Caliza Restaurant at Alys Beach

One of the great joys of staying at our Seacrest Beach home is the opportunity to sample the menus of many fine restaurants, all within walking distance. Case in point, the stunning outdoor dining at Caliza, the pool at next door Alys Beach. Whether you plan to drop by for pre-dinner cocktails or make an evening of it, time spent in this gorgeous setting promises a visual and gastronomic feast. Follow this link for more information, more pictures, and to view the menus for Caliza: www.calizarestaurant.com/

30A Guide

Greetings again, fellow beach lovers. Today's post is to alert you to a great site for news, reviews and commentary about our favorite vacation communities along Scenic Highway 30A in the Florida Panhandle. The site is http://www.30aguide.com/ If you are planning to visit the area, the 30A Guide is a great place to start. See you at the beach!

Need a Little Sunshine?

And who doesn't need a little sunshine this time of year? Click on this link to view see what is happening at the beach in real time: http://www.alysbeach.com/BeachCam/tabid/225/Default.aspx

This is the beach cam from beautiful Alys Beach. In the late afternoon it points to the west so you can enjoy sunset at the beach!

Cheap Flights to the Panhandle!

Great news! Vision Airlines is offering several new economy non-stop flights to/from the Destin airport! The Destin airport is approx. 30 miles West of Seacrest Beach and an easy drive on US 98.

As some of you may already know, there is a brand new international airport in Bay county, less than 10 miles East of Seacrest Beach. This airport, the Northwest Florida Beaches International airport, can handle jumbo jets for international travel and also has a Southwest Airlines hub, providing yet another avenue of economical and convenient air travel to the area. Our concierge service can arrange pick up and delivery of your party from either airport if needed.

A Few Words About Last Year and BP

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.

Spring is Around the Corner at the Beach

The weather has been pretty cold and snowy over most of the US, but Spring comes early to Seacrest Beach and brings sunshine, blue skies and magnificent beach weather! It's a new year and there are many changes in store for 2010 guests. We are now working with a concierge service, LiveWell30A, to welcome our guests and help them find services, restaurants, groceries, whatever they need, while staying with us at Emerald Views. Our partnership with them is a natural fit, because we love the area and want to take every opportunity to encourage our guests to experience all that the 30A neighborhoods have to offer and LiveWell30A can make this happen. Please visit our website at http://vrbo.com/37284 to book your vacation with us.

Other changes in the area: Cafe Rendevous in Seaside has closed, much to my brother- in-law's sadness, but coming in March to the same location is another great addition to our dining choices, Crush, which will serve sushi and small plates. At Rosemary Beach there is now an excellent and locally owned coffee shop, Amavida. Also at Rosemary Beach there will be another restaurant opening in February that serves chocolate !!! and small plates. If cocktails are also on the menu this may be my new favorite place. Congratulations are in order forParadis at Rosemary Beach. Paradis was voted the best new restaurant in a poll by 30A.com.

We will be visiting our house soon to make sure that everything is sparkling, our decor fresh and inviting, and our landscaping impeccable to greet our 2010 guests. We had a very good year in 2009. We want to thank all of you who stayed with us and invite you to stay with us again this year. If you haven't stayed with us yet, please come on down and see for yourself what a great place this is to vacation. You won't be disappointed. See you in the Spring!

Check Out What is Happening on 30-A!

Go to this link: http://www.30a.com to find out what is happening along the most beautiful stretch of highway in the Panhandle!! Find things to do, places to listen to great music, fabulous food and great shopping...all in one place. 30A.com is where I go when I miss the beach or I am planning a visit to our beach house. See for yourself. Life REALLY shines on Florida's Scenic Highway 30A.

PS, don't forget to check out the link for 30A Radio streaming live from Seaside, FL!