Looking for a place on the West coast and will be traveling to both Naples and Ft. Myers to learn about the areas. Would welcome any input you all may have as to where and why one is better than the other for boating.


Thanks,
JB

Can't give you a ton of info, but I was there in April and there is not a lot of distance between the two. But the costs are significantly higher the closer you get to Naples. We were in Ft. Myers and beach areas. Also there is talk in GD about costs of housing in Coral gables which is north ot Ft. Myers. Lots of homes on channels with lifts for sale. I would say by boat, naples is 30 min south by water....

We are giving serious thought to moving there soon as well.

I will share a bit in the few minutes I have right now but if I read your question correctly you are looking for comparison between Naples and Ft Myers area. Real estate will be more pricy in Naples than Ft. Myers. Both will have good facilities to store and service your boat. If you are in Naples and a strong west wind is blowing your boating is limited to the ICW between Marco and Naples ( about 10 miles and another 8 miles to Goodland ) however if you are in Ft Myers / Cape Coral there can still be lots of boating with the protection from the barrier Islands ( Sanibel / Captiva etc ). Actually you can go all the way up to Sarasota and beyond without ever going out in the Gulf so it is a rare day you cannot go boating if in Ft Myers area. There are some good restaurants / bars on the water in the Naples area and many many more in the Ft Myers / Cape Coral / ICW.
Oh, yes I should also mention we also have one of the best little boat clubs in America in Ft Myers Offshore ( FMO ). Over 120 members with 65 member boats will participate in our various runs in the coarse of a season. Our members stretch from Marco Island in the south to Port Charlotte in the north. We do 6 fun runs each season from October to April raising money for our designated charity. Here is a link to our website: www.ftmyersoffshore.org and our own forum here on OSO: http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/f...-offshore-186/

All the best and if I can help further just let me know.

Bob

We just moved to the Cape (Cape Coral) a year ago from LOTO, the Cape is a small town next to Ft, Myers that has most of the ICW in it, we also joined FMO and made most of the runs last season, Bob and everyone are a bunch of great people and it was a blast, we love it here, what I'm going to say certainly isn't a slam against any of the towns up and down the West Coast, but we picked here because it's close to a descent airport that flys back to St. Louis so we can see the grandkids and it's between Sarasota and Marco Island and we can go North or South and boat, hang and see great people.

When you get down if you want to check things out by water I'll see if I can help, I retired in 2006 before I was 50 and pretty much am the boat/pool/cabana boy now, so if there's any info or anything we can help with just yell, see ya.

There is boating in Naples ???

As people have said the FMO club is terrific with lots of good folks as members.

Do you take nice pictures ?

We need a new photographer.

The old one is on the disabled list.

LOL Catastrophe

Thank you for the good insight into Ft. Myers, I am anxious to get down there to start our search. Are there any recommended marinas for inside storage for a 38?

Joey thank you for the kind offer I may take you up on that.

JB

Finding houses to look at to buy will be easier than finding inside storage, when I was having my new dock behind the house I had to store mine at Cape Coral Boat Club in their high rise, but my 353 barely fit, I'm sure your 382 won't, I'm guessing there's a few storage buildings around town that may be big enough, I didn't have a trailer or truck to haul mine down here from LOTO, I borrowed a trailer and paid a friend with a F-250 to haul it down for me, so I had to put it somewhere immediately until Stokes got my dock/lift completed.

Bobthebuilder just submitted his app.

Hey in between it s a liittle place called Bonita Springs we bought a condo there a couple of years ago its worth a look.

Ha, like I don't have enough to do, Bill ! LOL I could never fill Jay's shoes. Hopefully Jay will have recovered and can cover our season opener in October.