Farewell to Florida

I had a great time in Florida. The people were nice, the beaches were great and the weather was awesome.  

I thought the birds and flowers in Florida were absolutely stunning. The beaches were what I call sugar-sand beaches meaning very few rocks and barefoot friendly. It was a pretty blue-green color and the ocean breeze really set a paradise feel. The ocean here is warm and the waves are actually quite small. If you are looking to surf big waves, you have to know where you are going because most places the ocean is quite calm.

A lot of people here are scuba divers. In fact, learning to scuba dive here is like learning to ride bikes in most other places. There are some amazing dive spots which I have posted quite a few videos about. (See previous posts).

There are a LOT of people here however. Getting away from crowds is a difficult thing to do. There are also a lot of what I call “silver people” here. Snowbirds are everywhere starting around October to about April. Also during these months, a lot of athletes come to Florida. Sports teams and equestrians team come here to train during the winter. Like I said, lots of people in Florida.

There are some amazing cities here and there is a lot of money here. Million dollar yachts and beach front second homes are everywhere.

There is one thing I found not so much fun about Florida. Everything is designated because there are so many people here. This is where one parks for this part of town. This beach from here to here is only for resort owners. This park is for pets but it ends here and this park is for non-pet owners. This board walk is for hotel guests only, this parking lot is for platinum members only and so on. I found myself being politely told on more than one occasion I wasn’t allowed to be here.

People here are friendly enough and most places are safe and clean. Of course, every big city like Tampa, Orlando and Miami all have those certain spots one really shouldn’t walk through alone at night.

The weather here was a bit bipolar. In the morning it would be cold, windy and rainy at 60 degrees and then 4 hours later in the afternoon it was high 70’s and sunny. I did find the humidity here to be more bearable than in South Carolina and Texas on most days because I lived only ¾ of a mile from the ocean so there was almost always a nice ocean breeze.  That little breeze would make all the difference when it comes to humidity.

I really enjoyed Florida. There are so many things to do and so many different ways to play. Disney World and Busch Gardens, scuba diving and jet skiing, hiking and fan boat tours and so on.

It was really a fun place to visit.