WOW!!! Did you see the new Money Magazine?  They have ranked St. Simons Island #2 in the COUNTRY for places to retire!  You can see a snipit here: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bpretire/2006/

However, they left out 2 other very good reasons to retire here: if you establish this as your primary home, the assessed value of your home is LOCKED IN, so increases in your taxes are moderated which is very important for most retirees.    Additionally, while they point out that we are on the coast and subject to hurricanes, they neglect to mention that if you are looking to retire on the coast, there is probably no safer place.  When America's richest of the rich decided to purchase an island in the late 1800's for their winter retreats, they selected one of the westernmost points of the eastern seacoast.  They chose Jekyll Island, a sister island easily visible from the southend of  St. Simons Island .   Historically, our location has sheltered us well.  I've lived here since 1985, and my family in WV has had much more damage from hurricanes there than we have here on St. Simons Island.  Of course we could get hit with a hurricane tomorrow, but what location is immune to a disaster?  Overall, we're tucked in from the Gulf Stream, so if I'm going to be on the coast (and I am!), I want to be here.