Narrowing down moving possibly to the Orlando area. Not really wanting to live in Orlando, but a smaller town nearby. Have a 12 and 16 year old (need nice schools), and close to boating(30 footer). Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!

I lived in the area for 18 years....it depends how far away you are willing to live, whether you would be commuting to the city for work, and how far you are willing to trailer your boat. Traffic is really bad commuting to the north, but Lake Mary is nice and closer to the St. Johns river which is really the only water for a 30 ft boat other than trailering to the east or west coasts. Further north, there is Debary or Deland which is very close to the river that is north of the worst of the no wake zones. It depends on your needs.

Matt

We visit Lake Mary twice a year and love it! The traffic is bad going into the city, though. I talk to my buddy every week and he tells how great the weather is right now. We are in MD freezing our butts off! If our son would move, we would be there in a heartbeat!!!!!

I will say this, even though I am married the whole town appears to be filled with "Milf's"!

Live on the east side of town then. Depending on your housing budget, Avalon Park is pretty new and nice. Plus it's near the Beachline Expressway, that takes you straight out to Canaveral and ramps. But I don't think they've completed the Beachline exit ramps yet from that area yet, but they plan to.

lake county is great housing is low right now lakes are 6 to 7.5 miles long and close to gulf and atlantic if you trailer I live in lady lake

What is the boating like on The St Johns River. Marinas, places to pull up to, bars, hot spots, etc. Looking at the Debary and Deland area(or an area nrerby?)seeems to be what we are looking for, any help would be greatly appreciated. Are the schools nice, areas to live and not.

I've boated the St. Johns from Sanford to Jax, during the late '80s to the late '90s when I moved away, it was an awesome place to boat until they gradually added speed zones and extended the manatee zones. We started trailering up to Crows Bluff(west of Deland) to avoid the no-wake at Blue springs and that would be your best choice if you were living in Debary or Deland anyway.
Silver Glen springs off of Lake George was our destination every weekend...huge amount of boats stay there all weekend and more come during the day. It got so crazy in there that they started limiting the number of boats and restricting alcoholic beverages. I'm not sure how it is these days, but I'm sure it is still a great place to go if you live in that area....just more tame than it used to be.

Outlaw is right--and the St. Johs is great boating. Probably the best in Central FLorida.

DeLand is college town and really pleasant place.

Check with member Cuda -- he lives in area on river and knows it well

We live in Sanford about 4 miles from the river and it only takes us about 30 minutes to trailer to Daytona ICW. The river is ok but the speed limits suck!

How soon you looking to move?

Hey guys!

I have a 38 KV Scarab and live in Lady Lake (actually close by in a town called Weirsdale) I have run the boat on lake Weir, but want to know about some other good ramps that I can check out locally. My email is [email protected]

Any places to watch out for?

Thanks in advance!