THE GRAND MARLIN STORY

The story begins, as many good stories do, with folks killing time on a boat, waiting for the fish to bite.

The boat? "The Gulf Rascal." The place? The North Drop, the world-renowned marlin fishing grounds north of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. The fish they waited for? The Atlantic Blue Marlin, pound-for-pound the world’s strongest sports fish. The folks? They were just friends who love the thrill that comes with hooking a big marlin.

The group that would become The Grand Marlin team have been close friends and business associates for decades. They share many passions: Boats, big-game fishing, good food and drink and a love of the stress-free lifestyle of the Caribbean. Some fish marlin tournaments together each year aboard the Gulf Rascal, a 68 ft Hatteras. From Venezuela and St. Maarten to the Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands, they troll the deep-blue waters finding fish in the depths and things they love in all the ports.

"How can we tie all these things together and share them with folks back home?" they asked one another.

Out of that simple question was born The Grand Marlin. The mission statement is pretty straightforward. It calls for fun and great food and drink in an atmosphere reflecting the easy Caribbean lifestyle. Take that, add the beauty of Pensacola Beach, and nestle it in a beautiful new facility on Santa Rosa Sound and you have The Grand Marlin Restaurant and North Drop Bar.

The initial pieces of the Grand Marlin puzzle began falling into place after Hurricane Ivan in 2004 when the restaurant and marina that sat on the Pensacola Beach side of the Bob Sikes Bridge was destroyed. The property, one of the oldest commercial leases on the island, was devastated. After the storm it sat waiting. Finally, a deal was struck and The Grand Marlin, a concept on its way to becoming a reality, found a home.

For some of The Grand Marlin team the property "jogged memories of family and of childhood days on Pensacola Beach." For others it was an exciting way to add something to a place they had grown to love and where over the years they had chosen to live.

In 2008, with the Grand Marlin taking shape, the team took one more step. They recruited two well-known, long-time members of the Atlanta restaurant scene – Bryan Housley and Award-Winning Chef Gregg McCarthy – brought them to Pensacola Beach, put their toes in the sand and stood them on the site where the Grand Marlin would rise.

"Gregg and I came down and saw the site in August 2006," Housley, The Grand Marlin operating partner, remembers. "We both said immediately, We're in."