Looking at possibly moving back to Florida

[Sharkphoto]

Note that nobody mentions diving on the Gulf Coast. I live in the Fort Myers area and I drive 3 hours east across the state to do any "serious" diving. There are some wrecks and artificial reefs on this coast, but they are not too full of life and often have bad visibility due to water quality issues .

the Jupiter to Miami corridor is definitely where it is at for the diving and diving tourism. Plus with a good boat you can "lets go" to the Bahamas for super diving in about 3 hours.

Tampa would have a good economy for you and the personality is different on the east coast, but you will be disappointed with the diving in the Gulf.

 

[ScubaDoo83]

I'll take that into consideration Shark thanks! It was red tide when I lived in Tampa so I don't really have a good experience to base my decision off of.

 

[Tom Winters]

Hey - this "path to pro diving"? What's that about? Also, depending on your IT skills and language sets, you might not have to settle for Florida. Although, and no offense to the estimable people of the Bluegrass State, but Florida just might look like paradise without the 72 virgins after a few weeks in Kentucky.
I don't know how old you are - but with solid IT skills and a passport... well, for starters, you could work for Atlantis resorts and rotate from the Bahamas to Dubai or parts between. Or you could work for Burger King in Miami and get worked up about the NEW bar-be-que beef pre-digested squirtburgers.
This is all your call. It's a cool world out there. Have some fun.

 

[ScubaDoo83]

I think I understood some of this post lol. I lived in Florida and have visited often so I am not just some backwoods hick with delusions about what I'll find there. And I believe wholeheartedly I will be able to find employment other than BK. (not really sure what you were getting at there)

Anyway, I would love to live a mobile lifestyle but have struggled with finding work overseas. In a perfect world I would be able to teach scuba in beautiful places around the world while at the same time make mobile income using my skills such as web development and or troubleshooting. I just need scenery changes somewhat frequently or I get pretty damn bored, no matter how good I've got it (like now).