DestiFan

I will try my best, as I am not the best at these sort of things...although I love reading them!

WaterColor (WaterColor Inn & Resort on Florida's Gulf Coast - Luxury Florida Resort) is a very unique resort community located in the Florida Panhandle. The St. Joe Company developed the resort (St. Joe is the largest land owner in Florida and owns hundreds of thousands of acres throughout FL and on the coast www.st.joe.com) and has spared no expense in trying to create the ultimate family resort and vacation home experience. Seaside, FL was one of the original luxury destinations for second home owners in the Southeast. It is directly next door to WaterColor and many of you may remember it from the Truman Show....same place.

The community is roughly 1 hour from the Ft. Walton Beach airport and about the same from Panama City. As I explained earlier, the PC Airport will soon be replaced by a newer airport capable of servicing much larger airplanes - like 737s from LGA or EWR. The drive is not spectacular, b/c that area of Florida is heavily wooded, so it is hard to see much on the way to the area.

A quick comment on the arcchitecture. It is truly unique. There are obvious guidelines that must be adhered to, but the diversity of colors and designs are an experience all in itself. UE has three houses in the community - one for each level. We stayed at the Signature property. The Signature Property has 4 BR and 4.5 baths. It is a beautiful home with top of the line appliances and a kitchen to die for...It is a very open floor plan with lots of open space downstairs and a beautiful screened porch off the back.

The community itself is very family oriented. I would not reccommend this area for a "couples getaway". EVERYBODY has bikes in Watercolor, and paths are provided to go anywhere you want to go. The beach is roughly 5 blocks away from the house. No houses are beachfront in WaterColor, however, there is a beach club where a pool, restaurant, bar, etc. that is right on the beach. We rode our bikes everyday to the beach - put the little dude in the caboose. The beach is the nicest beach I have been to in the US...pure white sand, Caribbean like water color, and very shallow depths form children. The beach is busy in the summer - as Watercolor has a luxury hotel that helps fill the beach quickly - but there is a state park beach righ next to the resort private beach that is dead empty if you bring your own chairs (which UE provides).

The activities are limitless with the beach, a brackish natural lake (which is closer than the beach) that you can fish, kayak, or boat, golf, bike riding, pools, playgrounds, kids camp, etc. all available to UE members.

Dining options are sort of limited. Seaside - a mile away - has some cute spots, but nothing too great. THere are other random spots within a 10-15 minute drive that are decent options. We like to cook on vacation since we have young children, but I am sure others would find options that are suitable.

A quick comment on the golf. Camp Creek Golf Club is a private course owned by St. Joe that is 15 mins away from the house. It is available to UE members for $125 per round. It is one of the best courses I have ever played and is a truly wonderful experience. Nobody is ever on the golf course and it is a tough, fair test --- but with extreme beauty. If you are a golfer - you will love it.

To sum it up...Watercolor is a fantastic family vacation experience. If you love the beach, and enjoy any of the other activites I mentioned, you will love it.

Hope this was helpful....

DCTraveler

Very nice review. Thank you. Unfortunately for the Elite people, that home is leased and going off-line next year, so try it now if the location sounds appealing!

pwrshift

JOE was added to my portfolio at about $27 and it's up to about $33 right now with good prospects of further increases. 52 week high about $46.

Thanks for the review as I haven't visited my equity yet.