Checking around Navarre as well
We went to Navarre in June of '21. It was great.
The launch at Navarre was easy to use, and rarely had more than 10-15 trailers in it. Juan's Pagoda is a neat place for night life, and the pier is neat to walk out on. The beaches are crystal clear water, and white sand.
We did Crab Island one day with the boat. Launched out of a public ramp near Ft Walton for free, and motored down to Crab Island. Spent the afternoon there, then went over to the boardwalk. Docked, walked around and had dinner, then walked back to the boat and motored away. Super easy.
We also took a day and went down to Pensacola bay and watched the Blue Angels practice. We climbed right up on the sand dunes, and at one point they came overhead so close I could read the pilots name on the side of the jet. Super cool experience. They publish the practice schedule online, and you just have to get there in time. Anchor right off the end of the runway and enjoy the show:
Uncle took this shot of me resetting the anchor because I'm dumb.
On the way back from Pensacola we stopped at Pensacola beach and pulled up in the sand in front of a restaurant, had lunch, rode go carts, etc. Was nice to be able to just boat up and hop out and do that. Going by boat beats the pants off fighting the traffic around there. Pensacola bay was "fairly wavy" and was about as large of chop as I've been in. It wasn't terrible, but my little 19ft'er didn't want much more. I'm guessing 3-4ft waves, but a decent long period. It was enough that my uncle and his passengers wanted to turn back. He was in a 21ft bass tracker "walleye" style aluminum boat. I think they were a little more sensitive and had a shade less freeboard than we did. I had 4 adults and 3 kids aboard and it's a SOLID hour boat drive from Navarre at 30+mph. We were fine, but be aware that the bay got rough. Probably less of an issue for your 21ft than our boats though.
This is the only picture I have of his boat to get a size reference from.
If you look on AirBnB there are quite a few places to rent that will handle all your people in Navarre AND have a driveway to park the truck/boat. It's not right on the beach, but rather on the ICW side of the island. The beach is short walk away though, so if we go back that's what we'll do. We stayed at the red circle and they didn't like us having the boat there. hence why the boat is behind my uncles truck in the above pic. He stayed in the Springhill Suites next door to us. The black line below is a really nice beach access for the public. If you want to keep the boat with you, look for the streets that are in the blue squares. There are many vacation rentals in there and they have generously sized driveways.
If you can swing the cash, the Springhill Suites was brand new and actually really amazing. Had a great outdoor pool with a lazy river for the kids. The ice machines worked well, and there was a nice outdoor bar. It's pricey at around $500/night/room, but it's really nice. I think we got our condo for closer to $200/night.
I didn't slip the boat, I took it in/out each day. Drug is back to the condo and used a hose and sprayer I brought to wash it and the trailer down, then flush the engines. Once I had it "desalted" I had to run it next door to the hotel to park it. Condo owner said it was "navarre HOA policy" to not have boats on premises, but the hotel didn't give a crap when my uncle and I talked to the manager on duty. probably because he was staying there, I doubt they do it out of the blue. There is enough space at the launch that you could probably park there if you really wanted to, but I would lock it up. Juana's Pagoda gets busy on weekend nights.
Hope some of that helps. We're considering going back down in March this year, and we won't go without the boat. The boat tows easy enough, and the water is so clear it's seriously like boating in a whole other world. Condo prices are reasonable in Navarre, and it's far less "touristy" than Destin, Ft Walton or Pensacola. Good Luck!
