Choctawhatchee Bay is a bay in the Emerald Coast region of the Florida Panhandle. The bay, located within Okaloosa and Walton counties, has a surface area of 129 square miles. It is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, connected to it through East Pass (also known as Destin Pass), and it connects to Santa Rosa Sound in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, with the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway entering it at this point.