3 dog nights wrote:
Looking at the general area....love beaches.
Personally, I would avoid Jacksonville all together if you're only just interested in being in the general area. Jax beaches aren't very nice compared to other nearby beaches. In my opinion, either go north of Jax, south of Jax to St. Augustine, then skip everywhere in between until you get to New Smyrna. And yes, North Beach is in a nearly perfect location for restaurants, shopping, beaches, etc. You can watch the sunrise over the ocean or watch the sunset over the intercoastal waterway (ICW). In fact, all this talk makes me want to check on some later winter reservations over there myself.