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May be transfer to Southern California - should we bring the boat?
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Don't have a clue where we should target to live - only mandate so far is "Southern California" - the wife would have to work in LA about 2 weeks per quarter, maybe occasional meetings as well, but most of the time she'd be on the phone & computer
Many different lake. Deep, shallow but mostly clear water so learning light line fishing a must.
I am in San Diego which has great inshore, offshore and lake fishing.
If LA is where the work is than look in the Orange County area.
Still good areas to fish and play.
Good Luck!
Lakes in Southern California where you can live and have a boat dock are somewhat rare. You may want to look at Canyon Lake, which is about an hour or so south east of Los Angeles. You can have a dock and power boating is allowed, including fishing and wakeboarding. The community also has its own golf course. Other boating lakes with private docks that come to mind are Elsinore, Arrowhead and Big Bear.
The Colorado River is a huge boating area, but it is 300 miles east of LA.
Thanks all - we don't know much more except if it happens we need to be within 2 to 3 hours of LA - oh, I mean off-peak driving time not the 5 mph rush hours that can suddenly happen at any time of day...
All suggestions of where we should look to land are greatly appreciated!
If you do decide on a community with a lake, be sure they allow real boats and swimming. I know that sounds weird, but some lakes belong to water companies that won't allow gas powered boats and people are not allowed in the water. SoCal is the driest portion of the state, so rivers are few and far between. As you go north, it gets wetter - and colder.
There is nothing like the ICW in California. Nearly the entire coast is open to the ocean.
We love our boat - we don't fish but sightsee and hang out - we don't go to the chesapeake Bay much but usually go to one of VA's larger lakes plus a few trips a year to coastal places like Beaufort, NC with protected water areas
IF this CA move happens I bet we will take our time picking a place to live - thinking about spending a month or so in three or fours different places before deciding - we'll travel out there lean and mean to be able to do this move around and check out the local (just my wife and I , no kids so we can do this trial living test in different places). Only mandate is that she has to be within a couple of hours driving distance to LA (not a daily commute... probably four or five days a month)
A few things I'm concerned about
1) we love our current boat - it "fits" our style
2) I don't want to be burdened with the boat for the first month (or three) (would plan on finding a storage place before we trailer/ship it there)
3) It's probably not large enough for the coastal water areas (except on calm mornings)
4) On the east coast I tend to be drawn to the clear lakes to sightsee and anchor for the rest of the day - I need to get a more detailed set of CA maps (and perhaps some charts!)
Santa Barbara is about 2 hours north of L.A., and there are a couple nice lakes about a hour north of there, lake naciamento [ great lake for sight seeing ] and lake san antonio right next door.
A lot will depend upon your budget. Do you plan to rent or buy? So. Cal. is not a cheap place to live unless you go for the Inland Empire. Which I would highly discourage you from doing. Plain and simple it sucks. My suggestion would be to head north. Ventura or Santa Barbara County. Clean air and not to crowded. Although coming from the East Coast you have your fair share of crowds so it might not bother you. Personally, I hate the traffic and crowds so stay out of LA as much as possible. However, with no kids maybe Newport Beach. Might fit your lifestyle better. More to do in terms of the night life etc. With family up north is more of a "bedroom" community.
You say you like clear lakes? How clear? Alpine clear? Then you'd have to go up into the Sierras which are beautiful or Big Bear. Nothing out your way compares imo and I lived in NJ. Green water clear? That's kind of what we have in So. Cal. Most of these lakes are nothing but mudholes imo. Pretty small actually. Some you can swim in and some you can't. Some allow jet skiiers and they can drive you crazy even if you are just sightseeing kicking back in your boat minding your own business. Oh and most important of all is there's a drought going on and some of these lakes are pretty low. Hopefully, that will all change with/if the El Nino hits this winter.
As for the ocean there aren't any intercoastal waterways like back east. I suppose you could cruise around San Diego harbor. It's pretty big. Tons of boaters do. Not really into that so not much help. Boating from Ventura up to Santa Barbara not good as the harbors are pretty small (3 of them). Although up around S.B. on the coast can be fantastic on certain days. Flat calm and 80+ with no humidity! See the offshore islands and the mountains. Really gorgeous.
Best of luck. Should be a nice adventure for you. Loved my time on the right coast!
Thanks for all of your replies! I haven't been on this thread (or any thread for that matter) for several weeks as life has been in a whirlwind!
To cut to the chase we are moving west! I thought we'd have a little more leeway to the north but as it is the area we'll consider is still huge! Per the terms of the job we are to become residents of one of these five counties: Ventura County, Los Angeles County, San Bernardino, Orange County, or San Diego County.
With all of life's upheavals here (selling house, cars, business, etc) we haven't even decided how to narrow down the search area. IF we can get out of Virginia soon enough hopefully we'll have some time to look around before we sign a lease. (In answer to the about we will be renting for a while - maybe a long while due to the housing price difference!)
As far as the boat is concerned we've decided that it's just too big a burden to add to the adventure. So, up it goes for sale.
'03 McKee Craft 185 Offshoreman CC with a Yamaha 115 4 stroke and everything we've accumulated for it! A complete SUV full of gear for on the water fun!
We hate to sell it but deciding between indefinite storage on the east coast vs shipping and long term storage in the LA area with unknown chances to use it... for us the answer was clear.
Hopefully I can figure out how to post it in the for sale section.
All ideas about locations within that five county area we should explore are appreciated!
I guess it depends on your lifestyle. Orange County is nice. So is San Diego. Don't care for the crowds personally so north it is for me. V.C. is really nice, Nothing like the population of the other 4 counties. Biggest city has 200k population. Lots of farm land/open space. Not what you'd think for being less than an hour from LA. Then again it could be everything you don't want! Again best of luck.
There's a saying here in San Diego that I totally agree with...."There's no intelligent life East of I-5".
Why live at the coast if you're going to be away from the coast?
Once you get about 10 miles from the beach, you might as well live anywhere else, like Arizona. Seriously though, get as close to the ocean as you can. Unless you have lot's of money it can be tough. Very expensive until you are out of the large population areas.
As far as commuting to LA for a short period, have you considered the Coaster? If possible using the train will save a lot of headaches from dealing with the traffic.
Anyways, you have my sympathies...living in Southern California might be tough to get used to. Yeah, the weather is amazing but it's not called the land of fruits and nuts for nothing.
May be transfer to Southern California - should we bring the boat?
Again best of luck.
