I grew up in FL and moved away in the 1980s. When I go back to visit relatives now, it is so crowded I almost can't take it, and the weather is definitely hotter there now, probably because of all the additional pavement, ACs, and cars. Some areas of the panhandle seem to be the only places that are still reasonably uncrowded now.
Where in the panhandle?.. ..would you tell me please ! I’m in San Diego and I’d like to buy something close to a beach that isn’t packed Miami style ..thank you !
All the immediate beach areas of FL panhandle are pretty well maxed out, but if you go inland, you not only have more "country" type places, you also avoid the worst of hurricanes (FL panhandle has about the highest hurricane landfall potential possible in the eastern U.S., possibly only exceeded by outer banks of NC). Go on zillow and check out what you can find in those outer areas. If you don't mind higher density population, higher prices, and higher hurricane potential, there are plenty of coastal properties/towns to choose from. (I lived in San Diego a few years ago and loved it; but the weather was too perfect (and my wife wouldn't move there), and of course, I would never have been able to afford a house there. I rented a room not far from the beach, and got in more surfing in the 18 months I lived there than in the previous 30 years of living back east :) )
Good on you for the surfing ,, renting rooms is the way to go , I lucked out and bought long ago ,, the beach is where I need to be doesn't need to be on sand but a bikff Ed ride away os nice ,, what beach was your favorite yo surf ? Did u live in OB of PB area or NC ?
I lived just up Balboa, up the rise, and then the first major left (I'm forgetting the road), so I was about 15-20 minutes from Tourmaline Beach. I worked on Point Loma and surfed at "Garbage" a lot, about 25 minutes from where I rented. I would surf almost every Sunday, late afternoon (the beaches would be almost empty by then), and about every Friday late morning (I worked only half days on Friday), and I would occassionally go after work on other weekdays. I would surf north of the main crowd area at Tourmaline (it was like a little point break with the waves wrapping around and breaking on the rock shelf; when it was small, you would see the rocks and such under your board as you rode :) ). I liked "Garbage" a lot, because it was just a nice, long ride, and almost never more than a few people out. A lot of times, I would be the only person catching the outside break; the short boarders didn't like that mush :), I liked riding all the way to where the short boarders were and then having the last fast part of the ride :) I got the longest rides of my life out there, with many rides more that 300 yards! (based on Google Earth images of days with waves)
Navarre Beach is between Ft Walton Beach and Pensacola. Used to live there. Strong military presence as Hurlburt Field is about a 15min drive and Eglin AFB is about a 30min drive. Mind you, this was back in the 90's. Wasn't dense with people and was a great neighborhood and literally a stones throw from the beach.
Niceville/Valparaiso is (was?) full of retirees, on the East side of Eglin, situated on an inlet to the ocean, is also a great place to be. Also very high Military/retired Mil presence.
Traveling along the coast eastward, you have Destin. Ok place to live, but it's got a lot of party places catering to the military so it get a bit rowdy.
Further along HWY98 (Gulf Coast hwy) you have Sandestin. Lot of money in this town (or was) with nice houses, streets, people.
Last one I know (knew?) fairly well is Panama City. This place is crazy during Spring Break. Great place to visit but unless you're into a flood of drunk and horny College people once a year, I waffle a bit on living there. As I said tho, it IS a pretty fun city to visit.
In between all these main towns and cities are smaller towns. They didn't offer much in the way of conveniences so you'd have to travel a bit if you wanted to get everything in one or two stops, but that also was their charm. Navarre used to be like that until it "blew up" in popularity.
I reiterate, this is opinions based on 1992-1998 and what I experienced while stationed at Hurlburt Field at Ft Walton Beach. There's online guides to these places you can look into for just about any question you might have on them; i.e. property taxes, housing costs, schools, crime rates, etc.
Good luck!
Edit: oh and, BTW...these are ALL on the beach ;-)
Thank you so much for all that information I was in Pensacola once just to rent jet skis for my daughter and her friend we were in Orange Beach Alabama at a wedding so I'm thinking all those places are close to Alabama so the beaches have to be beautiful I'm gonna start looking into it thank you so much for the tips that sounds exactly what I'm looking for
Oh yeh...fine granule white "sugar" sand far as the eye can see in both directions and pretty clear, slightly blue-green, water when storms haven't stirred things up. Why it's called the Emerald Coast!!
I grew up in FL and moved away in the 1980s. When I go back to visit relatives now, it is so crowded I almost can't take it, and the weather is definitely hotter there now, probably because of all the additional pavement, ACs, and cars. Some areas of the panhandle seem to be the only places that are still reasonably uncrowded now.
Where in the panhandle?.. ..would you tell me please ! I’m in San Diego and I’d like to buy something close to a beach that isn’t packed Miami style ..thank you !
All the immediate beach areas of FL panhandle are pretty well maxed out, but if you go inland, you not only have more "country" type places, you also avoid the worst of hurricanes (FL panhandle has about the highest hurricane landfall potential possible in the eastern U.S., possibly only exceeded by outer banks of NC). Go on zillow and check out what you can find in those outer areas. If you don't mind higher density population, higher prices, and higher hurricane potential, there are plenty of coastal properties/towns to choose from. (I lived in San Diego a few years ago and loved it; but the weather was too perfect (and my wife wouldn't move there), and of course, I would never have been able to afford a house there. I rented a room not far from the beach, and got in more surfing in the 18 months I lived there than in the previous 30 years of living back east :) )
Good on you for the surfing ,, renting rooms is the way to go , I lucked out and bought long ago ,, the beach is where I need to be doesn't need to be on sand but a bikff Ed ride away os nice ,, what beach was your favorite yo surf ? Did u live in OB of PB area or NC ?
I lived just up Balboa, up the rise, and then the first major left (I'm forgetting the road), so I was about 15-20 minutes from Tourmaline Beach. I worked on Point Loma and surfed at "Garbage" a lot, about 25 minutes from where I rented. I would surf almost every Sunday, late afternoon (the beaches would be almost empty by then), and about every Friday late morning (I worked only half days on Friday), and I would occassionally go after work on other weekdays. I would surf north of the main crowd area at Tourmaline (it was like a little point break with the waves wrapping around and breaking on the rock shelf; when it was small, you would see the rocks and such under your board as you rode :) ). I liked "Garbage" a lot, because it was just a nice, long ride, and almost never more than a few people out. A lot of times, I would be the only person catching the outside break; the short boarders didn't like that mush :), I liked riding all the way to where the short boarders were and then having the last fast part of the ride :) I got the longest rides of my life out there, with many rides more that 300 yards! (based on Google Earth images of days with waves)
Navarre Beach is between Ft Walton Beach and Pensacola. Used to live there. Strong military presence as Hurlburt Field is about a 15min drive and Eglin AFB is about a 30min drive. Mind you, this was back in the 90's. Wasn't dense with people and was a great neighborhood and literally a stones throw from the beach.
Niceville/Valparaiso is (was?) full of retirees, on the East side of Eglin, situated on an inlet to the ocean, is also a great place to be. Also very high Military/retired Mil presence.
Traveling along the coast eastward, you have Destin. Ok place to live, but it's got a lot of party places catering to the military so it get a bit rowdy.
Further along HWY98 (Gulf Coast hwy) you have Sandestin. Lot of money in this town (or was) with nice houses, streets, people.
Last one I know (knew?) fairly well is Panama City. This place is crazy during Spring Break. Great place to visit but unless you're into a flood of drunk and horny College people once a year, I waffle a bit on living there. As I said tho, it IS a pretty fun city to visit.
In between all these main towns and cities are smaller towns. They didn't offer much in the way of conveniences so you'd have to travel a bit if you wanted to get everything in one or two stops, but that also was their charm. Navarre used to be like that until it "blew up" in popularity.
I reiterate, this is opinions based on 1992-1998 and what I experienced while stationed at Hurlburt Field at Ft Walton Beach. There's online guides to these places you can look into for just about any question you might have on them; i.e. property taxes, housing costs, schools, crime rates, etc.
Good luck!
Edit: oh and, BTW...these are ALL on the beach ;-)
Thank you so much for all that information I was in Pensacola once just to rent jet skis for my daughter and her friend we were in Orange Beach Alabama at a wedding so I'm thinking all those places are close to Alabama so the beaches have to be beautiful I'm gonna start looking into it thank you so much for the tips that sounds exactly what I'm looking for
Oh yeh...fine granule white "sugar" sand far as the eye can see in both directions and pretty clear, slightly blue-green, water when storms haven't stirred things up. Why it's called the Emerald Coast!!
Hope you find what you're looking for!