Florida?

Fattening up that venison, I love it ... if, i mean when you get out of California you best keep posting up pictures of the kayak fishing.

I'd probably end up doing more kayak fishing. As it is here I feel like I need to dive over fish because the ocean conditions are rarely nice.

There's plenty of diving and spear fishing to be done down in Florida.  Lots of opportunities to shoot fish, lobster season is awesome, and scalloping in the panhandle is easy limits!!

I'm definitely out of here this summer unfortunately.  The Coast Guard is sending me to one of the new WMSL cutters in Charleston, South Carolina for the next two years.  Then after we are done there my wife and I would both like to come right back here to NorCal.  We have no plans of retiring here due to the politics, gun laws, and the cost of living but I sure do enjoy being here while I'm active duty!!

Its a good place to make wise decisions, build some net worth then gtfo to somewhere cheap.

Matt, you better tell us about the fishing you do in SC while you're there!

Ps....people in south Florida are pretty much all crazy...

Tarpon, Jacks and Barracuda
Oh yeah, Goliath grouper and Huge Bull Sharks. Snakehead fishing, why not?
American Alligators. Burmese Pythons.
Sounds like fun.

Green tree iguanas are open year around good on the rotisserie
 

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=77383.msg885543#msg885543

My impression from last March and from several other trips - even the area surrounding Orlando has tons of open space.  Everywhere you turn = swamp, lake, waterway etc that holds fish n gators.  the above link has the business card of a guide that I used at Ritz Carlton.  He was also in the service (coasties??) and I'm sure he'd be happy to counsel you re: living n fishing in FL, maybe even do some gigs on the side with him??  The Ritz is always looking to provide bespoke adventures.  Just show em your youtube videos = hired 

I dig Florida, been there a couple times, my sister lived in jacksonville but I've also been to titusville and orlando. These are my observations and experiences....

I went to Clarks fish camp for dinner......the restaurant is right on the swamp, if you pay attention you can spot the gators swimming in the st john's. river.  They have an outdoor bar where I seen a hot little thang swing a baby up on her hip while chugging a beer and smoking a cigarette.  Instantly felt at home and in love.  Order the prime rib, foolishly turn down the jane cut and demand the tarzan cut.....then suffer a massive coronary in the parking lot.

When you're house hunting, if there's a waffle house anywhere within a ten mile radius......buy elsewhere......unless you're prone to 2am cravings for crusty waffles and meth....or bath salts......then buy near the waffle house.

The liquor stores are LIQUOR STORES......my God they're like walking into costco, if all costco sold was liquor.  Lots of stuff I've never seen before, from cheap bathtub swill to really expensive bathtub swill.  try the swill, its swell.

Went to the beach, miles of bikinis enjoying brilliant white sand and crystal clear warm water.  Wind can blow at 30 knots and the locals will call the unsurfable 3' wind chop "big waves". 

The continental shelf is waaaaaay the F offshore.  Thats why the monster deep vee center consoles with quad outboards rule the water there.  long freakin rides through shallow chop, chasing pelagic is an expensive pursuit.   

Every ditch, puddle and loogey hacked up by tabackey chewing yokels has alligators in it. 

In July, torrential rains and flash lightning storms are a daily occurrence, right around dinner time iirc.  I assume thats normal in most of the summer months. 

Summer humidity had me showering like 3 times a day.

I the spring love bugs will make love all over you. 

I seen a fat shirtless kid try to net a manatee near the pier I was fishing at.  He also found a horseshoe crab and hoisted that nasty fk'er above his head to show everybody. 

Cutoff jeans and a stained wife beater, with or without shoes, are business casual. However, if you're gonna be applying for jobs, put the state mandated ponytail in a scrunchee. 

Overall, its less hippy than california but still rather screwed up depending on where you wind up. 9 times out of 10 any wild ass crime stories that make national headlines happen in Fl.  I also recall quite a bit of episodes of cops being filmed there, although they've also filmed in my neighborhood here in san jose so that might be a draw.

If you want real opinions on Florida join The Hull Truth .com   Huge forum and mostly posters from florida, the place is a boaters paradise and I recall water front living being widely available and attainable for average joes in the less populated areas.  I'm sure the boys there will steer you straight.   


 

Back in the day my grandparents had a little house in Cape Coral.
Bad ass set up. Seemed all the houses in that area had a road in the front of the house and a series of canals in their back yard. Park your boat at the dock in your own backyard. Canal led to the river, river to the Gulf.
Coolest set up ever.

A lot of good reason to move to Florida. I am also looking at it
Worst reason is the Humidity. in summer
Like living in sauna 6 months year. Some like it, but really drains your energy??
Main reason folks go in winter is great

If I could find a way to deal with the Humidity it would be great place.
Latest report stated 232 different languages spoken in Florida??????????

These are my observations and experiences....They have an outdoor bar where I seen a hot little thang swing a baby up on her hip while chugging a beer and smoking a cigarette.  Instantly felt at home and in love.  Order the prime rib, foolishly turn down the jane cut and demand the tarzan cut.....then suffer a massive coronary in the parking lot.

When you're house hunting, if there's a waffle house anywhere within a ten mile radius......buy elsewhere......unless you're prone to 2am cravings for crusty waffles and meth....or bath salts......then buy near the waffle house.

The liquor stores are LIQUOR STORES......my try the swill, its swell.

....miles of bikinis enjoying brilliant white sand and crystal clear warm water. 

......monster deep vee center consoles with quad outboards rule the water there. 

Every ditch, puddle and loogey hacked up by tabackey chewing yokels has alligators in it. 

Summer humidity had me showering like 3 times a day.

I the spring love bugs will make love all over you. 

I seen a fat shirtless kid..... found a horseshoe crab and hoisted that nasty fk'er above his head....

Cutoff jeans and a stained wife beater, with or without shoes, are business casual. However, if you're gonna be applying for jobs, put the state mandated ponytail in a scrunchee. 

Overall, its less hippy than california but still rather screwed up depending on where you wind up. 9 times out of 10 any wild ass crime stories that make national headlines happen in Fl.

  Thanks for the description ex-kayaker totally cracked me up! Excellent description of another of America's great cultures.

Good luck with you next home search Wilderness medic sounds like Florida could provide the thrills you seek. Please keep us in the loop with your reports and videos!

I spent some time in St. Petersburg/Tamp Florida. The fishing was absolutely incredible. Relatively affordable, although cost-of-living is rising quite dramatically. Best place I’ve ever lived, IMO. Best beaches in North America are located in that area!

Relatively affordable, although cost-of-living is rising quite dramatically.

Thats concerning if the wages aren't rising with it. What exactly did you see going up? The real estate prices still seem incredibly low. A livable house for 79k and something incredible around 3,000 sq/ft I wouldn't ever want to even pay the electrical bill on for $350k.

I'm justing thinking if I buy a house all cash I can't go wrong. Monthly bills should be around what $1,200.00? 500 for food, 200 for electricity, 100 for phone, 300 for taxes and insurance, 100 for water/sewer/trash?

The real estate prices still seem incredibly low...

After CA, housing prices will seem incredibly low almost anywhere. A few years back, my brother bought a new house in a decent neighborhood of a major midwestern city for about $60k (and worth maybe $100k today). I told him he should buy the whole block...

I've got some friends that traded Columbus, OH for Tampa and never looked back. Dock off the back yard into the gulf, pretty kick ass.

I've only been to FL a few times but my take away from my small sample set was that the further south in the state you go, the more North you are culturally and vice versa.

My other takeaway was that the keys are kinda awesome, but I'm never moving anywhere that has a natural disaster season. I can handle the randomness of earthquakes, but hurricanes/ tornadoes? nah.

Relatively affordable, although cost-of-living is rising quite dramatically.

Thats concerning if the wages aren't rising with it. What exactly did you see going up? The real estate prices still seem incredibly low. A livable house for 79k and something incredible around 3,000 sq/ft I wouldn't ever want to even pay the electrical bill on for $350k.

I'm justing thinking if I buy a house all cash I can't go wrong. Monthly bills should be around what $1,200.00? 500 for food, 200 for electricity, 100 for phone, 300 for taxes and insurance, 100 for water/sewer/trash?

Although the housing prices are dramatically low compared to CA, they've been raising above 12% since I left in Dec. 2015, at least in the greater Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg area. Of course, selling a house from Nor Cal would allow you to fund at least two homes along the Westcoast of Florida, depending on what you purchase. What's happening is that foreign investors are hogging the market, so many of my friends are struggling to buy. That might not be a problem if you're paying cash. Also, flood insurance is also very high. Regardless, I much prefer FL. over CA.