Sorry to sidetrack but @ tlark .. I swear your avatar is a picture of me when I was a child .

I’ve lived in Naples 37 years but spend much of my time with my buddies on their boats up off Fort Myers beach.

Naples is on Fire , been trying to buy a place for my sister-in-law but everything just fly's out the door if it’s under a half a million.


Naples is great because of the local local government and the numerous beach accesses.

Fort Myers beach is fun to party at but the traffic is beyond horrific and the crappy water coming out of the Caloosahatchee ruins swimming . Red Tide never ends here. Beach access for Fort Myers is very limited

My buddy lives up in St Pete. Reasonable housing prices with a great happening city. Again limited beach access unless you have a boat to go out to Clearwater.



Sarasota is very nice and has great water quality and beach access and is hands above Fort Myers.

I was just in Ft Myers beach looking at a boat and the traffice was horrific. And yes, nothing but old slow people. We just moved donw here in September to Clearwater and love the area. There is alot to do along the coast all the way up to Hernando Beach area. I personally wouldnt live south of about Apollo Beach. There is a TON of commercial construction in the Tampa area right now.

I have lived in Punta Gorda for 22 years and just love it here. Yes there are a lot of old farts here, but business is booming.. Traffic is
not bad even when the birds are here. Real Estate is on fire here also. I have sold Real Estate for 20 years and this is the busiest I have ever been.

I chose Fort Myers Beach area. Many reasons but in my opinion I liked the atmosphere, more to do, and great boating. I’m just finishing up construction on my house.

Tampa and Brandon empty out and show up in Clearwater every weekend.
Apollo Beach and Ruskin have chitty water and horrendous gulf access.
Guess we are opposites, I wouldn’t want to be north of Palmetto, unless I went all the way to the Panhandle.

Your Red Tide mention is an excellent point to consider.....I like what you wrote.

purchased my Cig 35 from Flagship marine in punta gorda.....enjoyed my stay there!

Yes Sir. Each their own, we like the activity. I wont argue its a bit much on holidays, spring breat etc. When we want to be alone we go to Honeymoon Island state park and walk about 15 minutes And Correct, I would not boat out of the bay/ Apollo beach area. I should have been clearer. I was speaking North/South line in the sand so to speak.

Has the Red Tide been more consistent south of this river are has it been north up to the Sarasota/Bradenton area ???

Could be wrong but it doesnt seem to be as significant other than a few years back when in was around for awhile or maybe it's not as reported to us mid-westerners. Informative thread !!