Where should I live in Florida

[Catito]

I've never been to Florida, but WOW this Villages place sounds amazing! I love your 'Lord of the Flies' analogy. Sorta like Mad Max with mobility Scooters?

Definitely going on my bucket list

oh, I would definitely skip it.

 

[Graeme Fraser]

oh, I would definitely skip it.

See what you did? Now I'm even more curious!

 

[greeniguana]

I've never been to Florida, but WOW this Villages place sounds amazing! I love your 'Lord of the Flies' analogy. Sorta like Mad Max with mobility Scooters?

Definitely going on my bucket list

Lord of the flies with golf carts.

And whatever you do, don't ever ask a villages resident about the Villages. They will never shut up about it. It's like a Jim Jones cult. All they want to do is get people to move there......

 

[DSR-3]

Any thoughts on Flagler Beach area? I've not been there, but it's looked like the kind of place that had potential for retirement for a while.
I too was into social distancing before it was cool...
This "villages place" sounds like reality TV for those that can't work the remote!

 

[Catito]

See what you did? Now I'm even more curious!

Depends on your politics. Not my type. Lots of conspiracy theory types.

 

[BrackaFish]

Any thoughts on Flagler Beach area? I've not been there, but it's looked like the kind of place that had potential for retirement for a while.
I too was into social distancing before it was cool...
This "villages place" sounds like reality TV for those that can't work the remote!

The area south of Saint Augustine and north of Ormond Beach between the Intercoastal and Ocean is generally a pretty laid back low population area. Flagler Beach has a very mild Key West kinda vibe with several open air bars and restaurants clustered around the pier area. Schools and hospitals in the area are so-so, but it is important to remember that travel time to get anywhere can be long. On the mainland side I-95 is the big north/south route and on the beachside A1A runs up the coast. For bragging rights to a cool address, look at Marineland. Last time I checked the population was 12. Move there and you could probably become mayor.

 

[Trigger-F]

INMO, best place would be between Stuart and Jupiter. Stuart is not too expensive and close enough to Jupiter for pelagics etc..also close to Blue Heron Bridge and Pompano Beach/LBTS for shore diving. And still about 2 1/2 - 3 hrs drive to the Keys. On the West coast of FL, maybe along the shore in Sarasota/Manatee/Pinellas cty but good diving here is way out in the Gulf(need a boat for day trips). In no way I would ever consider to retire in the Villages(landlocked).

 

[Jaaron82]

I moved to st. Augustine six years ago from Orlando and it was the best move I’ve ever made. A couple hours west and I’m in cave country and about three hours south and I’m in west palm boat diving. Great community in St. Augustine plus the beach is 1/4 mile away for surfing and fishing.

 

[Dee Sherman]

I'm getting ready to move to Florida, if you could live anywhere in the state as a diver where would it be?

I sold Baja Dive in Cabo San Lucas then moved and lived in Homestead and worked at a Dive shop called John pennekamp in key Largo sweet diving in Key largo, But I could not afford the Keys Anywhere 200k for a run down 1 bedroom trailer. So we moved to Palm Bay in central Florida got a three bedroom house built in 04 for 155k we live 25 mins from the beach. I have dove in the caves but that's not for me so we drive to Jupiter 1 1/2 hour drive but great diving.

 

[scuba5150]

I've lived in Ft. Lauderdale, Lighthouse Point, Boca Raton and Vero Beach, and I'm moving to Key Largo next month. I've been snorkeling since 1967, and have snorkeled and scuba dived up and down the east coast, throughout the Keys and to Dry Tortugas, and a bit in the springs. I'm not a cave diver though. If caves are your focus you want to be in north central or panhandle Florida. Otherwise you want to be on the southeast coast. The west coast has few diving opportunities. The Keys has by far the most coral reef diving and plenty of wrecks- a ton of great dive sites. You should check out some Pennekamp dives but by all means get down to Looe Key too; it's the best reef in the keys. But there is no shore diving in the Keys. I've done nice shore dives in Deerfield Beach, Boca, Lauderdale by the Sea, Pompano, Stuart, Fort Pierce and Vero Beach, but those last two locations have many fewer days of good visibility than South Florida sites. Drift diving off Jupiter is awesome and I'd seriously consider living around Hobe Sound which is just outside dysfunctional Palm Beach County, and you'd be well located to sample some shore diving too. Living in Vero Beach has been way nicer than South Florida because it's way too crowded and overrun with New York attitudes down there. If you intend to have a boat the area from Hobe Sound on north will have way less busy ramps than South Florida, but if you get north of Jupiter the deep water is further from shore and the ocean is rougher. The Keys are the gold standard though, by far the best part of Florida for my kind of diving, and there are neighborhoods with private boat ramps, which is key because public boat ramps are limited. And if you're moving to Florida you DO want a boat, even if you don't know it yet.

This is the best post in this thread so far. Good facts, no attitude. The poster knows what they're talking about