If you could live and boat anywhere in the US?

Ok guys, I LOVE reading this site, all the great advice, all the great adventures...

So let's say getting your trawler there from wherever you live now would not be a problem,*where in the US would you want to live?* From a purely boating perspective!* What would be an awesome place to live / have your boat so you could use it to go to fun, beautiful, etc, places and "live the dream"?

Being that I spent most of my formative years in North Carolina I am kind of leaning towards somewhere there.* Beaufort is one of my favorite towns, and from there I can get on the ICW and head... all kinds of places...* but then again, as much as Marin says it rains all the time, the PNW looks like an awesome plave to explore.* Hmm, or maybe Texas? You guys sure make that sound good.**The NE sounds too cold for my thin blood.* I live in California, after all!

I look foward to reading your thoughts!

Chesapeake Bay. Been there via boat several times for extended vacations and I'd like to spend several years exploring the area.

So far as I'm concerned there is only one place I want to live, fly, drive, and boat on the planet, and that is the area between the south end of Puget Sound in Washington State up the BC inside waters up to about Glacier Bay at the top of SE Alaska. My wife and I have flown this area extensively in a de Havilland Beaver on floats all through the 1980s and 90s, but so far we've only explored by boat as far north as Desolation Sound in the Grand Banks and the south end of Queen Charlotte Strait in the trailerable Arima.

Second choice, but a very, very distant second, is the coast of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Isand, Newfoundland).* I've seen a small portion of the Maine coast and we've spent some time on Prince Edward Island.* I think I could get into boating in that area and really like it.

There is no third choice.* While there are neat things to do with boats along the US east coast, the Gulf, and in California, I find little attraction in the physical environments.* I'm not a fan of Flat and I don't like shorelines with lots of people living on them and I don't have any interest in marina cruising.* And having grown up in Hawaii, I've had my fill of sun and "tropical" islands, so the Bahamas, etc. have no appeal for me at all (except for the fishing).

I like weather and the moods and mystery it can bring.* I don't like wind as it messes up both boating and flying.* But I love rain, snow, fog, mist, etc.* If I never saw the sun again that would be fine with me after having nearly 30 non-stop years of it.* I like big mountains that drop straight into the water. I like being around eagles, otters, herons, ravens, moose, and bears.* I like catching 30 pound salmon and 100 pound halibut.* I like challenges like 17-foot tides and currents that can go two and three times the speed of our boat.* I like a tiny element of danger in what I do, not because of some macho thing but because I think it keeps life intriguing.

Outside of the US the one area I've been where boating looks like it would be an interesting and at times exciting challenge is northern Scotland, where we've spent a fair amount of time.* And from photos I've seen, the South Island of New Zealand looks like it could offer good boating.

I and my film crew have been to coastal locations in SE Asia, Malasia, Australia, New Zealand (north island only), Japan, China, Greece, Malta, Norway, the Middle East, Turkey, the Seychelles, Reunion Island, Panama, Brazil, and Chile.* All of these places were certainly interesting-- sometimes even fascinating--- but none of them had any appeal to me in terms of wanting to stay or get into boating there.

I made the decision to move here from Hawaii while standing on the deck of the BC ferry "Queen of Prince Rupert" in 1977.* On a six week camping and fishing vacation in the Yukon my friend and I had made some extra money pulling a Jeep out of a lake with the winch on the front of my Land Rover, and this money allowed us to take the ferry south to Vancouver Island rather than drive the long slog down the boring-unless-you've-never-been-on-it Alaska Highway.* The ferry left Prince Rupert in a dense fog and the fog burned off about the time we entered the top end of narrow Grenville Channel.* The sight totally blew me away.* Salt water, with all the dynamics and life that come with it, but protected by islands with big mountains and snow on them.* It took me two years to get it together but I finally made the move.* I only wish I'd done it sooner.




-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 1st of September 2010 12:25:05 PM

My choice would be SE Alaska. I've done it 5 times and still can't get enough of it. Talk about wildlife, scenery and great places to pull in to, Alaska has it all!

2nd choice..Sea of Cortez. As much marine life as Alaska (maybe even more!) but the coastline and mountains don't hold a candle to Alaska. The big benefit of cruising the Sea of Cortez is going over the side to cool off at a minute's notice. Great sea to gunk hole in.


-- Edited by SeaHorse II on Wednesday 1st of September 2010 03:56:18 PM

West coast of Florida, Tampa, Sarasota, or Ft Myers, lots of good beaches and cruising areas, a short hop down to the Keys or across Okechobee Waterway to the East Coast and Bahamas.
Steve W

I just returned from 3 weeks in Desolation sound on my boat and one week on a cruise ship up as far as Glacier bay and back to Vancouver. Got to agree with Marin on the scenery. It is fabulous all the way up. The warm water and lack of dangerous wildlife in Desolation sound will keep me going there for a long time to come, but I admit to a hankering for the more remote inlets up the coast a ways. Maybe when work no longer truncates my vacation time.
I have cruised Turkey and the BVI. They have their attractions, but for a place to keep going back to, they don't hold a candle to what we have right here.
Marin, your pictures in Desolation are great. I have my own in all the same places.
Walt; yours demonstrate one of the reasons I don't have much of a hankering to take my own boat to Glacier Bay - no way going ashore is safe with those grizzlies all around.

If you can teleport me to the Great Lakes in late June and get me outta there by Early October....that would be my first choice. I think Marin is missing a gem here....cool water and weather and no people and abundant wildlife with crystal clear water.

John,Very good choice but I wouldn't give up Alaska for it.
Walt,
Why do you keep scaring people w those bears? And for those that are scared * * ... thats healthy but I feel acceptably comfortable w "bear spray". These bears on the NW coast aren't "Grizzly Bears". Same DNA, same species but different personality and the Costal Brown Bear is twice as big. Basically as heavy as a Moose. They can be quite dangerous, to be sure and I'm not going to guarantee your safety but it's rare anybody getting hurt.
Marin,
You get to go to the head of the class for that first pic * * * *....BEAUTIFUL!


-- Edited by nomadwilly on Wednesday 1st of September 2010 09:46:09 PM

Baker wrote:

If you can teleport me to the Great Lakes in late June and get me outta there by Early October....that would be my first choice. I think Marin is missing a gem here....cool water and weather and no people and abundant wildlife with crystal clear water.

Click to expand...

I've spent some time on the Great Lakes.* Well, lakes Michigan and Superior.* Canoeing and sailing and whatnot as a councilor at a summer camp.* I liked it, but they're freshwater lakes--- they don't have the dynamics of salt water.* And while they're large enough to have tides of a sort, it's just not the same as a salt water coast.* At least not to me.*

And it's pretty flat up there.* Not as flat as the east and Gulf*coasts but compared to the PNW, BC, and SE Alaska, the terrain around the lakes is flat, and we've already established that I*don't like flat.

It's very pretty and unique in it's own way---- I mentioned a canoe camping trip we took to Isle Royale National Park (we and the canoes went to the island on a ferry).* It was a really neat place and I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience it.

But the original question in this thread was where would you like to live and boat if you could be anywhere, and the Great Lakes is not on my short list of those places.

As to fear of bears, there are very effective means of protecting yourself (and the bears) in SE Alaska, or anywhere else. One, carry a firearm.* Not a magnum pistol--- the only protection you'll get from that is if the bear starts laughing so hard when he sees it he forgets to charge and eat you.* Or you might be able to*jam it in his mouth to hold his jaws apart as he takes his first bite.* We were advised by people we know in the Fish and Game Dept. when we started taking floatplane trips into the coast range in BC and Alaska, where bears, both black and brown, are abundant, to carry a 12-gauge shotgun with the largest shell capacity we could find*loaded alternately with slugs and buckshot.

But the most effective protection is to let the bear know you're coming.* And the absolute best way to do that is available for cheap at your local West Marine store.* It's those little compressed gas boat horns.* We learned about them on one of our floatplane trips to*SE Alaska when a*fisheries*guy said that's what they use when counting salmon during*the spawning season.**Before the horns, bear encounters were almost constant since the bears were counting salmon, too.* When they started using the horns, the bear*encounters dropped to near zero.* When we camp with the plane or go ashore from the boat*in remote areas of BC or wherever, we take them with us and beep them off every so often.* And we also carry a very short, fully loaded,*extended magazine, 12-gauge shotgun at all times when we're ashore in bear country.* I can tell you from personal experience that the horns and the shotgun both work as advertised.

Don't bother with bells on your ankles--- their effectiveness can be measured by the number of bells found in bear poop.* Bear spray can work but by the time you manage to hit the bear where it will feel it it will be so close to you that its momentum will carry it into you and once it lands on you, blind, stingy eyes or not, it will pretty much disassemble you.

So if you want to boat into remote areas up north and go ashore and do a bit of exploring, buy a legal 12-gauge shotgun and learn how to use it, *and buy*some compressed gas boat horns with extra cannisters and beep them off*periodically when you're ashore.* And buy a book about bear behavior and learn where they like to hang out.* Being able to recognize*places where*a bear may like to bed down or rest or pass the day goes a long way toward not having an encounter with one.*



-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 1st of September 2010 10:52:20 PM

Eric:

Those bear photos were taken at the south end of Hood, Bay. About 10 miles by 14' boat from Angoon.

We were fly fishing a stream that dumps in to Chatham Strait and as the tide was coming in, our guide said it was only a mile walk up the stream and the odds of seeing some Coastal Brownies were excellent. Since he was packing a shot gun with rifle slugs, we gave him the green light and proceeded to tie the boat to a tree and provide it with 400' of line to cover any tidal changes. (The water was only 2' deep, so any tidal outflow, should we be late in getting back to the boat, would result in our boat drifting a considerable way down stream)

After about a 30 minute walk through bear grass and mud that sucked at our boots, we arrived at a fork in the stream where Morry (our guide) told us to relax and wait. The temperature that day was in the 80's and the sun was intense. I proceeded to fish the stream while the horse flys were devouring us and caught about 15 Dollies in 20-25 minutes. It was then that our guide told me to drop eveything and get back from the edge of the stream. (About 15 yards) We looked down the stream and* 300 yards away was a mother Brownie & her 3 cubs crossing to our side of the water. We were crouched in the grass, which was only about 3' tall, waiting patiently for them to approach. My wife had the video cam while I assumed a prone position in some shorter grass, my Cannon Digital at the ready. It only took the bears* about 10 minutes to arrive at our position so we could begin fiming. My heart was pumping a good 150-200 beats per minute as I have hunted big game most of my life and knew that if things went badly, a mother bear would be shot and 3 -2 year old cubs would be on their own. (If they were lucky.)

The bears stopped at the exact spot I was fishing from and sniffed the ground for about a minute. They then raised their heads, sniffing the air, and looked directly at us. One of the cubs, a young male, started towards us and our guide stood up, raising his shot gun above his head (to look as big as he could) and barked an agressive "NO".* The bear wheeled back toward his mother who was entering stream to escape the heat. While she swam and the cubs frolicked, we continued to shoot video and stills. The whole process lasted about 40 minutes before they left the scene and returned to the trees.

We have a good 25 minutes of video and numerous stills that we cherish as we have had extensive conversations about that day and will never do it again. (On foot that is.)



-- Edited by SeaHorse II on Thursday 2nd of September 2010 12:55:21 AM

If it had to be in the US, I'm with you, I'd look closely and Beaufort (grown up in NC), but I like Tampa or the keys. However, I really want to get to Montego Bay or Port Antonio, Jamaica. I doubt that will ever happen though.

Walt,Like most tourists that have the balls and the guide type people that cater to them playing with bears, whales and other wildlife is great sport * * *...for the people. Basically any contact we have w wildlife is negative. The bears aren't there for our entertainment.
Marin,
Well you seem to know a lot about bears for someone from outside and I think the information you recieved was from F&G people who indeed usually know what ther'e talking about. A lot of people feel safer w a lethal weapon like a gun and feel spray is like pack'in weed killer. Real men carry spray. I agree noise is the best avoidance and avoidance is best for all. Big pistols are sometimes better than big sticks but ther'e so heavy the rifle is prolly a better choice. Spray is probably a bit more effective on Black Bears since ther'e so much smaller but the thing I didn't mention about spray is you can get a good dose of the stuff yourself if your'e downwind. The "real men" thing was to be funny Ha Ha.

Walt that sounds like the experience of a lifetime, but not one I would seek out!*

I've a friend who spends half the year in Seattle now and does a lot of cruising up there and takes lots of photos.* She has some INCREDIBLE bear photos which I believe are taken from her boat.* http://www.fromthedinghyandbeyond.com/gallery.html

Jennifer:

Those photos are, indeed, incredible! That's my favorite part of cruising SE Alaska. Although the scenery is beyond fantastic, it's the wildlife that gets my heart pumping.

Since we're doing cruising photos, here's a link to a few from SE Alaska this summer:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bounty257/AK2010#

-- Edited by RCook on Thursday 2nd of September 2010 05:42:11 PM

nomadwilly wrote:Marin,
Well you seem to know a lot about bears for someone from outside

Click to expand...

I' ve been around them a lot starting in 1973 with my first trip to Alaska when we were charged (sort of) by a male grizzly in McKinley National Park.* I wasn't too worried that time because there were three of us together and I knew I could outrun the girl.

But my wife and I have been in bear country on all our floatplane trips to SE Alaska and have had encounters with browns and blacks many times.* Out of all of them only one had a less than ideal outcome.

And we've had many black bear encounters on our fishing and hunting trips in BC over the years.

They're all really magnificent creatures and every time we're around one we regard it as a privilege.

Same thing with wolves, although I've only been around them in the wild twice.

*


-- Edited by Marin on Thursday 2nd of September 2010 06:46:16 PM

Wonderful Wonderful Wonderful.*

Richard these are stunning pictures. I recognize the last two as Kasaan. We took our guests there a few days ago. Very seldom do you find totems in fair condition out in the woods. I like to take visitors on the trail and stop next to the totems. Soon they see them and about jump out of their pants with surprise. I don't know how many times I've taken the camera out on the afterdeck to catch a whale and no pic. I haven't been in ice waters for a long time and those ice pics take me back. I'm pumped about next years cruising. I didn't know you were a photographer .........now I do! Thanks for posting.

North Carolina. Period. While in the USCG I was in the great lakes, Charleston, South Florida, Keys, lots of time on west coast of Florida with family in the Palmetto/Bredenton area....have done lots of deliveries up to the NE. I think I have been to 75% of the islands with a name south and east of Miami while in the USCG and for vacation or on a delivery.....All of those areas are great, but I like the moderate temps year round in the Carolinas...plus you are halfway between the southern latitudes for winter cruising and the NE for summer cruising. NC has lots of cruising areas as welll...

I do have to agree with Baker though, as far as cruising if I could teleport our boat the the west coast of Michigan for June, July and August, I would be there. We still have a family farm in the middle of the state, and between growing up boating and being in the USCG on that coast, it is beautiful. 400' tall Sand dunes, clear water (looks like you are in the Bahamas most days during those months), lots of protected harbors relatively close together, and as long as you are already moored in a protected harbor, some of the craziest storms screaming across lake Michigan I have ever seen. Also some of the scariest. Think 30' breaking seas in 30 degree weather during a November gale in a motorlifeboat. That lake is like a bathtub, no gentle swells. Whether is is 3' or 30', it is straight up and down with no period. Even with all the safety gear you can imagine, in the best motor lifeboats in the world, those kind of conditions will give you white aching knucles and a serious pucker factor..that being said, I hope I get the time to explore those lakes at trawler speed someday.....

Cruising the PNW is a big step into blue water cruising, particularly if you do the QCs and outside access to Sitka and Craig. The PNW is 24/7/12 whereas NE, Great Lakes and SE (hurricanes) are seasonal. But, they're all great, it just comes down to where you prefer to live and play. Certainly family enters into it.

Baker, I've spent time boating out of Traverse City, you couldn't be more correct. You gotta love Newport and Bermuda too. And 5 years ago I went sailing in Finland, amongst the gorgeous islands close to Helsinki. So many nice spots and we haven't even got the discussion *to the south seas for fun lovely places.

Wouldn't it be nice to be like Dashew and do it all in grand style while advancing the genre.

What a great topic, and what great responses!

As someone who has been sailing the Chesapeake for a while, I do not particularly recommend it, at least for sailing. It is good in the Spring until it gets hot, but then it really gets hot and humid, and the wind dies. About now (September) the wind picks up and the temperature drops, and we might get another 2 or we might get another 4 months of good sailing. The scenery is OK, with some very charming creeks and towns, but it would not be very high on my list if I were listing best boating places.
I would suggest Southern Sweden and Southern Norway. Beautiful water, delightful towns, a zillion islands and coves, pretty landscape. Wonderful food. A bit expensive and the season is short, but Oh, my! The days are long and life is sweet.

In fact, the PNW reminds me of Scandinavia, which is one of the reasons I want to explore it more.

in the U.S. i could spend a year or two in the Chesapeake. Outside it would be the Abaco's in the Bahama's, the the British Virgins, then the Grenadines in the southern Caribbean
John

Impossible, as the weather is not "Great" 12 months anywhere, tgho San Diego is close , cruising there sucks. Hawaii or the Baja is a long way.

Fl or the Bahamas in winter , New England to further north is fine in summer.

A sail boat with better offshore ability than most "trawlers" would enjoy Bermuda ,
as a pit stop on the way to the Caribbean.


Did 3 winters commuting via Bermuda , and it was grand.

Thank God for Aires self steering & with 3 crew , 3 hrs on ,6hrs off was a lark.

Pineapple Girl wrote:

**where in the US would you want to live?* From a purely boating perspective!*

Click to expand...

I live here.

SD

*looks like a advertisment for Bayliner boats Eh?


-- Edited by skipperdude on Thursday 23rd of September 2010 04:05:25 PM

Hiya,
*** Nice country and pictures but how are you able to post next years pictures (08/14/2011) now?* Sure your real name isn't Rod Serling?

-- Edited by RT Firefly on Thursday 23rd of September 2010 04:20:59 PM

-- Edited by RT Firefly on Thursday 23rd of September 2010 04:21:21 PM

Yeah and I still have a VCR that flashes12:00
*
*For those shots I was 25 ft off the water up on the tuna tower
and I can't even program a camera.

Old age sucks.

Gimme a beer.

SD

The worst part of old age is that you never get to practice before it happens.

SkipperDude
Those are awsome pics!! What a beautiful area.

Interesting topic.* It is also, for me, one that is hard to answer.* Where indeed.* My home is on the Tennessee River.* I also have a smaller boat here.* This is not a bad cruising area at all--------especially this time of year.* I have also lived in Eastern North Carolina and kept a boat at Morehead City for about 5 yrs.* I have lived in Savannah, GA.* My boat has been at Hilton Head, SC for several months at least 3 times.* I kept a boat on the Gulf Coast at Orange Beach, AL for 10 years.* SW FL has been our choice for wintering over for the last several winters.* There have been 3 extended stays on the Chesapeake Bay, and we are planning on heading back in the spring.* We have cruised the area from LA to DE pretty well.* That includes the Keys and Abacos.

My boats have ranged from 17' Boton Waler to a*21'*Grady White*to a *convertible, to a Trawler.* I now have a 42' Downeast express cruiser and 25' center console fisherman.

Which do I like, and where would I live?* Well, in the words of Jimmy Buffet, "indecision may or may not be my problem".* I like it all.* So, for me, it is having a home in the beautiful Tennessee Valley and boating on the coast.* At least for now.

Great topic and on point for me as we are discussing where we want to be in retirement. We have been cruising Puget Sound and the sourthern Gulf Islands over the past 7 years in an express cruiser. The express cruiser has given us the ability to see a lot of this area we could not have seen at 8 kts due to short vacation schedules. With retirement pending we are focused on moving up to a trawler with which we can spend several months a year cruising, the question has been where.

I must admit we are not world travelers but neither of us has been anywhere we like better than the PNW. The cruising we have done here has just left us wanting more and in a bigger way. The scenery is so dramatic and the temperate climate suits us very well. The stories and pictures we see of cruises to SE Alaska have us wanting more. Keep up with the thread and convince us otherwise.

I will say that those 38ft Bayliners look 10 times better with the cover over the cockpit!!!!