Blue Angels Naval Recreation Area (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Battleship Row, Pensacola, Florida (May 2026)

Our next camping trip of the season was to the Pensacola Naval Air Station’s Blue Angels FamCamp.  There are two separate camping areas in this park. Anchor Cove is more rustic and some sites are very close to the bay. Battleship Row has paved sites with full utilities. Since we planned to stay at this campground for a couple of weeks, we reserved a site in Battleship Row for Rosie, our Airstream trailer.

Battleship Row at Pensacola Naval
Air Station's Blue Angels FamCamp

Reservations used to be similar to a hunting license. Individual sites were not reserved and you simply hunted for the best spot available.

Things are different now. You make reservations for Battleship Row or Anchor Cove and the office assigns your specific site a day to two before you arrive. We felt like we won the lottery when we checked in because our site was on the front row overlooking Perdido Bay.

Sign directing us to Battleship Row

Our site "on the front row!"

It looked like an Airstream convention on the front row as we were the third Airstream there when we arrived. In fact, our site was next to another Airstream trailer. We enjoyed talking to our Airstream neighbors. He recently retired from the U.S. Marine Corps and his family was living full-time in their 30 foot Airstream trailer. To make that couple more interesting, they had six children living with them in that small space. We guessed the oldest child was 10-12 years old and the youngest was barely one year-old. We could not imagine how eight people lived in that small space. 

Half of the neighbors children outside
during the presentation of "Colors" 

To the parent's credit, all six of the children appeared to be well behaved and helped with the chores around the campsite. 

Rosie on Battleship Row

We had about three days of rain while camping in this park. We had projects to keep us busy. I wondered how our neighbors kept their children entertained during the prolonged rain periods. 

We normally see deer when camping in this FamCamp and we were not disappointed this time. In addition to deer, we saw raccoons, dolphins in the bay and baby herons in their nest near Anchor Cove. 

Raccoon in a tree near the trash dumpster

Heron nest

Baby heron bird in the nest

We always enjoy visiting Johnson Beach while camping at this FamCamp. The beach was beautiful and we enjoyed being there. 

Entrance to Johnson Beach

Boardwalk to the shore

Becky along the Gulf of Mexico

He is probably dreaming about the fish he can eat

No trip to Pensacola Naval Air Station is
completed without a fly-by from the Blue Angels

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were two campgrounds (Battleship Row and Anchor Cove) and multiple loops in each campground

• Our site was a back in

• Our site had shade

• Most sites had some space on both sides

• Our site was paved with asphalt with a concrete pad. This site was level.

• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 

• Our site had a water connection

• Our site had a sewer connection 

• The trash dumpsters were near the two laundry buildings in both campgrounds 

• There was a bathhouse in the campground 

• The park did not provide WiFi service 

• AT&T provided 2 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 

• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Bounce, Charge, Comet, Court-TV, Cozi, Dabl, Grit, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Outlaw and Rewind

• There were restaurants and shopping nearby

• This was a pet friendly park 

Sunset along Perdido Bay

A break in the rain clouds

Selfie along the many trails in this campground

Selfie along Perdidio Bay

We found a battleship that was once part of a
putt-putt course. A hurricane destroyed that course.

Blue Angels Naval Recreation Area (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Battleship Row, Pensacola, Florida (November 2025)

We wanted to squeeze one more camping trip in before having to winterize Rosie, our Airstream trailer. Once again, Becky wanted to head south to the Gulf coast. 

We first tried to get reservations in Big Lagoon State Park and were surprised to learn their campground closed nearly a year ago for renovations. We camped there after Hurricane Sally hit in 2020. Both the park and the campground suffered major damage from that storm. We are glad the State of Florida is working to improve the park.

I called a military FamCamp in Pensacola next. We were able to reserve two weeks on Battleship Row at the Blue Angels Naval Recreation Area. We always enjoy being at this campground.

In the past, we had to search for an open site once we arrived at the park. This time was different in that we were assigned a site when we arrived. I asked the person who assigned our site how the new system was working. She said it was fifty-fifty between those who disliked it and those who really disliked it.

Road sign for the Blue Angels Naval Recreation Area

Sign directing visitors to Battleship Row or Anchor Cove 

Battleship Row

Rosie in our site on Battleship Row

We watched several RVs back into their assigned spaces that appeared to be too small for their oversized rigs. One across from Rosie missed hitting a light post by what appeared to be a few inches. The new assigned parking system seems to be giving arriving campers something to talk about. 

Mobile (Alabama) was 90 minutes away from Battleship Row. That allowed us to travel there for our grandson’s birthday and for Thanksgiving. The FamCamp sponsored a “pot luck” Thanksgiving meal for the campers in the park, which we heard was great.

Thanksgiving with our grandson

Traveling through the I-10 Mobile Bay Tunnel while heading back to Pensacola

Many campsites in the park were decorated for Thanksgiving with lights and blow-up turkeys. That quickly changed over to Christmas decorations, lights and Santas the day after Thanksgiving.

Turkey decorations for Thanksgiving

We made it to Big Lagoon State Park to talk to a Ranger about their campground renovations. I was disappointed to learn they were not adding sewer connections to their campsites. The changes were focused on upgrades to the electrical and water systems.

Selfie from the tower at Big Lagoon State Park

Boardwalk at Big Lagoon State Park

We ate breakfast at Johnson Beach two mornings while camping in Pensacola. Johnson Beach is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. We enjoyed walking on the beach.

Enjoying the view at Johnson Beach as we ate breakfast there

The temperatures dropped below freezing two nights while we were there. The heat pumps kept Rosie very cozy inside. 

Cold weather camping in Rosie

We noticed an abnormal number of "boat ramps" in this U.S. Navy FamCamp. I asked the camp host if this had been used to train pilots for boat planes. The camp host confirmed that most Navy flying boat pilots during World War II received their flight training here. He added that John Wayne starred in a movie filmed at that base called "The Wings of Eagles." I was able to find the trailer for that movie and was surprised at the number of buildings that used to be in what is now the campground. 

The large concrete pad with airplane tie-downs in front or Battleship Row

One of the many "boat launches: in this campground

We did notice a potential electrical problem one cold night. Rosie's batteries were down to a 30 percent charge. Normally, I look for a Navy Chief when facing a problem with our Airstream while in a military FamCamp. Past experience has shown that they can diagnose and fix anything. I could not find a Navy Chief, but a retired Navy pilot was about four spaces from us and he was willing to help. He also had an Airstream trailer and loved talking about how he did most maintenance on his trailer. 

Suzy ignoring the sign

Suzy in the playground area

We were able to determine that we had a "real" electrical problem with Rosie's batteries and that we couldn't ignore it. We called Foley RV in Gulfport, Mississippi and they said they would be able to work on Rosie the next morning. 

We left about 6:30 the next morning headed to Foley RV. We hoped their service department could fix Rosie before noon. 

This was our fourth camping trip of the year since getting the "go ahead" from my physicians after the bike accident. It was wonderful to be out camping again. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were two campgrounds (Battleship Row and Anchor Cove) and multiple loops in each campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt with a concrete pad. We needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The trash dumpsters were near the two laundry buildings in both campgrounds 
• There was a bathhouse in the campground 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 1 bar of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Bounce, Charge, Comet, Court-TV, Cozi, Dabl, Grit, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Outlaw and Rewind
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Blue Angels Naval Recreation Area (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Battleship Row, Pensacola, Florida (May 2024)

We wanted to arrive on Sunday, but were told while making reservations that the Blue Angels FamCamp office closes on Sundays and no one can arrive that day. That wasn’t a problem because we were able to extend our reservation in the previous campground for a day, but it sounded odd that we couldn’t show up on a Sunday. 

We managed to arrive on Monday just as the office opened. After we checked in, we made a beeline for the popular sites along the Bay in the Battleship Row campground. Sites are not assigned at registration and it is up to the individual campers to find an open campsite to park in. We hoped that someone left from one of the waterfront sites on Sunday and there would be on open site for us. I guess that any waterfront sites that may have opened on Sunday were quickly taken by campers in the park willing to move. 

We quickly scouted the campground and found a site on the second row behind the waterfront sites. I was about to connect the power when Becky noticed how close the sites were to each other in that area. We had selected one of the few sites in Battleship Row that was too close to the neighbors. 

We unloaded our bikes and started looking for another site. This time we noticed a trailer pulling out of a site at the rear of the park. It backed up to the woods and had more space on either side. Best of all, it had shade. We quickly moved Rosie, our Airstream trailer, to this site. In addition, we felt a breeze at this site. 

Rosie in Battleship Row

There are two campgrounds in the Blue Angels Park. Battleship Row has paved roads and camping pads. It also has full hookups. Anchor Cove has more shade and the sites are similar to what you find at some state parks. The roads and sites are packed dirt with gravel. Anchor Cove has water and electric connections without sewer. Given a choice, we prefer to camp in Battleship Row and enjoy the paved sites and roads along with full hookups. 

Our new site backed up to the “Disc Golf” course at this Navy recreation park. It was interesting to watch the golfers and their carts full of different disc sizes to play the area behind Rosie. 

We could describe our visit to this FamCamp as an episode of camping in a succession of storms. More accurately, camping in severe storms. The first was a severe thunderstorm with winds gusting to 70 mph in the middle of the night. Another severe thunderstorm passed through a few nights later. One lightening bolt must have struck very near Rosie during that middle of the night storm. 

We were concerned about all the rain and the flood warnings and asked the camp host if our site was prone to flooding. He said that the campground was built on swamp land and several sites were known to flood, but our site wasn’t one of them. We noticed after a night of more than four inches of rain, the camp host was correct. Our site wasn’t flooded, but we could see the six sites he indicated that were known to flood had three or four inches covering those sites. 

Some sites flooded after four inches of rain one night

There were eight Airstream campers in the Battleship Row and two Airstreams in Anchor Cove while we camped in the Blue Angels Park. Four were in our loop. 

We went to Johnson Beach, a Federal Seashore Park several times while in Pensacola. It was great to walk along the beach and that gave Becky an opportunity to swim in the Gulf. 

Enjoying Johnson Beach

We also drove over to Fort Pickens National Seashore one day. We were surprised by the amount of water that covered the entrance road. We were also surprised at how high and rough the surf was at Fort Pickens.

Sign at entrance of Fort Pickens

The roads heading to the campgrounds at Fort Pickens were flooded

Water covered the road at multiple places 

We enjoyed seeing Fort Pickens and its campgrounds. 

It was very windy and rough surf at Fort Pickens

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were two campgrounds (Battleship Row and Anchor Cove) and multiple loops in each campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt with a concrete pad. We needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The trash dumpsters were near the two laundry buildings in both campgrounds 
• There was a bathhouse in the campground 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 1 bar of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Bounce, Charge, Comet, Court-TV, Cozi, Dabl, Grit, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Outlaw and Rewind
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Riding our bikes at Blue Angels Park

Sunset

Sunset along Battleship Row

The sign said this was the Bridge of Doom

Selfie while riding our bikes

Blue Angel Naval Recreation Area Campground (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Battleship Row, Pensacola, Florida (September 2023)

Before discussing our adventures in this campground, we need to talk about an event that happened since our last trip in Rosie, our Airstream trailer. 

We store Rosie inside a warehouse we call “Fort Rosie.” Of course, the owner of that facility has another name for it. We occasionally drop by to see Rosie while parked in storage. These visits are more for our peace of mind.

On one of our visits to Fort Rosie, we noticed that the new property owner had a crew painting the warehouse buildings. It is always good to see the owner working to improve the facility. 

We had to go back to Fort Rosie the next day and saw the crew pressure washing the metal roofs over the warehouse buildings. The property manager said they were getting ready to paint the roofs. 

I woke up early the next morning. I had an uneasy feeling about Rosie. All I could think about was how often rain dripped through the several small holes in the roof over Rosie and how likely it was that paint from the roof would land on our Airstream. 

We discussed our options over breakfast and decided it would best to move Rosie away from the warehouse during these renovations and we knew that Rosie needed to move that morning.

We had an option because we made arrangements to park Rosie at a nearby military base when we first learned that Fort Rosie was being sold. This was to be a fallback in case the new owner had different plans for that property than RV storage. We were glad we had that option.

 

Rosie in the warehouse

We loaded our hitching gear in our truck and headed to Fort Rosie. We were  not prepared for what we saw when we opened the warehouse door. No, they hadn't started painting yet and Rosie wasn't covered with drops of paint. But, Rosie was covered with dirt and rust residue from the roof pressure washing. We quickly hitched up and pulled Rosie out of the warehouse so we could see her in the sunlight. It was a sickening sight!

Hooked up and ready to exit the storage warehouse

Since we were planning to go on a camping trip in a few weeks, we brought some cleaning supplies with us that morning. We quickly connected a hose and started rinsing Rosie. We were glad to see the debris on Rosie rinsing away. 

I found the property manager and was able to borrow a ladder to help rinse off Rosie's roof. He agreed that removing Rosie from the warehouse during the painting process was a good idea. 

It took three or four long rinses to remove the dirt and rust residue from Rosie then we went ahead and washed her. It was great to see a clean Rosie that shined in the sunlight. That was confirmed at the military base's gate, where we were stopped by a military police officer for the normal ID check. After verifying our IDs the MP added, "Your Airstream looks great!" We knew if we had left Rosie in the warehouse, she would have been covered with paint blotches and rust debris from the roof. 

Rosie parked in RV Storage on a military base

We learned something about Rosie's solar panels while she was stored at the military base. One of the features at Fort Rosie is that we have an electrical plug we can use to keep Rosie's batteries charged. Of course, electricity wasn't an option at Rosie's temporary home on the military base and I was worried about keeping her batteries ready for our next trip.

A quick search of Airstream's online help pages relieved our minds. Airstream trailers are wired so that the solar system bypasses the "store" switch, which normally disconnects everything electrical when parked at a storage facility. That allows the batteries to be charged from the solar panels while in storage. That made sense.

We were thankful we had a back-up plan for storing Rosie and were able to get Rosie ready for our next adventure while parked on that military base. 

We quickly fell into the camping groove once we had Rosie on the road. We were glad to be out camping again. 

The check-in hut at Pensacola Naval Air Station's Blue Angel FamCamp

Finding a site at Blue Angel Naval Recreation FamCamp can be described as a scavenger hunt. The hosts gave us a site tag when we checked in and told us to find the best site without a tag on it. Then there was a mad dash for the waterfront sites. 

As luck would have it, we struck out and settled for a decent site deep inside the park instead of along the water. 

First site in Battleship Row

We saw some unexpected visitors our first night. Two deer were running through the campground between campers after sunset. We would see the deer several times during the evening in this campground. 

Battleship Row

Then a really unexpected thing happened. We were walking our dog the second morning in the park when we saw a camper packing up and leaving from one of the prime waterfront sites. We talked about moving Rosie, but decided it was too much work and the site would be quickly snapped up. 

We went on a bike ride an hour later and were surprised to see that site was still open. We decided to quickly put our site nametag there to claim that site. We called the office and cleared the move with them. 

Unhitching Rosie in our new waterfront site

We were able to pack up and move in less than an hour. That meant we would enjoy the waterfront site for five more days. 

The waterfront site gave us front row seats to watch all new trailers arriving and those departing. It also gave us great views of the sunsets. The sunsets were amazing. We made the right decision to move sites.

Watching the sunset from Rosie's site

Rosie's site in Battleship Row

We were able to visit with our grandson twice while in this park. We drove about 40 miles to watch his first “Coach-pitch” baseball game. For the second visit, he and his father, our son, came to visit us in this campground. It was fun to tour the Naval Aviation Museum and the lighthouse with them. 

Grandson making a great play during his coach-pitch game

A sign of the times was when we pointed out a machine gun on a World War II plane to our first-grader grandson. He immediately said, "I'm telling." I guess that was sadly the result of active shooter drills at his school. I thought back to my elementary school days when we had “duck and cover” drills, which were supposed to protect us from nuclear attacks. 

At the Naval Aviation Museum 

It was amazing how fast a week went by. We enjoyed biking in this campground and going for walks on the beach at Johnson Beach. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were two separate campgrounds in this park. The rustic side is Anchor Cove. It has more shade, water and electric hookups and sites are paved with dirt. The other side is Battleship Row and has full hookups, paved roads and concrete sites. We were in Battleship Row 
• There were multiple loops in both Battleship Row and Anchor Cove 
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had some shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with concrete and was level 
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• There was a dump station in Anchor Cove 
• The trash dumpster was in the middle of the campground. It was easy to walk there with your trash
• There were two bathhouses in Battleship Row 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Circle, Comet, Court-TV, Dabl, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Retro, Stadium and TBD
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

By the way, the Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team practiced over our site one day while camped there.

Watching someone fish with a net at sunset

Selfie at the beach

The lighthouse at Pensacola Naval Air Station

Selfie at the top of the lighthouse

Taking a display aircraft for a spin at the Naval Aviation Museum