Seascape Resort

Turn off Scenic Gulf Drive in Miramar Beach and the road opens onto a palm-lined promenade, wooden walkovers arcing over the drive toward a long ribbon of white sand. This is Seascape, one of the Emerald Coast's earliest resort communities and still one of its largest - a self-contained coastal world of golf fairways and dune lakes, twin high-rise towers and low villas, tennis courts and a beachfront bar where live music carries down the sand. Spread across more than three hundred acres between the Gulf of Mexico and the highway, Seascape functions less like a single development than a small resort town, one that has been welcoming beachgoers to this stretch of coast since the end of the 1960s.

Seascape occupies a broad tract on the south side of Scenic Gulf Drive in Miramar Beach, in the unincorporated coastal reach of South Walton County. The community stretches from roughly 2,000 feet of deeded Gulf-front beach - among the largest privately held beach frontages in the Miramar Beach area - back across landscaped grounds threaded with freshwater and coastal dune lakes. Those interior lakes are a defining feature: they shape the golf course, mirror the towers at sunset, and give the inland neighborhoods water views to rival the beach ones. The resort sits near the heart of the Emerald Coast corridor, just west of the sprawling Sandestin resort and within easy reach of Destin to the west and the scenic beach villages of 30A to the east. That central position places Seascape within a short drive of the region's harbors, charter docks, shops, and restaurants while keeping it set slightly apart, screened behind its own gate and grounds.

Seascape traces its origins to 1969, when its golf course - designed by the noted architect Joe Lee - first opened, making it one of the earliest resort developments along this part of the coast. In an era when much of Miramar Beach was still open dune and scrub, the community established the template that later resorts would follow: a golf course laid through the natural landscape, a deeded beach, and a mix of vacation residences built around shared amenities. Over the decades that followed, Seascape grew outward and upward from that original core. Villa clusters and townhome neighborhoods filled in around the fairways and lakes, and in time Gulf-view high-rises rose along the beach side, culminating in the twin towers that now mark the resort's skyline. What began as a golf-and-beach retreat matured into a layered community holding many housing styles and several distinct neighborhoods under a single name.

Golf remains central to Seascape's identity. The Joe Lee course winds through stands of tall pine and around the community's dune lakes, water a constant presence, with Gulf glimpses from several holes. Long a par-70 layout billed as an 18-hole championship course, it has more recently been undergoing renovation, and players should check current status before a round; guests also gain access to golf at nearby Emerald Bay. Tennis is the resort's other signature pursuit, played on lighted clay courts, with pickleball courts, clinics, and tournaments rounding out the racquet scene. Then there is the beach itself - the reason many come. The palm-lined promenade runs along the top of the dune line, and wooden walkovers cross Scenic Gulf Drive to carry residents and guests down to the sand without ever touching traffic. The deeded Gulf frontage gives Seascape a private, resort feel at the shore, with the sugar-white sand and clear green water that define this coast.

Seascape is best understood as a mosaic of neighborhoods rather than a single building or block. Along the beach rise the high-rise towers: Ariel Dunes, a pair of 24-story landmarks among the tallest structures in South Walton, and Majestic Sun, twin interconnected towers joined by a soaring central arch. Inland, the character softens into lower-slung living - the Mediterranean-styled residences of The Grove, plus Lakefront Villas overlooking the interior water, Golf & Tennis Villas set near the courts, Boardwalk Villas, townhomes, and single-family beach homes tucked through the grounds. That range is part of Seascape's appeal: a first-floor lakeside villa and a top-floor tower residence sit within the same gate and share the same amenities, yet offer entirely different ways of living at the beach. The individual towers, Ariel Dunes and Majestic Sun among them, each carry their own detailed profiles within the resort.

Daily life at Seascape gravitates toward the water and the resort's own gathering spots. The landmark is The Whale's Tail, a beachfront bar and grill where live bands play and the deck spills toward the sand from morning coffee through late evening. Around it, the resort keeps a full menu of dining - a Mexican grill, a sports bar, a tiki bar - and a calendar of seasonal festivals and live events. Beyond the table, the amenities lean firmly toward families and the active. Multiple swimming pools dot the grounds, alongside a beachfront waterpark with inflatable challenges, paddleboard and kayak outings, a ropes course, and an arcade with laser tag. Bikes and golf carts are the natural way to move around, ferrying residents between the beach, the pools, the courts, and the fairways along the community's paths.

Seascape suits those who want the full breadth of a self-contained coastal resort - golf, tennis, a private beach, pools, and dining - behind a single gate, near Destin without being in the thick of it. Its mix of towers, villas, and homes makes room for many kinds of coastal life: families drawn to the waterpark and cart-path freedom, golfers and racquet players who want their courses at the door, and beach-minded second-home owners who value a large, established, amenity-rich community over a stand-alone building. For anyone seeking a layered resort town rather than a single address on the Miramar Beach shore, Seascape has been answering that call for more than half a century.