Can anyone give me any ideas of some nice beaches, not extremely far from Dalton, GA.?

I want to go on a vacation, leaving Dalton GA and getting to the nicest beach around our area.

White sand would be nice to see and beaches without jellyfish laying on them would be even better. We're trying to find a nice place to vacation and take the grandkids who have never seen the ocean before. Somewhere either around the gulf coast or up the eastern coast of Georgia, but never been that impressed with Jekyll Island( everytime i've been it's rained). Can anyone give me any ideas of some nice beaches, not extremely far from Dalton, GA.(within a 8-9 hour drive) As I said, we do like white sand beaches but more importantly a beach without the jelly fish. ThanksCan anyone give me any ideas of some nice beaches, not extremely far from Dalton, GA.?
Panama city beach is really nice. theres actually no jellyfish, the sand is white too. its about 5 hours from new Orleans ,Louisiana.Can anyone give me any ideas of some nice beaches, not extremely far from Dalton, GA.?
When I lived in GA, I visited Folly Beach (SC), Hilton Head Island (SC) and Tybee Island (GA) -- I can tell you those are probably 3 places you don't want to visit. HHI and Tybee especially had a lot of jellyfish. Those are all on the Atlantic, so I don't know, maybe it's better down on the Gulf?