Jaybird, Let me know what you are looking for and I'll email you all the listings, maybe that will help!

Hugh Hebert, 954-309-2222
[email protected]

What we were ideally looking for is something with ocean water access at the house (can be a canal, river etc), preferably one that would allow a boat lift as I would like to keept the boat out of the salt as much as possible. I would like to be able to keep the boat sometimes on my property on the trailer when I need to work on it as I do much of the maintenance myself. I don't know if that is a rare find or not.

Shooter brings up a good point, save some $$ and rack store. Plus using rack store keeps the boat out of the salt, but that also can make it difficult to clean and work on the boat if it is kept 20' off the ground. Hmmm...suggestions here please!

I keep my boat in the back yard on a lift but have rack stored before. ALL you have to do is tell the marina to put your boat on a rack to work on it and clean it. Some busy marinas might impose some sort of time restriction of 20- 30 minutes on the rack.

One point that was not mentioned, Insurance.
Depending on you type of boat you will either not be able to get insurance or will go into sticker shock when they quote you a price in Broward or Dade county (Miami / Ft. Lauderdale). When I was insuring my Velocity it was $800 / year in Daytona or $3800 / year in Ft. Lauderdale!!!! You need to factor in all the costs and the S. E. Florida area is the most expensive are in FL for total cost of living.

I currently live in Orlando and boat in either the St. Johns river or off the Atlantic coast. I will be moving to the West coast, probably north of Clearwater when I leave here. The boating is great, the nightlife is much more laid back compared to S. Florida and the cost of living is at or slightly less than here in Orlando.

As for High Tech jobs they all pay for Sh*t in Florida compared to the NE but the cost of living is 30% less down here too and there's no state income tax so it's pretty much a wash.

IMHO Florida locations rank in this order for someone your age and with your skills.

Tampa Bay Area (Good jobs, moderate cost of living, great boating)
Orlando (live near work and be prepared to drive 40 miles to boat)
Jacksonville (lowest cost of living on FL but cold winters compared to the rest of the state)
Boca / West Palm (High cost of living but good boating and good jobs)

Can someone please tell me was the seasonal temps are in Tampa and the Boca Raton areas?

Thanks!