Navarre (Miramar, Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach: houses, buy, living in)

[USbritishnurse]

We are looking at moving to the Panhandle area next spring, my husband is a Dept of Defense employee so we will be moving with his job. We will most probably be living in military housing initially will eventually buy property in the Navarre, Destin area, how is the traffic? Does this area get very touristy in the summer
I am an RN does anyone have any info on local hospitals? Are they a good employer? Are ther services they provide good? TIA.

[beachmouse]

You will get more for your money in central to eastern coastal Santa Rosa County compared to the Destin-Okaloosa aeea. The down side is that the traffic load on US 98 is a lot more than it was designed for and widening is a long way off.Plus, since there is no long parallel route to 98, an accident that shuts down the road can cause many hours of bad traffic disruption.

[slduvall]

Where will he be stationed? That will impact where you live. Navarre and Destin are pretty different, and both have traffic, though different. Destin is very touristy, and traffic reflects that while Navarre, gets some tourists, there are fewer beach houses and activities but is just overcrowded with limited roads. I would verify that a Dod employee will be allowed to live on base.

We have a 4 hospitals in the Fort Walton Beach area. I have quite a few nurse friends. Many prefer Sacred Heart in Miramar Beach, which I have heard good things about. I have experience with FWB medical center which is the largest. Mixed reviews on that. Twin Cities is small as is Crestview. Not sure about the hospitals on the Navarre side, those would be in Pensacola, where I think the pay is a little better.

[WK91]

The traffic can get very bad going from Navarre to the East in the mornings, and conversely, can get very bad going to Navarre from the East in the afternoons. Destin traffic can get bad too, especially during tourist season, obviously much more tourists in Destin as opposed to Navarre. I’m assuming the work will be at Hurlburt or Eglin or somewhere east of Navarre?

What I ended up doing was living in Mary Esther while I worked at Hurlburt. I’d whip into work very quickly in the morning, laughing at all those fools stuck on 98 coming from Navarre. When it was time to go home, much quicker for me than the Navarre people.

But I wouldn’t really recommend living in Mary Esther. We rented a great house right near the water south of 98, and it was a nice street, but there are some rough places in Mary Esther and Fort Walton Beach, just make very sure you check out everything before you choose. Navarre is mostly nice, though.

If I had it to do over again, I’d probably choose Navarre and just suck it up and sit in traffic. Also, be careful staying south of 98. If you get a hurricane, obviously your area will be required to evacuate most every time, where if you live way north of 98, you may be fine some of the time. Of course, if there is a big one, everyone is gonna move inland. Luckily for us, we moved to another state right before a really bad storm hit. It was the one where the water was completely over the 3 mile bay bridge. Anyway, I heard that the house we lived in was flooded out. I feel bad for the owners, but then again, they knew the risk building so close to the water, and they were probably able to fix everything. Dry everything up, rip out carpet and drywall, start again.

Anyway, I guess traffic is the price you pay for living in paradise. It’s all worth it, having a beach day every single weekend.