I'm a recent transplant, am in south Florida, and am on a boat. I've been coming here for 10 years, but just moved. I'll share my observations.
I consider south Florida anything below Orlando. That gives you the options of 2 bodies of salt water, countless bodies of fresh water, a swamp, a megalopolis, small towns, teeny towns, ethnic diversity, redneck hell, island life (which is the same everywhere, but somehow different here), and Key West, somehow like no other. Yes, there is traffic. If I lived in Miami or had to commute there, I would be somewhat nuts. It's one of the reasons I left Houston. I don't deal with it day to day, so when I get stuck in it I've learned to be zen about it. I say that living on islands are the same everywhere because nobody stocks anything. Everything is at least a day away, so you learn patience. I've lived on islands a lot of my live, and the patience an island will teach you is one of life's great lessons.
Tourons can be a nuisance, but they are the sustain-er of life down here. Nobody likes a blue hair and her hearing impaired mate driving a 40 foot RV on Saturday morning down the keys at 25 miles an hour scared out of their minds. But everyone likes the cash they spend in restaurants and at the beauty parlor. So, it's part of the price we pay for living in paradise.
Hurricanes? Pish. You plan for them, make sure you are prepared and don't worry about them. There are places to store critical things that can't get destroyed like family papers, and heirlooms, and you insure the rest. When you buy a house, have it inspected before to ensure that the hurricane clips are sound, you get hurricane shutters, you make sure the gas in the drum is fresh every summer for the generator, you give a critical eye to the marina and ensure that the dock hardware is sound, not just in your slip, but the neighbors too. Marinas and boats do OK in a cat III, when a 4 or a 5 are coming in make sure you evacuate early and often carrying the irreplaceable stuff with you.
As far as corrupt government officials go, I've never seen anything like it this side of Mexico. It doesn't effect a resident, though, unless you want to build something. Sure makes me shake my head. It's like they get elected, and steal everything they can get their hands on before they get caught. When they get caught, their protection network closes in to shield them from having to give it back or go to jail (remember, the protection network is busy taking what they can get too), the official resigns, it hits the paper for 3 days, turns into a big joke, and we elect a new person with a whole new idea to steal the taxpayers blind. Honest folk aren't allowed to run for office because they might make the corrupt ones look bad. Keep your head down and all they steal is your tax dollars.
People are moving away. Florida is currently losing 50,000 residents per year. U-haul is trucking in trucks and trailers by the semiload into Key West because folks are leaving in droves. You can buy a decent house here for $200k. $200k is unheard of for housing in KW for the past 20 years.
I moved from Houston to here. The Mexicans in Houston were not bi-lingual and weren't going to be so. They want all of us to learn Spanish, and get offended when we don't. they are second tier citizens and non-citizens for the most part. Of course, there are exceptions. The Cubans here are at all levels of society. They are service personnel, store and bodega owners, industrialists, and politicians. They are bilingual and culturally diverse. They scratch their heads when I try my Houston Spanish on them, smile, and speak back to me in English that is more proper than most schoolchildren speak. Haitians can be another story. Like the Mexicans of Houston, they tend to congregate in their own communities and don't seem to want to become a part of what makes America great. It's a little irritating when in the local Publix grocery store and the Haitian bagger looks at the reusable shopping bags I brought and starts stuffing my groceries in plastic. When I protest, I get the stupid cow look like they don't speak English. That's when the patience lesson kicks in again, because I don't reckon I will change the Haitian culture in America by myself.
But best of all, you won't need to shovel snow.