Pensacola Pass

Pensacola Pass is an inlet between Santa Rosa Island and Perdido Key at the western end of the Florida Panhandle. It connects the Gulf of Mexico to Pensacola Bay. The mainland around Pensacola Bay is heavily developed, with high-rise condominiums. Santa Rosa Island and the eastern part of Perdido Key adjacent to Pensacola Pass are units of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, and remain largely undeveloped.

Pensacola Pass is an inlet between the barrier islands of Santa Rosa Island and Perdido Key connecting the Gulf to Pensacola Bay. Ships and boats use this passage to travel between the two.

During the daily flood tide, fresh saltwater enters Pensacola Pass from the Gulf of Mexico; waters are pulled out on the ebb tide, flushing the bay. The pass is located in the Floridian counties of Escambia and Santa Rosa. It is protected from devastating ocean waves by the Fairpoint peninsula as well as a barrier island, Santa Rosa, from which the county gets its name. The pass itself is about 21 kilometers long and 4 kilometers wide.

There is little evidence of human presence around Pensacola Pass before the arrival of Europeans in the area. A Fort Walton culture archaeological site has been identified on Perdido Key, and other archaeological sites may be present, but hurricanes have greatly disturbed and even destroyed such sites on the barrier islands. The Pensacola area was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century. Diego Miruelo found a bay on the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico in 1516 that some authors think was Pensacola Bay.

The Narváez expedition in 1528 may have encountered the Pensacola people in the vicinity of Pensacola Bay. Cabeza de Vaca reported that the Indians they encountered in the vicinity of what is now Pensacola Bay were of "large stature and well formed," and lived in permanent houses. The cacique wore a robe of what de Vaca called "civet-marten", "the best [skins], I think, that can be found." After initially appearing to be friendly, the Indians attacked the Spaniards without warning during the night.

Hernando de Soto sent one of his captains, Francisco Maldonando, to find a harbor on the coast west of Apalachee Province that could be used to resupply his expedition. Maldonado selected Pensacola Bay, which he called "Ochuse" after the native name for the land there.

The first Spanish settlement in Pensacola was founded in 1559 by the explorer Tristan de Luna y Arenallo. He named it the “Bahia Santa Maria de Filipina.” With 1400 people arriving in 11 ships from Mexico, this was the first European settlement in what is now the United States. The colony was later nearly obliterated by a hurricane and the survivors abandoned it in 1561. It was concluded that Florida might be too dangerous to colonize. It was left alone for 135 years.

In 1693, Mexican Viceroy Gaspar de Sandoval Silva, Count of Galve, sent a small crew to inspect the gulf coast from north of the Pensacola bay to the mouth of the Mississippi (the Pensacola Pass). In order to see if the land was adequate for a settlement, they brought the renowned scientist and historian Carlos de Singuenza who renamed the bay “Santa Maria de Galve.” He authored a report that claimed the land was more than hospitable, it was a paradise. In 1698, a settlement was created by the Pensacola Pass that was used as a buffer against the French-owned Louisiana. Andres de Arriola was governor and found the conditions in Florida to be much more harsh than Siguenza had described.