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Random Quote: Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn.
You guys and gals have been great with suggestions. I have been asking opinions about east vs west coast FL for my family and I to move to. New problem, we dont like either.
We took a trip down to FL last week with the whole fam to check things out after not being there for 15 years. We are a boating family and love the water...... Lake boating. The kids hated the salt water, the wife didnt like the "sticky" sand and water, etc etc. We realized more and more that we need to consider inland.
SO I turn to my fellow THTers again. I am looking for a lake, or region of lakes. Here is an outline of what our needs/desires are. Suggestions are apprecaited. Since we are still not 100 % sure if FL or what area of FL is for us, we will rent a home/town home for the 1st year.
Strong middle class + area. Rent home @ 1500-2000/mo
Not the "Boonies", prefer 15-20 min MAX drive to a metro area or busy area.
Stuff for my 15 year old to do. Jobs, sports, activities, etc to keep him out of trouble.
Good schools. We also have a 4 & 6 year old.
Good economic area for my wife to change careers. Exec assistant stuff.
Boating - looking for a lake that is 1000+ acres. Prefer 2000+.
We DONT need to be living on the water and I know we wont for $ 2000/mo. I am open to a trailers boat, short drive, "deeded boat rights", etc
We have friends/family in New Smyrna & Boca so both regions are good. I am considering some outskirt of orlando ( Close to New Smyrna) , but I am not familiar with the lakes there.
Take a look around my area, Saint Cloud. I'm 2 blocks off a 14,000 acre lake (East Lake Tohopekaliga), and about 5 miles from his even bigger brother, Lake Tohopekaliga, part of the Kissimmee chain of lakes (connected by canals). Around here, you can't throw a rock without hitting some kind of water.
17 miles from Orlando airport, about 20 from Disney, roughly 30 to downtown Orlando, plenty of good solid homes on the market, decent schools in Osceola County, 1 hour to the Atlantic, 90 minutes to the Gulf.
Not sure where you are now, but a couple places come to mind if you want fresh water...
Atlanta - as Schmaltz mentioned. Besides Lanier and Allatoona (both less than 30 minutes from the northern suburbs), but within 90 minutes driving time you have Hartwell (on the GA/SC border), Burton, Rabun and Carters (all in the mountains north of Atlanta), Oconee (1 hour east of Atlanta) and the TN River (just over the GA/TN border in Chattanooga). Downside is its 4 hours to any saltwater.
Charlotte - Lakes Norman and Wiley are both within 30 minutes of Downtown (Uptown) Charlotte. The coast is 3 hours away or so.
I'm not disparaging FL - I grew up there and still own property there. There are plenty of fresh water lakes as well as the St Johns River, etc... If you have your heart set on FL, then you probably need to think about the Orlando area (or not too far north or south of there.)
Check out Deltona, Lake Mary, Oviedo and Winter Springs area, you have the St. Johns River, lake Jesup and Lake Monroe close by.There is lots of stuff to do and still close to Orlando, Daytona and New Smyrna.. Good Friend of mine just rented a 5/2.5/2 home for $1070 mth, 1 acre on a culde-sac in Deltona. 25mins to daytona and 30 to orlando off I-4, Good luck.
Take a look around my area, Saint Cloud. I'm 2 blocks off a 14,000 acre lake (East Lake Tohopekaliga), and about 5 miles from his even bigger brother, Lake Tohopekaliga, part of the Kissimmee chain of lakes (connected by canals). Around here, you can't throw a rock without hitting some kind of water.
17 miles from Orlando airport, about 20 from Disney, roughly 30 to downtown Orlando, plenty of good solid homes on the market, decent schools in Osceola County, 1 hour to the Atlantic, 90 minutes to the Gulf.
Google earth shows them to be nice areas but the lake look a little "Blah" from space. Anything to do on the lake? places to stop, take the kids, restaurants, etc? Hows the "Croc" situation down there?
Take a look around my area, Saint Cloud. I'm 2 blocks off a 14,000 acre lake (East Lake Tohopekaliga), and about 5 miles from his even bigger brother, Lake Tohopekaliga, part of the Kissimmee chain of lakes (connected by canals). Around here, you can't throw a rock without hitting some kind of water.
17 miles from Orlando airport, about 20 from Disney, roughly 30 to downtown Orlando, plenty of good solid homes on the market, decent schools in Osceola County, 1 hour to the Atlantic, 90 minutes to the Gulf.
Google earth shows them to be nice areas but the lake look a little "Blah" from space. Anything to do on the lake? places to stop, take the kids, restaurants, etc? Hows the "Croc" situation down there?
Thanks!
Jason
No crocs, but plenty of 'gators! Gators are a fact of life in Florida. If there's water, there's 'gators. But they pretty much keep to themselves, which is okay in my book.
You're right - there's not much on the lake (East Lake Toho) itself. There's a new marina with a triple launch ramp, decent restaurant, nice beach area on the south side of the lake. On the north side of the lake there's a fish camp that also has a restaurant, but beyond that it's just wide-open water and plenty of fish. Pretty much the same deal for Lake Toho. The good thing is the proximity to plenty of other lakes, rivers, the ocean, the gulf - all within easy driving distance. But you're far enough away from either coast that you don't have to deal with ridiculously high homeowners insurance rates, and the effects of coastal storms (like hurricanes) are usually much less farther inland. Yes, we got clobbered by several in 2004, but that was extremely rare for the area.
As for the town itself, we're far enough away from the theme parks and such that we're away from all the traffic and congestion, yet close enough that we can join the crowds within a half-hour if we so desire. With the Orlando area being a huge tourist magnet, there is a tremendous assortment of restaurants, shopping and nightlife.
You had mentioned family/friends in New Smyrna Beach and Boca; NSB is about 85 miles NE from St. Cloud, easily drivable on mostly major highways - I-95, the Beachline Expressway, and the Greeneway. Boca Raton is about 180 miles SE, but again easily accessed via the Florida Turnpike.
Not far from here, in the Lake Nona area (off the SE corner of the airport property) there is a huge medical research campus being built that will be opening up lots of professional employment opportunities, and is already generating a lot of residential and commercial building in the surrounding area.
You're right - there's not much on the lake (East Lake Toho) itself.
Thanks for the details on that post. Is there a lake with a lot of things to do for the kids. We really dont fish so we would be looking for other things to keep us busy on the water. Sights, day trips, etc.
Check out Deltona, Lake Mary, Oviedo and Winter Springs area, you have the St. Johns River, lake Jesup and Lake Monroe close by.There is lots of stuff to do and still close to Orlando, Daytona and New Smyrna.. Good Friend of mine just rented a 5/2.5/2 home for $1070 mth, 1 acre on a culde-sac in Deltona. 25mins to daytona and 30 to orlando off I-4, Good luck.
I live just north of Orlando and about 50 minutes from New Smyrna Beach. The areas mentioned above seem to fit your requirements. Boating the St. Johns River is nice, and the coast is not far. We trailer our boat over 2-3 times a month. Lake Helen is another area to look at. It is close to Deltona. Lake County (Leesburg, Tavares, Mt. Dora) are also nice but a little further from the coast. The one thing I can not comment on are the schools in these areas. I think the answer will depend on what city amenities you want to be close to.
I've lived here for 35 years so if you want to bounce anything off me feel free.
__________________ 2003 Sea Pro 220 CC
2003 Yamaha 200 HPDI
2009 Ace Dual Axle Trailer
Gators in general will not bother you. In fact most will hit the water on the run away from you if you walk up on them. I used to fish the Myakka River and lakes, and the older men would still wade fish it without problems. I didn't and would not swim there (we're talking hundreds of gators), but I walked the banks without fear back in those days. Frankly, I was more afraid of the boars.
The problem happens when some idiot who has never seen a gator starts to feed them because he thinks its cool. The gators begin to associate food with people . . . you show show up with no food guess what. I'm sure that there have been attacks where this was not the case, where the gator made a mistake and mistook a human for something else, but many attacks can be attributed to human interference.
I was born and raised in FL so I will say two things. One, I prefer the west coast. Calmer and warmer water, nicer beaches, slower pace, less chance of direct hitting hurricanes, etc . . . I like the east coast, I guess I am just biased because the west coast is "home" to me.
Second, you could not pay me to live in or immediately near Orlando. Unless you love extreme heat with little chance of relief, jam packed roads with millions of tourists heading to disney and an unbelievable amount of urban sprawl for no good reason you probably won't like it either.
If I had to live inland, I would look perhaps where the previous poster said or somewhere like Ocala. Beautiful horse ranches with rolling hills. Crystal clear spring fed rivers not to far away, most if not all the spring fed rivers are too cold for gators near the spring itself so it takes that worry away. Water stays about 70 or 72 all year, refreshing to swim in, and you are close to the gulf if you ever decide to give saltwater another try. (Tampa is about an 1 hour 30 mins, smaller towns north of Tampa are closer)
Final thought, you will not find a NH lake in FL. Northern lakes and Florida lakes are very different.
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1986 Pro-Line Center Console
The others have pretty much said what I would have said, especially the part about Florida lakes being the complete opposite of lakes like you find in the New England. Most have almost nothing in the way of amenities except for the occasional restaurant or beach area. For fishermen, that's all the better; for casual cruisers, not so good. But you'd find the complete opposite to be the case on some of the more popular rivers, such as the St Johns, Indian, and Banana rivers. Loads of restaurants, shopping areas, dolphins and manatees to entertain you, and lots of nice scenery. The downside for you would be that the coastal rivers are salt water.
I agree that I wouldn't want to live in the IMMEDIATE area of Orlando - - traffic can be a nightmare. That was one of the main reasons why we located where we are. We're far enough away from all that mess that it really doesn't affect us.
And don't let the 'gator stories scare you off. Attacks are rare, and are often brought on by people doing dumb things like feeding them (as mentioned above) or otherwise harassing them. Personally, I don't hesitate to swim in our lake, and there are lots of gators in there.
I guess the long and short of it is that Florida freshwater boating is considerably different than in other areas of the country. My situation is quite different from yours; we are "empty nesters" and no longer have a bunch of young'uns to entertain unless the grandkids come to visit!
Hope this info helps; good luck in your locale search!
The kids hated the salt water, the wife didnt like the "sticky" sand and water, etc etc. We realized more and more that we need to consider inland.
That's really unfortunate because there are 1000 times more and better things (boating wise) to do in the saltwater areas than the freshwater areas of FL. I've lived in central Florida for 27 years and I wouldn't own a boat if I was going to be stuck in the freshwater rivers/lakes.
Jason: I used to live in New England and no there is nothing like Lake Winnie in Florida. As for the school systems: elementary education is not bad but middle and high schools can not hold a candle to N.E. (I work in the school system). With that said you would have to put a gun to my head to get me to leave FL and move back to NE. I live on the west coast and fish out of Boca Grande. Give the salt another try; after you've caught a few tarpon, kingfish, big sharks, etc. bass fishing will lose a lot of its allure. Property values are very good for a buyer in FL right now. It's also a better idea to rent for a while and really get to know a place before you buy. Someone else mentioned Ocala; if your looking inland I would have to agree with that opinion. Lots of open spaces, rolling hills and nice trees, horse ranches, etc. Florida has a lot of nice things but it is a big state and takes a while to get to know her.
If I wanted to live by a lake that was good for boating and swimming, I wouldn't look at Florida. I don't trust any body of water like that to be gator free.
Have you thought about North Carolina? Check out Lake Norman in the Charlotte area. I think there's also a Lake Lanier somewhere in the southeast but I don't recall the major city. I think GA has some good lakes too.
NEED HELP AGAIN!!! WHERE TO MOVE IN FL? 
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Gators are a fact of life in Florida. If there's water, there's 'gators. But they pretty much keep to themselves, which is okay in my book.
