Exploring South FL

[Moemg]

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Originally Posted by Nick12 That's nothing new in Florida. When a storm does a lot of damage to hundreds of roofs of homes sometimes it takes a few years to get your roof fixed.

After Irma I lost some roof tiles .It took over a year to get them replaced .

[Scuba]

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Originally Posted by Dtail True on the beach side of things. As to great winter weather though, Tampa averages 3 days in Jan with highs only in the 50's. The average highs in Dec through Feb are 70-76 degrees.

Southern CA is what we’d be getting away from because it’s too cold for us here in the winter. Our average high Dec-Feb is 67. We’d like to go somewhere where average high is 75+ and the water temperature is as close to 80+ as possible.

[JoeWras]

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Originally Posted by Scuba Southern CA is what we’d be getting away from because it’s too cold for us here in the winter. Our average high Dec-Feb is 67. We’d like to go somewhere where average high is 75+ and the water temperature is as close to 80+ as possible.

Consider the Florida Keys.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scuba Southern CA is what we’d be getting away from because it’s too cold for us here in the winter. Our average high Dec-Feb is 67. We’d like to go somewhere where average high is 75+ and the water temperature is as close to 80+ as possible.

Possibly then Naples or Miami.

[kgtest]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scuba Southern CA is what we’d be getting away from because it’s too cold for us here in the winter. Our average high Dec-Feb is 67. We’d like to go somewhere where average high is 75+ and the water temperature is as close to 80+ as possible.

Or Hawaii. West side. Kihei, Wailea, lahaina, Kona. Diomondback

[Scuba]

I think Hawaii or USVI would probably be better for us than S FL. I looked up water temperatures and was surprised that Key West is 73 in January. Pretty chilly!

[ShokWaveRider]

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Originally Posted by Scuba I think Hawaii or USVI would probably be better for us than S FL. I looked up water temperatures and was surprised that Key West is 73 in January. Pretty chilly!

Problem with the USVIs is that one is almost guaranteed some form of storm damage on an predictable and annual basis. Hawaii is simply too expensive for most retirees now.

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider Problem with the USVIs is that one is almost guaranteed some form of storm damage on an predictable and annual basis. Hawaii is simply too expensive for most retirees now.

Annual basis? USVI had major hurricanes in 1989, 1995, and two in 2017. It’s a risk to be sure, but 4 major hurricanes in 18 years isn’t annual.

Some friends of ours recently sold their house in So CA for well over $1M and bought a simple but newer home on the Big Island for less than half that amount. She said food is expensive but property taxes are much lower. Still, I agree with you that in general Hawaii is very expensive, even relative to So CA.

[ShokWaveRider]

There are some nice homes here in Ormond beach not too far from the beach in a X Flood Zone.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...ct/15_zm/1_fr/

[Cut-Throat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scuba Annual basis? USVI had major hurricanes in 1989, 1995, and two in 2017. It’s a risk to be sure, but 4 major hurricanes in 18 years isn’t annual. Some friends of ours recently sold their house in So CA for well over $1M and bought a simple but newer home on the Big Island for less than half that amount. She said food is expensive but property taxes are much lower. Still, I agree with you that in general Hawaii is very expensive, even relative to So CA.

If you are looking for warmth, I'd skip Hawaii and go to the V.I. ---- I am currently in Hawaii for the last 3 months.... Molokai and Maui -- and it gets a bit chilly for me in the Evenings..... Also it is far more windy here than in the Caribbean. If you are just looking for water temp, Hawaii would be OK, as they don't get severe cold fronts.



Also Hawaii can be a bit isolated from the Continental U.S. --- But, I am guessing that Food is much more expensive in the V.I. than Hawaii ..... We aren't finding the food prices in Hawaii that bad... We wintered in the Bahamas for 3 years and food was generally twice as much as U.S. Mainland...

[Cut-Throat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scuba Annual basis? USVI had major hurricanes in 1989, 1995, and two in 2017. It’s a risk to be sure, but 4 major hurricanes in 18 years isn’t annual. Some friends of ours recently sold their house in So CA for well over $1M and bought a simple but newer home on the Big Island for less than half that amount. She said food is expensive but property taxes are much lower. Still, I agree with you that in general Hawaii is very expensive, even relative to So CA.

Or if you really want to think outside of the Box, the Northeast Coast of Australia is probably perfect for you... We wintered last year in Hervey Bay, North of Brisbane... And the weather is perfectly Hot... The people in So. Calif. could only dream of real estate prices this cheap near the ocean. Most any community North of Brisbane would give you want you want... And You'd pretty much be on the Great Barrier Reef!



You can get a retirement visa if you prove financial assets (I think it's only $500K of Liquid)....


Rent a winter there (Ours) and see if it's your cup of tea!

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cut-Throat If you are looking for warmth, I'd skip Hawaii and go to the V.I. ---- I am currently in Hawaii for the last 3 months.... Molokai and Maui -- and it gets a bit chilly for me in the Evenings..... Also it is far more windy here than in the Caribbean. If you are just looking for water temp, Hawaii would be OK, as they don't get severe cold fronts. Also Hawaii can be a bit isolated from the Continental U.S. --- But, I am guessing that Food is much more expensive in the V.I. than Hawaii ..... We aren't finding the food prices in Hawaii that bad... We wintered in the Bahamas for 3 years and food was generally twice as much as U.S. Mainland...

Thanks for this information. Another thing we hadn’t thought much about is wave action. Since we like diving and snorkeling, high surf is not desirable for us. Friends told us they prefer Hawaii to the Caribbean because of the waves in Hawaii. Made us realize the Caribbean may be better for us for that reason alone.

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cut-Throat Or if you really want to think outside of the Box, the Northeast Coast of Australia is probably perfect for you... We wintered last year in Hervey Bay, North of Brisbane... And the weather is perfectly Hot... The people in So. Calif. could only dream of real estate prices this cheap near the ocean. Most any community North of Brisbane would give you want you want... And You'd pretty much be on the Great Barrier Reef! You can get a retirement visa if you prove financial assets (I think it's only $500K of Liquid).... Rent a winter there (Ours) and see if it's your cup of tea!

Great idea!

[mpeirce]

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Originally Posted by Scuba Made us realize the Caribbean may be better for us for that reason alone.

If you have a generous budget, look at St. John USVI. There's lots of nature (US National Park covers most of the island) and so many really awesome beaches. There is an underwater trail in the park for snorkelers in Trunk Bay (one of the nicest beach in the world).


Also, the weather during winter is excellent. Today's water temp is 79°

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpeirce If you have a generous budget, look at St. John USVI. There's lots of nature (US National Park covers most of the island) and so many really awesome beaches. There is an underwater trail in the park for snorkelers in Trunk Bay (one of the nicest beach in the world). Also, the weather during winter is excellent. Today's water temp is 79°

Yes, I agree, St. John is beautiful. We love Maho Bay, Francis Bay, Cinnamon Bay, Hawksnest, and Leiner. We volunteered with Red Cross after Irmaria in 2017 on STJ for 2 weeks and STT for 2 weeks. How is the recovery coming along?

[folivier]

Look at Bonaire, excellent and easy shore diving. There are a few nice beaches for laying out. Nice VRBO rentals, good restaurants, good grocery stores. Not a lot of other things to do though. But it can be a fun place to just dive and bum around for a month or more. The dive shops are set up for weekly unlimited tank rentals but if you ask some of them will sell you a punch card. Better deal if you won't be diving every day. Nitrox is plentiful also. Rent a truck and hit the water!
We found the grocery stores to have a better supply than other islands since lots of stuff comes in frequently from Holland.

[ShokWaveRider]

Unfortunately the USVI and UKVI appear to get a major storm of some kind a year. Tat is too much for us and we spent a few years cruising the Eastern Caribbean from 2002 onwards. We left for the summers and returned in the winters.

[Scuba]

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Originally Posted by folivier Look at Bonaire, excellent and easy shore diving. There are a few nice beaches for laying out. Nice VRBO rentals, good restaurants, good grocery stores. Not a lot of other things to do though. But it can be a fun place to just dive and bum around for a month or more. The dive shops are set up for weekly unlimited tank rentals but if you ask some of them will sell you a punch card. Better deal if you won't be diving every day. Nitrox is plentiful also. Rent a truck and hit the water! We found the grocery stores to have a better supply than other islands since lots of stuff comes in frequently from Holland.

We’ve been there on vacation and really liked Bonaire. Nice diving, clean, safe and great restaurants. Your posts reminds me we should do another trip there.

[Scuba]

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Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider Unfortunately the USVI and UKVI appear to get a major storm of some kind a year. Tat is too much for us and we spent a few years cruising the Eastern Caribbean from 2002 onwards. We left for the summers and returned in the winters.

Yes, the ideal situation for us weather-wise would be the Caribbean from Dec-June and Southern CA July-November. Then we could avoid the worst of the tropical hurricane season and enjoy the best of So CA weather. However leaving our So CA condo vacant for that long would be an expensive lifestyle. We are thinking about putting our things in storage, renting our condo out for a few years, and exploring. That way we’d still have a beachfront condo to come back to if we decide that’s what we want long-term, and we can try out other places to see if there is anywhere we like better. We can rent our condo out and be cash flow positive.

[Splash]

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Originally Posted by Cut-Throat We wintered in the Bahamas for 3 years

This is our 3rd winter in Key Largo, Fl. We love it but miss the sense of adventure that comes with exploring new places. We have vacationed extensively in the Caribbean but have never been to the Bahamas. I'd be interested in where you stayed and any key learnings you're willing to share.