Any Florida experts?

hasbeenskier, jbear, The Godfather, FL Inboards, adamt are a few of our senior guys that probably help you out in theis manner. One of them will pop in here sooner or later.

Morfoot wrote: hasbeenskier, jbear, The Godfather, FL Inboards, adamt are a few of our senior guys that probably help you out in theis manner. One of them will pop in here sooner or later.

Yeah. That senior part, your funny. Lots of blue hairs according to my wife.

Shoot an email to JBear. I'm sure he would be more than happy to help, as would the Godfather and any others down there.

Mike

I dont know sarasota specifically... but i have done some skiing with the floridians. They do ski, they dont flail around needlessly in murky water with the engine turned off, but they do ski. Be reasonable, leave the engine running.. hop in the water equipment on and handle in hand and enjoy your set without a second thought. In the open clear lakes it is a non factor. In the brown narrow rivers/swamp like areas I would recommend a pass or two through your intended skiing area before hopping in.

If you look at the actual amount of documented gator attacks in florida it quickly becomes apparent you would have to be pretty unlucky or pretty reckless to be the one guy. Whole lot more people eating gators in florida than there are gators eating people.

As for open water boating, you might want to consider taking a captains class before you get too crazy and perhaps take Sherriff Brody's sage advice into account "you're gonna need a bigger boat"

Your Aunt and Uncle live in a very cool area for skiing/boarding. We are close to there. Central Florida is the place to be in my opinion. To busy and costly on the coasts. Countless lakes to ski on. Always good water somewhere close. We ski the Chain-Of-Lakes in the Winter Haven area. Sure we see gators...but have never had trouble and we ski most every saturday..year-round.
Coming from Wisconsin you will love the weather. The guy I ski with..Eddie Olson is from up there and he is very glad to be here.

john

elephants do the same thing........

I was at the Chicago Motorcycle Show a couple of years ago, and there was a booth set up there advertising a residential development in Florida where you "ride where you live, and live where you ride". Can't remember the name place, but, it sounded pretty cool. It was by Lake Weir. Someplace in central FL I believe. Might be worth checking out. Motorcycles, water skiing, warm weather. Doesn't get any better.

Ski-A-Rees

tullfooter wrote: My folks had a condo on Siesta Key (Siesta Breakers). My mom is now on Longboat Key (my dad passed away 7 years ago). My father-in-law has a place at the Breakers. We have done a little skiing on the inner coastal. It is not hard to find decent water in the mornings. One problem that has risen is the increase manatee areas. They are no wake which means no skiing. There is a Show Ski team called Ski-A-Rees that is based off the north tip of Longboat Key near the Moat Marine. http://www.skiarees.com/ They put on a show every Sunday during their season. I got to foot with them during a couple of their Saturday practices.   Great bunch of people who would be a good source of information about skiing spots. BTW, If you are into golf, Sarasota county is a great place to be.

Ana Maria island
Siesta key
Longboat key

That is her short list. Too bad for her it is really short, because I am not keen on a large mortgage payment and so much house work. Having a house in my mind means you have alot of work to do all year round. We have appointments for 2 condos, both in Bradenton.

Leave the gray hairs, they run tons of senior citizens discounts down there

Just get used to eating dinner early, say 3:45 to 5pm because it is a lot cheaper. Apparently Florida restuarants charge more for a chicken dinner just because it is dark out.

Florida is a great place! We were going for 4 days, and ended up spending eleven days.   Those of you that live there, have a beautiful place to hang your hat.

I had my truck stolen back in Wisconsin and we happened to find a steal on a new Ford truck which I drove back. This is my first diesel, well that I own anyway and pulling the boat is going to be a pleasure now!   Maybe Madison is over priced, but I thought Florida was reasonable especially the real estate and vehicles.

Nothing is official yet, I have boys in school, and to be honest, I was pretty let down with the two schools we were able to visit. I go to Tunica Miss. several times a year, and in March I am going to take an extra few days to return to Fl. when I can get a better handle on where I am going to send the boys to school.

Thanks for the tips.

Yeah, sorry to say my wife is committed. More like "when" than "if".
We have the boys school to worry about, some health care issues for myself, two that spend a few weeks indoors here in the summer because of allergies, and tons of crap to get rid of at two different residences.

Besides I am getting tired of losing her for a total of 28 days a year while she visits family there. I lose her a week every month already, because she is a woman.