[lesdear]

First off, I live year round in a tourist destination on the gulf coast. I am very familiar with tourists and hurricanes. That being said, we have a soon to be kindergartener and my husband works away for long periods. I feel that sandestin will give us the amenities that we are looking for- on site pools, marina, activities, shopping, no yardwork, hurricane shutters to install, hurricane debris to clean up. We will be leasing for a year to see that this is a lifestyle we enjoy. I have read the schools are good in this area so that is a huge plus. Does anyone know if younger families live in sandestin year round. I grew up around an everchanging group of tourist kids and i enjoyed it, but i also had full time neighbor friends as well. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[On-da-Beach]

I'm just down the road and our situation is similar. That lifestyle is different for adult mentality as you don't have regular neighbors to visit with. I think children can adapt more easily.

Living full time in a resort type community can feel like you're in a hotel...a very busy hotel, but you don't get any room services. Then in the winter, it's like a ghost town.

You'll make friends, but you won't see them for 51 weeks out of the year.

[lesdear]

on-da-beach, thank you for your reply. i currently live in orange beach, alabama. we have owned this home for 10 or so years and we feel that it just doesn't meet our needs or wants anymore. my inlaws are in gulf breeze/navarre so we are in that area quite frequently. a good school system, at least for the elementary years is very important to me- and gulf breeze schools are great, i have seen that the elementary school in pcola beach is good, as well as the elem. school in destin. being directly on a bay or sound is very important to us, as well. i spent my childhood with a dip net knee deep in the calm waters of a bay. although our home now is 50 yards from the bay, we have no view whatsoever because of a thick stand of trees and palmettos between us and that lot is not public property. also, like i said before, i do not want to be responsible for yardwork and boarding up windows for storms, so a condo looks like the right thing for now-a dock or marina is pretty important. we spend a lot of time out on our small boat, my husband is a long time sportfish captain, who has recently gone to work in the oilfield due to the economy, boating is a big part of our lifestyle. i think most people want a view of the gulf, but we don't. we love the gulf and most importantly, we respect the gulf, but we don't have to look at everyday. sorry to be so longwinded.

[beachmouse]

Just a note that Sandestin is in the wrong county for students to be guaranteed a spot at Destin Elementary. The city limits of Destin are in Okaloosa County. Sandestin is technically in Miramar Beach in Walton County, which puts you into the zone for Butler Elementary in Santa Rosa Beach.

Relations between the two county school systems are generally good, and you can normally get a waiver into a school even if you're crossing county lines, but it's not 100% guaranteed from year to year.