The thick, salty air wafts through my hair as I race my golf cart at pedal-to-the-metal speed to the clubhouse after a late afternoon round at Camp Creek Golf Club. I’m in a frantic hurry to return to my hotel room balcony to see a sunset. Watching a fiery red and orange ball drift into the Gulf of Mexico waters is practically an Olympic sport on this part of the northwest Florida coast and I’m going to find out what all the fuss is about.

I’m sitting in my Adirondack chair on my enclosed balcony, alone with my thoughts, marveling at the sunset scene in front of me, when a large cheer on the beach goes up as the sun disappears into the gulf. Yes, people actually do vocally celebrate the sunsets in this part of Florida, which is more culturally aligned with south Georgia and Alabama.

On this 18-mile stretch of coastline along U.S. Highway 30A in South Walton County with its blindingly white sand beaches, wildly undulating dunes speckled with sea oats, and emerald green waters, people value the simple beach life. Because of planning restrictions, you won’t find any golden arches, amusement parks, or miniature golf courses. Here, visitors re-create the stress-free beach vacations of a bygone era with strolls on the beach, bicycle excursions on seemingly endless nature paths, building sandcastles, reading in a swaying hammock, and sitting on a rocking chair on an open porch, among the more desired activities.

Punctuating the yesteryear ambience are the coastal villages that have sprung up in the past two decades. The villages are part of the "New Urbanism" revival land planning movement, which places emphasis on duplicating successful patterns of older towns and giving neighborhoods a greater sense of place and character. Drawing architectural influences from coastal cities such as St. Augustine and Key West, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and Bermuda and the West Indies, progressive town planners and architects have fashioned human-scaled, walkable villages with the character and craftsmanship of the 19th century. The neighborhoods are filled with wood-framed cottages with tin roofs, front porches, and overhangs with simple sandy paths and dune walkovers connecting neighbors to lakes, docks, bridges, each other, and the gulf. Developers are not allowed to construct anything taller than four stories and must be mindful of the dunes, wetlands, and other natural elements.

CULTURAL AWARENESS
A magnet for artists, writers, architects, and award-winning chefs, this stretch of coast, with its generous inventory of art galleries, upscale boutiques, and fine-dining restaurants, as well as a rapidly developing cultural and arts scene, is Florida’s answer to artsy enclaves like Santa Fe, New Mexico; Aspen, Colorado; and Asheville, North Carolina.

Seaside, which made its debut in 1980, is the forerunner of the New Urbanism movement on this section of the Panhandle coast. Pastel-colored cottages in hues of mostly pink, yellow, blue, and green with cutesy names like "Bonnie’s Bungalow," "Starry Night," and "Beachtime All-the-Time" abound in the neighborhood connected by brick streets and white sand walking paths leading to the beach and the town center, which has a village green, shops, and restaurants. The architectural styles range from Florida Cracker to Carpenter Gothic to Victorian. For those who have seen the movie The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey, Seaside will look familiar since it served as the principal stage set for the film. A darling with architectural and Southern lifestyle publications, Seaside is the most widely photographed community in northwest Florida.

Adjacent to Seaside on its western border is WaterColor, a resort/residential community being developed by St. Joe, Florida’s largest real-estate operating company. Here, the beach cottages have more muted colors than Seaside, with an emphasis on earth tones like soft greens and beiges. A bustling town center with the WaterColor Inn hotel and upscale shops is surrounded by beach homes, gardens, and green open areas. Successful professionals and their families from Atlanta; Nashville, Tennessee; and Birmingham, Alabama, seem to comprise most of the part-time residents and visitors to WaterColor. The overwhelming popular fashion statement in the village is casual, sophisticated beach apparel. You don’t have to go far to get your Lilly Pulitzer and Tommy Bahama duds with a plentiful inventory at Barefoot Princess, a shop in the town center that could easily blend on Rodeo Drive or Worth Avenue.

For a Caribbean and international feel, the 10-year-old Rosemary Beach looks like a waterfront town on Antigua or perhaps a small village on the Aegean Sea. Spanish-style courtyards, gas lanterns, and shuttered sleeping porches are popular appointments in the two-and three-level homes.

The newest village, Alys Beach, still in the early stages of development, occupying 158 acres of prime beachfront property, is more remindful of Bermuda than a Southern coastal village. All the homes in the community are designed in a simple, smooth, sculptural style with whitewashed masonry and stucco. The all-white buildings create a calming effect on visitors and residents.

LUXURIATING IN STYLE
The unofficial social epicenter of the area is the WaterColor Inn, a stylish, tony boutique hotel nestled in the rolling dunes just steps from the Gulf of Mexico. At first glance, the avant-garde David Rockwell design looks a bit out of place. Upon closer scrutiny, you recognize Rockwell’s genius of incorporating modern design lines and style with Southern appointments like a tin roof, stylized rafter rails, covered porches, and oversized trellises and shutters.

Calling the WaterColor Inn a hotel seems a bit too generic for a property with so much panache. It’s a delightful combination of a traditional Southern grand hotel, a sophisticated bed and breakfast inn, and a giant classic Southern beach house. All of the 60 rooms face the beach so no guest is denied a seaside vista. Better still, each room has large walk-in showers with inset windows that overlook the beach. Far surpassing the typical offerings of an inn its size, the amenity lineup includes a spa, Gulf-front pool deck with heated swimming pool and hot tub, a library/media room, lobby bar, and concierge service.

My favorite part of the inn is not sleeping on the crisp, 100-percent Egyptian cotton sheets or even receiving a Pineapple Papaya body wrap at the spa — rather, it’s lying on my back on a raft in the swimming pool gazing up at the stars as the waves crash in the Gulf less than 100 feet away.

GOLF IS NATURAL
One of the other enticing perks for guests at the WaterColor Inn is the play privileges accorded at Camp Creek Golf Club, located six miles east of WaterColor, just west of Rosemary Beach. Anytime you give a pre-eminent golf course architect like Tom Fazio free roam of the terrain — without constraints of real estate or commercial development — you’re going to get an outstanding course.

At Camp Creek, Fazio, whose résumé includes outstanding layouts like Shadow Creek Golf Club in Las Vegas and Pinehurst No. 8 in North Carolina, has produced a course that truly embraces the land and culture of the region.

Set on a former pine plantation, the course snakes through dunescapes, native grasses, and cypress-filled wetlands with nary a beach cottage or high-rise condo in sight. The only sounds I hear during my round are rabbits occasionally darting through the dense foliage, birds chirping wildly as they fly from tree to tree, and, sadly, the crack of my ball slamming into the palmetto stands lining the fairways, the result of my consistently errant drives.

Camp Creek plays through two distinctly different environments. The front nine, as well as holes 12-15, weave through an expansive area with gargantuan waste bunkers and native grasses, while five holes on the back nine are routed through sand pines and palmetto. The demanding challenge provided by the 7,159-yard course doesn’t exactly make it the proverbial walk in the park, but the naturally beautiful layout is the closest you’ll get to a walk, or golf cart drive, through a north Florida wilderness preserve.

When you get done with Camp Creek, or it gets done with you on one of those blustery days when the Gulf breezes are blowing wildly, there are several excellent courses within a 30-minute drive of the coastal village corridor. Topping the menu are Santa Rosa Beach & Golf Club, a target layout peppered with ponds and bunkers; Kelly Plantation, a Fred Couples/Gene Bates design with large, contoured greens, soft mounding, and high-definition hazards bordered by Choctawhatchee Bay; Raven Golf Club at Sandestin, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. course with dramatic water features and thick stands of pine; and Hombre Golf Club, a 27-hole complex that has been the site of PGA Tour Qualifying Schools.

COASTAL CUISINE
Before championship golf courses and New Urbanism hit the area, this part of the panhandle coast from Pensacola to Panama City was dubbed by some as the "Redneck Riviera" because of the large numbers of Southerners who visited. The cuisine — from smoked mullet, fried pork chops, and oysters on the half shell dunked in hot sauce to MoonPies and Dr Peppers — was Southern to the core. Those down-home delicacies are still available, but the arrival of talented chefs has created a dynamic fine-dining scene on the coastal village corridor.

I’m dining alfresco just before sunset on the elevated veranda of the restaurant Fish Out of Water in WaterColor wondering if the food is as superb as the view, a panorama of rugged dunes, powdery white beach, and aquamarine waters. The waiter is rattling off the specials of the evening, yet I’m not listening intently. Instead, I’m focusing on some of the more intriguing entrees like the roasted chicken with country ham hock tortellini and the "Low Country" shrimp and scallops with grits, asparagus, and roasted corn. I opt for the latter, preceded by an appetizer of Kobe Beef short ribs. A glass of Pinot Grigio from the restaurant’s 325-label wine list provides the perfect exclamation point to a pleasurable, sophisticated seaside dining experience comparable to ones I’ve had in Nice and Cannes on the original Riviera.

If you’re serious about tingling your taste buds, the spot to dine is Criolla’s restaurant, voted one of the top 400 restaurants in the world by Wine Spectator. The Caribbean/Creole inspired cuisine is unique with items like the Turneffe Island Snapper, which is seasoned with exotic spices, almonds, roasted garlic, and served with black bean tacquitos and salsa verde. Other excellent options include Café Thirty-A for contemporary eclectic fare; the Lake Place, where regional seafood is the draw; and Bud & Alley’s, a longtime Seaside village favorite with a Mediterranean-inspired menu.

My culinary and golf memories are ones to be savored for a long time, but give me a couple of more sunsets while on my Adirondack chair and I might easily become one of those writers who visited and never left this idyllic and well-planned part of Florida.

Orlando, Florida-based writer Edward Schmidt Jr. says he first squeaked his feet on northwest Florida beaches more than 30 years ago. He interviewed University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer for the November/December 2005 issue of Private Clubs.

HELPFUL WEB SITES
www.alysbeach.com
www.rosemarybeach.com
www.seasidefl.com
www.watercolorflorida.com
Beaches of South Walton Tourist Development Council: www.beachesofsouthwalton.com

DON’T-MISS SIGHTS
• Eden Gardens State Park
• Grayton Beach State Park
• Silver Sands Factory Stores (Nation’s Largest Designer Outlet Center)
• Topsail State Preserve

GETTING THERE
The coastal village corridor is situated 25 miles south of Interstate Highway 10, and 140 miles southwest of Tallahassee. Nearby airports include Panama City-Bay County International Airport, 13 miles east; Fort Walton Beach-Okaloosa County Airport, 45 miles west; and Pensacola Regional Airport, 80 miles west.