Whale's Tail vows to rebuild

DESTIN, FL - The Whale's Tail will make a splash again soon, a manager at the now-charred beachfront bar says.

A suspected electrical fire engulfed the Scenic 98 beachfront hangout on Scenic Gulf Drive late last month. The completely wooden structure that has been a Miramar Beach fixture for 30 years now has a charred roof and appears completely gutted on the inside. A malfunctioning ice machine may have caused the blaze.

"We intend to rebuild the Whale's Tail," said Jay Nettles, general manager at Seascape Resorts.

The timing of the blaze coincided with the height of spring break season in Destin, and it is uncertain at this point what the dollar amount is on damage to the building, but it is likely a total loss.

"It's a little premature to know how this is going to go, because we still have to deal with insurance adjusters," Nettles said.

He said that the focus was to get back up and operational as soon as possible with the summer tourist season on the horizon and that they do not know what the timeline is.

The future of Whale's Tail employees is also up in the air, including a handful of student workers from other countries.

"We want to try and absorb as many employees as possible into other departments to retain them," he said, adding they can hopefully be distributed into other positions such as housekeeping, maintenance or attending the golf course at Seascape Resort.