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Good morning!
The Okaloosa Island Pier’s underwater camera is back online after a months-long upgrade, bringing back the popular livestream that drew nearly 2 million viewers in its first month. Okaloosa County and Northwest Florida State College are collaborating to produce commemorative SS United States coins from the ship’s salvaged aluminum, Fort Walton Beach High cheer team wins triple crown at the ACC Nationals Championship, Fort Walton, Choctaw, and Rocky Bayou boys soccer teams advance to the Sweet 16, and Our Greenhouse Florals brings a personalized touch to Emerald Coast weddings.
COASTAL RESOURCES
Okaloosa, NWFSC collaborate to produce commemorative SSUS coins from ship’s salvaged aluminum
Commemorative coins crafted from aluminum salvaged from the SS United States are being manufactured at Northwest Florida State College, the result of a collaboration between the college’s CNC department and Okaloosa County’s Natural Resources team.
- The coins, machined on campus in Niceville, feature the Destin-Fort Walton Beach logo on one side with the words “Home of the SSUS” and “Made from SSUS Aluminum.” The reverse side depicts the vessel alongside the phrases “World’s Largest Artificial Reef” and “990 feet long.” Each coin is individually serialized.
Assistant Professor Tyler Fothergill is leading production in the college’s CNC shop, where machines are programmed to etch the designs into aluminum blanks cut directly from the ship’s salvaged metal using a hole saw.
The partnership grew out of an existing relationship between the college and the county. Natural Resources Coordinator Ryan Ashley had initially reached out to Fothergill about manufacturing tag applicator tips for a fish tagging program. That project went well, and when the idea for the challenge coins was proposed, Ashley discussed the concept with the college.
Each side of a coin takes about eight minutes to produce, with the potential to get that down to six minutes on a good day, Fothergill said. Friday marked the first full production day.
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GAMES
WordroW: February 10, 2026
WordroW is brought to you by Fort Walton Beach Chiropractic – keeping your mind sharp and your spine aligned, one game at a time.
Can you guess today’s 5-letter word in six tries?
WordroW is Get The Coast’s daily word puzzle featuring local words, places, and phrases from our community. You have six guesses to find the mystery word – green letters are correct and in the right spot, yellow letters are in the word but wrong position, and gray letters aren’t in the word at all.
BUSINESS
Our Greenhouse Florals brings personalized touch to Emerald Coast weddings
What began as a way to stay home with young children has blossomed into Our Greenhouse Florals, a Fort Walton Beach-based wedding and event florist serving couples across the Emerald Coast.
- Brittany Wortman started the business in 2011 from her home when her two sons were toddlers.
“When the boys were one and two, I didn’t want to put them in daycare. I wanted to do something from home and decided it would be a great idea to start making flowers for weddings,” Brittany said. “I started with one or two a month and just kept growing from there.”
A Fort Walton Beach High School graduate, Brittany developed her passion for florals while working at Friendly Florist during high school. After moving to New York City and meeting her husband Howard in Philadelphia, where he worked at a landscape nursery and garden center, the couple relocated to Florida to be near family.
Today, Brittany and Howard run Our Greenhouse Florals together, with their two high school-aged sons helping in the business while they homeschool their 6-year-old daughter.
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SPORTS
Fort Walton Beach High cheer team triple crowned at ACC Nationals Championship
Fort Walton Beach High School’s cheer team captured three national championship titles over the weekend at the ACC Nationals Championship at Universal Studios, culminating in a grand championship victory against teams two to three times their size.
- The 15-member squad won traditional national champion and game day national champion titles before earning the competition’s highest honor Sunday evening: national grand champion for game day.
The Vikings competed inside Islands of Adventure Theme Park among 90 to 100 teams throughout the weekend event. The team performed five times over the course of the competition.
Only the top four highest game day scores from the entire competition, regardless of size or division, qualified to compete in the final round for the grand champion title. Fort Walton Beach entered the championship round as the No. 3 seed.
Competing against significantly larger programs in the final round, the Vikings posted the highest game day score of the entire competition to claim the grand champion title.
SPORTS
Fort Walton, Choctaw, Rocky Bayou boys soccer advance to Sweet 16
Three local teams advanced to the regional semifinals Friday night, while Niceville suffered a stunning upset loss on penalty kicks after holding a three-goal lead late in the second half.
Fort Walton Beach defeated Rickards 2-0 in a rematch of last year’s Elite 8. Juanma Cotes and Brian Valazquez scored in the second half to send the Vikings to the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight year. Despite the win, head coach Mario Rodriguez sees room for improvement heading into next Thursday’s home match against Vanguard.
Choctaw delivered a stunning upset to Ponte Vedra, defeating the Sharks 2-1. Jamaarie Alcide and Malloy Hansen both scored goals, but the Indians’ stout defense was the real story. Christian Nelson, Bart Davis, Andrew Rynearson and goalkeeper Dominick Richards shut down Ponte Vedra’s attack. The Indians will face No. 10 Beachside next Thursday.
Rocky Bayou defeated Community Christian 2-0 on Tuesday night, earning the program’s first playoff victory in years. Mark Harlan and Justus Rossell scored for the Knights, who got revenge against the team that ended their season the past two years. Rocky Bayou will host Redeemer Christian in the Sweet 16.
Niceville held a 3-0 lead with 28:20 remaining after goals from Jason Fuller, Jackson Fisher and Asher Nelson. But South Lake rallied with three unanswered goals, including Melvin Rivera’s equalizer with just over a minute left. South Lake won the penalty kick shootout 3-1 to hand Niceville the upset.
COASTAL RESOURCES
Okaloosa Island Pier’s underwater camera back online after months-long upgrade
The underwater camera at the Okaloosa Island Pier is streaming again after the Natural Resources Team from Visit Destin-Fort Walton Beach redeployed it Saturday with a dedicated fiber network.
- The camera had been offline for several months due to technical difficulties with the camera itself and infrastructure challenges.
The Natural Resources Team decided to build the camera its own fiber network, aiming to improve overall quality and avoid interruptions.
Divers entered the water around the pier Saturday morning to reinstall the camera. Staff from Visit Destin-Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa County Beach Safety assisted from above, and the camera was live within about an hour.
OK, that’s all I have for you this morning! I hope you have a great Tuesday! Help us shape the future of local news and make a meaningful impact on your community. Click here to learn how you can support us!
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Jared
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