The above picture was taken at Seacrest Beach in August of 2010. As you can see, the beach is sparkling white and the water is crystal clear. Along our part of the Panhandle beaches we were very fortunate that there was very minimal impact due to the horrific BP Deep Water Horizon oil platform explosion and subsequent oil spill. However, vacationers canceled their reservations in the area in droves, and the local businesses suffered great hardship due to the lack of business at a peak time. BP was slow to pay and still hasn't come close to making up for the disastrous results of their carelessness. Bargain-hunters sought to take advantage of the precarious financial position of many of the vacation homeowners and made demands of up to 60% off usual summer rental rates because, as I was told, some rental money is better than no rental money, right? For the record, no, some rental money is not better than no rental money because at some point it is just not worth the wear and tear on your property and it deflates fair market values for all the other vacation home-owners. Rather than play this "make me a deal game," we decided to take our home off the rental market and use it more ourself, but not every business owner was in a position to do this. Many suffered great financial losses, all because there was the perception that our beaches were ruined by the oil. We were much luckier than beaches in other states. No thanks to BP, but our beaches were NOT ruined, far from it, and there were daily photos of the beach, webcam links and water quality test results to prove it. We are entering into a new rental season and we would like to thank our guests who honored their reservations last year and did not cancel at the last minute by giving them a 15 % discount on the rental rate this year. We all look forward to many glorious days on the beach this year and invite you to come and visit the 30A area. It is still as beautiful as ever. Come and see for yourself.
