Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Destin, FL

Destin is named for Captain Leonard Destin, a New London, Connecticut fishing captain who settled on this stretch of Florida's Emerald Coast between 1845 and 1850 and founded its fishing industry.

Destin remained a small fishing village for well over a century and was not incorporated as a city until 1984.

Destin calls itself the 'World's Luckiest Fishing Village,' a nickname traced to a remark by Florida Governor Leroy Collins during a 1956 visit to Destin Harbor.

Destin claims to have the largest fishing vessel fleet in Florida, and its harbor supports the state's biggest charter fishing fleet.

According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, over 80% of the Emerald Coast's 4.5 million visitors each year visit Destin.

The 2020 census counted 13,931 full-time residents in Destin, living in about 6,200 households.

About 70% of Destin's homes are owner-occupied, and the median value of an owner-occupied home is about $490,300.

Destin's famous sugar-white sand is made of finely ground quartz that was washed down from the Appalachian Mountains by the Apalachicola River.

The Destin peninsula was originally a barrier island that hurricanes gradually joined to the mainland, and the completion of the Choctawhatchee-West Bay Canal in the 1940s technically made it an island again.

East Pass, the channel beside Destin, connects Choctawhatchee Bay to the Gulf of Mexico and was historically the only navigable passage to the Gulf between Panama City and Pensacola.