Wintering along the east coast... help

Hi All, I am about 7-8 months ahead of myself here but just thinking about initial planning. I live aboard in upstate NY on Lake Ontario and am looking for suggestions for a port to call home for about 5 months next winter to escape the deep freeze. I have been living off the boat in Miami for this past winter and don't think its necessary to come this far south. I am 24 yrs old, work isn't very important for those months, I'm sure I can find something to keep myself busy. I work hard during the summer. But I would like to be in a area I can have some fun. Any advice or thoughts you want to share are greatly appreciated.

Side note, I plan on taking my time heading south to whatever my destination may be and same forth going home to upstate NY in spring. Lots of the travel will be staying on the hook so if I found some nice dockage or even a mooring for a few months that would be ideal.


Thanks!!

Wilmington, NC...Charleston, SC....Savannah, Ga....Myrtle Beach also a possibility.

All places have long term marinas that will work a deal...all have relatively warm days but cooler nights. Can't say you'll be going to the beach or swimming in these places, you may have frost on the dock more than once or twice...but all in all..not bad at all. Travelled Jersey to Brunswick, Ga this winter and will say I have enjoyed it despite no snorkeling.

Marathon Fl, in the Keys and moorings are cheap, great community , loads of other cruisers , motor and sail.

FF said:

Marathon Fl, in the Keys and moorings are cheap, great community , loads of other cruisers , motor and sail.

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He was looking for something closer to Ontario, not 90 miles farther away. The Carolinas fit the bill. There is a mooring field in Carolina Beach now, fun area close to Wilmington w/ a lot of people the OP's age. For dockage, winter rates in Wilmington and environs are cheaper than summer. Charleston or Savannah would probably be my first choices if I was the OP, with even more going on than Wilmington and lots of young people. Great towns.

Charleston City Marina usually has a winter special. I am thinking about it in a year or so myself. There's a new Port City Marina just upstream of the city docks at Wilmington. They may be willing to deal.

Charleston City Marina | The City Boatyard | The Bristol Marina | Special Offers

Port City Marina | Wilmington, North Carolina

Moonstruck said:

...There's a new Port City Marina just upstream of the city docks at Wilmington. They may be willing to deal.

Port City Marina | Wilmington, North Carolina

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Don: The new marina looks good. We kept our last boat in Wilmington for seven months in 2005 at Bennett Brothers. We loved the City. With the university there the city has a good downtown with great eats, cheap drinks and good music. NC is a property tax state though so don't stay to long.

Charleston does have a free trolley to get you around town...a big plus for cruisers..plus several marinas do have courtesy vans.

Savannah, Isle of Hope Marina has a friendly staff and 2 courtesy cars they practically beg you to take advantage of.

If staying on the hook is what you prefer..then the tidal ranges up in North Carolina is less of an issue to deal with (3-4 feet vs the 8-9 feet near Savannah).

The winter daily high temps all the way from shore points south of Cape Hatteras to central Florida only span a few degrees much of the time. Today, the forecast high near Oriental, NC is near 68 and in Daytona Beach, Fl it's only 73. I find that spread of only 5-8 degrees is pretty typical. Granted, the farther south you go, the warmer the nights to a point and the days do warm up quicker as the sun is stronger. But all in al,l once past Hatteras...you really have to get to South Florida till you see major changes in the weather if you stay right along the coast.

I did a delivery of a 43 foot Sea Ray many years ago from Connecticut to Charleston, SC with the owner of the boat who said he wanted to get away from Connecticut winters.
I asked him how he picked Charleston and he said that he called a few different cities and the area and asked if they had snow plows, Charleston did not have any.