will stay here again.

NOTE: Per 16 Jul 2020 memo by SECDEF Mark Esper, no political flags or signage apart from the American flag may be flown or displayed in common areas or public spaces on DOD properties. Installation commanders are increasingly enforcing this directive to keep peace in famcamps across the country.

Great location and very nice in the Battleship Row section. The other section is more wooded and less pavement. Lots to do in the RV park and surrounding area. Very nice laundry and bath facilities too.

We found this to be a very quiet place. Most of the people there were retired military so there were few children except for Thanksgiving weekend. The sites are large. You can make a reservations but you cannot reserve a site. You just drive around until you find one you like. We travel with 3 dogs so we chose one on the back row. We also have a toy hauler so we were able to have the deck down the whole time. There is lots to do here but no mini golf anymore. The main base is a great place to visit with the Lighthouse and Aircraft museum. If you are going t the museum plan on a whole day. It is huge. It has a food court and movie theater. There is a shopping mall at Corry Station. Lots to do there, commissary, Exchange, package store, gas station, a place to work on your car/truck and so much more. We will be back next year!!

Battleship Row. We stayed here in a 44' 5th wheel toy hauler. The first thing you notice about the campground is that there is no litter or trash, anywhere. Roads in campground are paved and wide to allow easy access/backing for even the biggest rigs. Sites, in general, are large, level concrete pads with good utility connections and with plenty of space between them. Grounds and landscaping are well maintained. We picked a site along the eastern boundary of the campground and it offered a great deal of privacy along the sides and back. Did not use the bath house or laundry but noted the facilities were clean and in good condition. No WiFi but T-Mobile 5G was 4 bars. This was our first snowbird trip and very glad we were able to get a site here. About %75 - %25 mix of long term (>30 days) and short term campers. Learned a lot from many of the veteran snowbirds here. Welcome Center staff was very helpful and check-in process was quick and informative. They even offer instructions on having your mail/packages sent to you while here, a valuable benefit this time of year. Not sure why a previous reviewer complained about blocking traffic at the entrance, clear directions for RVs to park off to the side to allow others to pass. Disc Golf courses are open and busy on weekends, marina and mini camp store were open and offered ice and propane. Mini golf course was being demolished but all other recreation facilities, including the biking and hiking trails were in good shape. Grocery store just about a mile from the gate, NEX, Package Store, Naval Hospital and VA a few miles further down the main road (US98) at Corry Station. Close to NAS, Gulf Islands National Seashore and lots of regional historic spots. All in all, Battleship Row provides an outstanding experience, especially for the price, for short term or long term residents. To clarify, current rules are that the maximum stay is 90 days after which time you must vacate the area (including Anchor Cove and Oak Grove campgrounds) for 60 days unless a waiver is approved.

Battleship row, Excellent campsites, concrete, level sites, some shaded with fire pits. Some of the cleanest water we have found in the past two years(>50ppm) Bathrooms are large and in good condition. Boat ramp is no more than 70 yards from any site. Would recommend to anyone.

Come in from the Alabama side and it will be slightly easier, on your nerves at least, it's a long drive in from the highway. Once yo arrive you sit in the 1 lane entrance drive while checking in so people returning to the park must wait till everyone in front of them are ready to head to the campground. Staff is not capable of critical thought so stupide things like this abound in this park. As stated park is in disrepair and my site looked like it hadn't been cleaned since a couple hurricane's ago, an inch of mud on my pad, picnic table was just disgusting landscaping non nonexistent just weeds and grass everywhere. Lots of active duty families present even given the stay limit regs.

Last of many stays at this facility. Many recent rule/policy changes at NAS Pensacola Rec Area. Park Manager selectively chooses rules he enforces and interprets meanings of rules to suit his desires. Park has become anti-long term stay and caters to local weekenders. Many vacancies in both Battleship Row and Achcor Cove since stay limits imposed. This stay was in Battleship Row. Current host is mostly non-existent and calling Welcome Center gets voice mail most of the time. Roads to and in park are in disrepair.

You have to want to go here because it's at least 30 minutes "off the beaten path" (Interstate 10) for those maybe just passing through. Not really that close to Pensacola NAS either. Still, we understand why people do the max time at this park. Our site was in "Battleship Row" which isn't a row at all but the section with full hookups; the other area with electric water area was dark and run down looking. In fact, all of Blue Angel Rec Area really seems past it's prime [or was it just the time of year or COVID]? Lots of deferred maintenance. For example, no indication that mini golf was closed but it was covered in old leaves and sticks. They let you pick your site from what's available (smile) but unknown to us, the nice site we picked had power issues. Someone had backed into the power pedestal and didn't report it. So after getting well set up and in the middle of cooking dinner, off went the power. Camp host could not resolve so we had to put the slides in and move to a different site. If we ever pass through again, I'd try NAS proper.

The road into the rec area has been repaired and all storm debris has been picked up. Disc golf and paint ball still closed. I rated amenities/facilities four stars because there is a policy in place not to rent any MWR equipment to retired people due to covid. Guess us old folks are dangerous. This is a great place to stay. Battleship row has paved roads, concrete pads and full hookups. There is a one month limit on waterfront sites. The current RV site daily rate is $24 military and $26 DOD civilian. The military monthly rate is $650 (30 nights). Anchor Cove does not have concrete pads or paved roads and the RV sites only have water and electric. The current RV site daily rate is $17 military and $18.50 DOD civilian. The military monthly rate is $460 (30 nights). There is also a campground on NAS Pensacola called Oak Grove Park (same rates as Battleship Row. See separate listing on this site). A major change for all reservations made from Jan 1, 2021 is you can only stay a total of 90 days at NAS Pensacola campgrounds. There was a 90 day rule for each campground in effect before this but now you must leave for 60 days before returning to any of the 3 campgrounds. I think this has been done to deter homesteading. This is a very well managed facility and is one of our favorite military campgrounds.

Cleaning up from Hurricane, so the shoreline was quite beat up with lots of debris. Too bad the disc golf course and mini-golf were closed down. Bath house very clean. Good Cell reception. Very quiet. Nothing is as good as a military campground. Friendly camp host. Will return.

We just returned from Battleship Row. The entrance road has some damage from hurricane Sally and the use of the campground for support personnel to assist with the cleanup. Just drive slow and it is easy to dodge the potholes. (I'm from Pennsylvania so this is second nature for me.) The campground is in good shape with just a little damage to the roof of the old bathroom/laundry building. Anchor Cove is open but we did not get a chance to walk through the campground to check it's status. We are looking forward to returning in January for a longer visit. Edit; We returned in January and large sections of the entrance road have been repaved. It is smooth sailing into the park now.

First time to this area, pleasantly surprised. Called website to make a reservation, in the NavyMWR system now. ID checked at gate then drove in to find our site. Arrived early enough (1100) that there were quite a few open spots in Battleship Row. Found a pull-thru near the laundry/bathhouse and the yurt. Laundry is $1 apiece for washer & dryer. Yurt has full kitchen, big screen tv, book library, tables & chairs and couches and the spot to connect to WIFI if you have your own. Sites level and utilities clean. Lots of trails for hiking/biking. Paintball, 2 disc golf courses, kayak rentals, beach and boat ramp. Great sunsets over Perdido Bay.

Spent a week here just before Corona hit. Best last minute place we have stayed. Found a spot on Battleship Row and had a great ten days. Found and played freebie golf for two days, watched early morning fish in the water as the sun came up, and meet some awesome folks. We climbed the Lighthouse and visited a museum and golf course. No wifi and with a teenager, life for him was challenging but overall a nice place. Rough road coming in but nothing that will stop us from coming back. Happy we stopped and stayed here than the original plan of Destin. Saved a ton of money used to do some exploring in the area. This just became our Florida stop.

We were lucky enough to spend most of the Covid19 lock down here. What a great place to lay back and just spend time. We were all family by the time things broke up. Battleship Row has level concrete slabs, full hookups, mature trees for shade, laundry, bathhouse, pet washing station, boat ramps for all watercraft, small beach and picnic area. Marina for rentals and propane. Great fishing, and nature trails.

This was our first experience with a military campground. I am one of the newly eligible disabled vets. We went to the main gate and got registered for the base. I was given a photo ID and my husband was given a one day sponsored visitor pass. We were told that he would need to get a new pass each day. However, the personel at the campground told us they never check those after check in and not to worry unless we were going back to the main base. The commissary and exchange is located in a small plaza a few miles away and are not on the main base, so we did not have to get my husband a visitor pass when we shopped there. We went to the Naval Aviation Museum and the Lighthouse which are on the main base on a Sunday. We went through the main gate and I showed the photo ID that I was given. We expected to have to stop at the visitor center for a pass for my husband. But the guard waved us through. There are still a lot of bugs to work out on ID for the newly eligible Vets. But be patient and it will sort out. As for the campground--try to get in Battle Ship Row, especially if you have a big rig. Also, if you end up in Anchor Cove, follow the advice that some others have given--park your rig on the big concrete lot and walk into the park first. Find your spot and plan your route in carefully. Check for low overhead tree branches along the roads and your sight. Figure out how you are going to pull in or back in. We did not do that and it was a bit of a problem. Some have reported damage from overhead trees. We came in from the wrong angle. Also, you may need to pick up and move your picknic table out of the way. It wasn't the trees that got us, but the table jumped out and attacked our rig. Luckily only got a tiny dent on the fender flare. Thank goodness for diamond plate trim on lower camper sides. The camp ground was very beautiful and well maintained. Staff was friendly and helpful. Two laundry rooms are both located at Battle Ship Row. $1 to wash and $1 to dry. We even discovered that they have a pet washing room behind the newer laundry room at Battleship Row. We didn't need to give our doggie a bath while there, but will use it when we are back in the future. We plan to go back again and stay longer next time. Great introduction to military campgrounds.

On Perdido Bay, water quality issues from paper mill discharge. For two days it really smelled bad. All sites are first come first served, making it difficult to find a site suitable for our rig. Campground layout is very tight! Go slow! I finally parked and walked until we found a site. No big deal but the check desk could have reduced our effort by knowing what sites are available to fit our rig. Plan to arrive NLT 3 in order to navigate the camp. Only three bathrooms for the entire campground. But they are clean and very nice albeit humid. Family friendly. Many trails for biking or walking. Paintball and two disc golf courses are available as well. We’d come back. Pensacola NAS is short drive away. The NEX is strange and located off the NAS.