Moving to a warm climate?

So this last week the family vacationed in Hawaii and well - we loved it! Warm weather 80 ish, dry spent every morning enjoying our coffee and dinners on the lanai. Walked around in t-shirts and sandals. Every time I checked the weather back home I kind of felt lucky. (20 and snowing). So - to get our creative juices flowing, we're thinking about vacation property or the eye on something that leads us closer to an area we really are attracted to.
Our agenda or goal

Dry weather (or dryer, say 50-80 days of rain a year)
Warm year round (day time temps about mid 60s to 80s)
Lower humidity. (Nothing that feels like you are taking a shower as you step out of the door)
Good to great boating, ideally clear water

Thoughts?

Thanksgiving week we also visited Hawaii. Kaanapali beach on Maui to be exact.

We also love it, and go generally twice a year.

I've thought of moving to Maui several times but my wife is sure I'd get bored and feel trapped there. She thinks she'd feel the same. Costs are so high I'd have to give up my boat to do it. Or live in a Condo, or a subdivision. Ick.

We are Alaskans, and are currently trying to figure out the exact question you bring up in your post.

How do you chase the 70 degree line?

Well, the central to southern California coast is the place.

Doesn't get hot. Doesn't get cold. Doesn't rain much.

The problem is buying in a prime area is expensive, and we don't want to give up our Alaskan lakefront life only to trade it for subdivision life in California. So we are thinking our boat is a great waterfront condo that we can and would move around to stay near interesting things.

We are going exploring that very coast in two weeks with the intent on deciding just how much we like it, and just how much we'd like cruising that area in the winter.

This trip we're exploring from LA up to Santa Cruz. If its rainy we'll instead head for the San Diego area. Next trip will be either North or south out of LAX (depending on this trip). After that we'll hit the delta and the SF bay outlying areas.

In the San Diego area we can get a nice slip for the neighborhood of $800 a month. BTW thats the same as the average condo owners fee we found when looking at condos in hawaii.

If the lesser populated areas of SF bay, and the Delta are appealing it looks like you can get a slip for around $500 a month or so.

Its funny but aren't you from Washington? In January we're exploring Whidby island, Anacortes, and Sequim. This is keeping in the rain shadow. I really love Anacortes myself and the wife has not spent much time down there so she wants to consider actually moving there with some winter travel further south or in Hawaii.

So, Yes we are thinking alike.

Simple, move to the Monterey Bay Area. The water is far from "crystal clear" but the annual weather is to die for. Kevin buy a few acres inland and maintain your privacy for a reasonable price. Give Watsonville a try, if we don't purchase property in Washington soon we will look harder at either Watsonville or San Louis Obispo. YMMV

I spent eight years in San Diego, just about the finest place on earth. One hour to the mountains, two hours to the desert and wonderful weather all the time. There is value if you look for it.

I grew up in Hawaii. Lived there from 1955 to 1979 with two years off for good behavior for my senior year high school and freshman year college. Back then it was a knd of neat place to be as a kid although it got very boring and confining as I got older.

Today, no amount of money in the world would get me to go back. Interestingly, a number of people I worked with over there in the 1970s are bailing out now. Several of my best friends from the 70s have bought property here, built houses, and moved.

We know a few people from here who sold up and moved over there. One couple bought a house on Kauai, another on Oahu, and another on Maui. Within two or three years, they all moved back.

One of the guys I worked with in television production in the 70s and who moved here about four years ago is the top Director of Photography in Hawaii and he goes back almost every other month to shoot commercials and movies. He absolutely hates the place now. Says everything from the weather to crime to pollution is worlds worse than it was ten or twenty years ago.

It always baffles me when I hear people at work talk about vacationing in Hawaii. With all the fascinating places on this planet, why go there? Specially these days. The only real reason my coworkers can come up with is that it's a dirt cheap vacation.

I thought Marin might have something to say about this issue. I am over this summer here in Brisbane already, because we had such a warmer and drier spring than usual. The warmest and driest on record, as it happens, but don't worry folks - can't be climate change, surely…

Then humoungus storm the first week of summer, or was that the last week of spring..? Many houses de-roofed and cars damaged by hail, (~ 3 billion dollars damage they say all up). Now, another round of storms this weekend, and the temps have been over 30C every day. Marin was here during the 40C weekend - same weekend of the G20 - that went well - I think the heat sapped the intent out of the would be protesters. Anyway, I'm seriously considering returning to NZ when I retire. I think Picton would be nice. Nestling there at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound. Lots of vineyards nearby - not that I imbibe much. Temporate climate. Not too hot, not too cold - like baby bears porridge really. It's a dream anyway - might not work out. Tricky getting the boat over there, but she's on the market anyway, so who knows..?

Now, what was this thread about..? 0h yes, moving to warmer climate. Well, there is such a thing as too damn warm, so watch it…

http://www.visitpicton.co.nz

bshillam said:

Dry weather (or dryer, say 50-80 days of rain a year)
Warm year round (day time temps about mid 60s to 80s)
Lower humidity. (Nothing that feels like you are taking a shower as you step out of the door)
Good to great boating, ideally clear water

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Adelaide is pretty darn good.
You'd have to learn metric though. (I've converted it for you this time)

Average Days with rainfall >1mm (.04") 82
Average high in Jan (summer) 85F
Average high in July (winter) 60F
Low humidity in summer - similar to Southern California/Spain/Greece
Clear water, good fishing. I can't complain.

AusCan said:

Adelaide is pretty darn good.
You'd have to learn metric though. (I've converted it for you this time)

Average Days with rainfall >1mm (.04") 82
Average high in Jan (summer) 85F
Average high in July (winter) 60F
Low humidity in summer - similar to Southern California/Spain/Greece
Clear water, good fishing. I can't complain.

Click to expand...

Any reason you Aussie haven't suggested Perth? Never been there but have heard it has a very Mediterranean climate.

CPseudonym said:

Simple, move to the Monterey Bay Area. The water is far from "crystal clear" but the annual weather is to die for. Kevin buy a few acres inland and maintain your privacy for a reasonable price. Give Watsonville a try, if we don't purchase property in Washington soon we will look harder at either Watsonville or San Louis Obispo. YMMV

Click to expand...

Thanks for the area info!

The climate is perfect like all of the California coast it seems.

Then I did a zillow search. 3 bed, 2 bath, 1 acre, 2000 sqft, $500k

Not much there in a price range that allows retirement at my age goal.

Edit...

I did go back on Zillow and look for vacant land. Actually land isn't so bad. A nice parcel of acreage can be had in the 1-200K range. Something to think about.

The SF area down to Monterrey bay has a great climate but it also has periods of fog and lots of traffic along with high prices for housing. After living there for years it became boring from a boating perspective because of the limited places to go unless you are willing to undertake longer offshore trips to Baja etc. We didn't have the time for that while working.
After driving much of the coast of the US over years our assumed last choice FL became our first choice because of the high number of cruising destinations. It is muggy but we get used to that if we don't have to exercise outside. Housing and taxes are lower than CA bay far though I agree with others San Diego has the best climate anywhere but not many places to go.


Nothing beats having the boat behind the house and I could not see doing that in CA.

Live in AZ, keep boat in the PNW and charter worldwide. Life is good with no egregious CA prices, crowds and politics to deal with.

The best compromise seems to be NZ, but too many wrong side drivers there.

bayview said:

The SF area down to Monterrey bay has a great climate but it also has periods of fog and lots of traffic along with high prices for housing. After living there for years it became boring from a boating perspective because of the limited places to go unless you are willing to undertake longer offshore trips to Baja etc. We didn't have the time for that while working.
After driving much of the coast of the US over years our assumed last choice FL became our first choice because of the high number of cruising destinations. It is muggy but we get used to that if we don't have to exercise outside. Housing and taxes are lower than CA bay far though I agree with others San Diego has the best climate anywhere but not many places to go.


Nothing beats having the boat behind the house and I could not see doing that in CA.

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The problem that PACNW folks generally see with the south east is that its hot there. Muggy too.

We looked some around the Texas Gulf Coast but quickly determined that while winter weather is great, summers are just too hot.

The only way we could stand it is to buy a winter home and snowbird. We're considering that but its very expensive to buy then outfit yet another home at this stage in life. That said, the Gulf Coast offers some incredible values.

KSanders, you'll find a "boat load" of ex Alaska residents living in LaConner. WA. Plenty here in Whidbey IslNd too.

sunchaser said:

Live in AZ, keep boat in the PNW and charter worldwide. Life is good with no egregious CA prices, crowds and politics to deal with.

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We have given that some consideration but it requires a serious commitment to the snowbird lifestyle. Arizona summers can be quite breathtaking and summer heat extremes are what we wish to avoid. For the west coast snowbird it perhaps is the best of both worlds IMO.

Keep the ideas rolling, this is the kind of the information I was looking for. I am willing to consider something in a foreign country but would prefer English speaking. As far as the Australia - I'd consider that but would need to be in a an area where the summer weather doesn't get much hotter than 90 during the day. Also being up here in the PNW with all the islands we'd very much like something similar where there is a lot of inner coastal shoreline to explore.

nwboater said:

KSanders, you'll find a "boat load" of ex Alaska residents living in LaConner. WA. Plenty here in Whidbey IslNd too.

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Well don't tell him that, for God's sake. We're trying to keep people out, not invite them in.

bshillam said:

Also being up here in the PNW with all the islands we'd very much like something similar where there is a lot of inner coastal shoreline to explore.

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New Zealand is what you want. Particularly the south island.

And don't let right hand drive intimidate you. I've driven in the UK, the Seychelles, Australia and New Zealand. My wife says I drive better in an RHD vehicle than I do at home. They don't change the arrangement of the pedals, so if you're driving an automatic its a snap. Even the manual Land Rovers we use in the UK are easy despite the shift pattern being the same but I'm on the other side of it.

Well, here goes. We live in the hills and mountains of Tennessee and North Georgia. Town home in town and a cabin in the mountains. In July & August we sleep under a blanket in the mountains with never any A/C.

We move our boat to fun places mostly for winter usage. Usually too hot for comfortable cruising in the summers. Humidity can be almost unbearable in areas like the Chesapeake, Charleston, Savannah, and even Florida in July and August. Strangely the FL Keys are really the best part of Florida in the summer.

Because distances are so great, we have given up on the idea of cruising Moonstruck to Canada. We have just purchased a 27' H i-Lo travel trailer. We already had a great tow vehicle, so this was a rather inexpensive entry into RVing. For this coming summer we are planning to go to Maine, Nova Scotia, and loop over around the canal systems in Canada. (really just an excuse to get to Campbellford and stop by Doohers Bakery Dooher's Bakery in Campbellford, ON).

We can cover a lot of ground at 14-15 mpg. Then maybe next summer the PNW. A lot of options with that.

nwboater said:

KSanders, you'll find a "boat load" of ex Alaska residents living in LaConner. WA. Plenty here in Whidbey IslNd too.

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That is something we are seriously considering.

That is also why I posted recently asking if the water was warm enough to swim.

One choice would be to buy a home in the PACNW on a few acres. Give up our lakefront life, but have the water in the form of keeping the boat close to enjoy. We could easily trade our homes value in Alaska for one in the PACNW and come out well.

Another choice would be to buy waterfront on a bay that is warm enough to swim, kayak, etc... For example we saw two homes listed on Marrowstone Island which encloses a bay that is prime for those activities. The problem is that a waterfront home would require me to downsize from our current boat to something more economical, like the 28' cruiser we used to have.

If we made choiice #1 we could still take our current boat to Southern California or even Mexico for the winter, then it would be a much shorter journey to go to the boat for a couple weeks at a time. Then in the summer move the boat back north to our home port.

The appeal of the PACNW is that I do not have to be retired to make it happen. I could buy a second home at any time, outfit it as I see fit, then start enjoying it as a get away. The only issue is that I'd have to sell one of the homes to afford retirement in 5 years. This works because my job is out of town. I show up at the Anchorage airport once a month, and my employer drops me off at the airport 2 weeks later. I also run a business that I set up to be telephone and intrnet based. I can and do run that from anywhere.

That is why the wife likes that idea so much, and thats why she is so serious to explore the rain shadow areas of the PACNW.

Greetings,
Mr. Marin. "...They don't change the arrangement of the pedals...". You are correct but every use of the turn signals somehow turns the wipers on...rain or not.

I just returned last night from a trip to assist a buyer in the purchase of a Nordhavn in Mexico. It was a perfect 68-70 deg. in San Diego and in Ensenada. What we have considered that as a possible scenario is to keep a boat in Mexico and cruise part or parts of the year.
A 50' slip with a 46' boat is $ 430.00 per month in a high security newer marina in Ensenada.. it's about $ 700/900 for the same in San Diego. Keep the boat there and have Baja and So Cal at your disposal.. at reasonable rates.

HOLLYWOOD

ksanders said:

That is something we are seriously considering.

That is also why I posted recently asking if the water was warm enough to swim.
.

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Basically, no. There are a few small, shallow bays around that in the summer can get warm enough to swim if you like swimming in cold water.

One of the sessions in the Coast Guard Auxilliary boat in safety course the teach here is about hypothermia and its dangers. As I recall (we took the course a long time ago) the average survival time of someone who falls into Puget Sound/lower BC wearing street clothes is about 20 minutes. The water temperatures stay pretty consistent year round.

Windsurfers, surfers on the coast, snorkle and scuba divers all wear wetsuits or dry suits.

hollywood8118 said:

I just returned last night from a trip to assist a buyer in the purchase of a Nordhavn in Mexico. It was a perfect 68-70 deg. in San Diego and in Ensenada. What we have considered that as a possible scenario is to keep a boat in Mexico and cruise part or parts of the year.
A 50' slip with a 46' boat is $ 430.00 per month in a high security newer marina in Ensenada.. it's about $ 700/900 for the same in San Diego. Keep the boat there and have Baja and So Cal at your disposal.. at reasonable rates.

HOLLYWOOD

Click to expand...

Yes, Cruiseport in Ensenada is half ther price of San Diego and the same climate.
My wife is scared of Mexico, but I looked at Cruiseport and even think there's an open area adjacent to the marina that we could potty the dogs easily.

I just looked it up. Average water temperature of Puget Sound in July is 53 degrees f.

Moonstruck said:

Well, here goes. We live in the hills and mountains of Tennessee and North Georgia. Town home in town and a cabin in the mountains. In July & August we sleep under a blanket in the mountains with never any A/C.

We move our boat to fun places mostly for winter usage. Usually too hot for comfortable cruising in the summers. Humidity can be almost unbearable in areas like the Chesapeake, Charleston, Savannah, and even Florida in July and August. Strangely the FL Keys are really the best part of Florida in the summer.

Because distances are so great, we have given up on the idea of cruising Moonstruck to Canada. We have just purchased a 27' H i-Lo travel trailer. We already had a great tow vehicle, so this was a rather inexpensive entry into RVing. For this coming summer we are planning to go to Maine, Nova Scotia, and loop over around the canal systems in Canada. (really just an excuse to get to Campbellford and stop by Doohers Bakery Dooher's Bakery in Campbellford, ON).

We can cover a lot of ground at 14-15 mpg. Then maybe next summer the PNW. A lot of options with that.

Click to expand...

Don, we also have and still are to some extent considering a RV snowbird situation. Thats what my next door neighbor did for a decade.

He'd leave Alaska in early October and come back in early May. Winters would be exploring, with allot of time on the Gulf Coast.

Thats what I'm thinking about doing with our boat, or possibly a RV. I like the idea of doing that with the boat, but a RV is not out of the question at all. RVing gives you something a boat does not... A car when you get there, and the abiility to pull over for a dog potty break.

West Coastal areas of fl often have a sea breeze absent in many other places. Ocean water being cooler than land results in highs rarely above Low 90s while inland ls hotter. No way around the humidity though.
After 15 years boating in west fl I don't regret our decision to relocate from Sf. Just don't expect to be happy with a sundacer type open boat.

Tax

I am working on a sailboat whose owner is an Alaskan. Last year bought a home in near Tacoma. HE SAYS HE WILL HAVE TO PAY ABOUT TEN PERCENT OF THE VALUE OF HIS BOAT IN TAXES to relocate it to Washington from California Same for motor Vehicles. Since Alaska has no sales tax, I guess Washington wants some?. When I brought my boat boat down to Cal from Oregon, California waived sales tax as the boat had been in used in Oregon for over a year. Keeping your boat in the Bay Area has the weather your looking for 60 deg winters, with some cruising into the delta and up and down the coast to Monterrey, Santa Cruise, Half Moon Bay and north to Bodega Bay. The variety of things to do here is unparalleled anywhere in the world. It's not the tropics, but it's unlimited fun. Hell you can dive,bike ,sail and ski all on the same day, maybe even take in a world class play that evening.

Donsan said:

Any reason you Aussie haven't suggested Perth? Never been there but have heard it has a very Mediterranean climate.

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We lived in Sydney for two years and then Perth two years and visited Adelaide and Brisbane.

I will take Perth hands down over any place in OZ and 99% of places in the US.

ksanders said:

Yes, Cruiseport in Ensenada is half ther price of San Diego and the same climate.
My wife is scared of Mexico, but I looked at Cruiseport and even think there's an open area adjacent to the marina that we could potty the dogs easily.

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We walked around downtown at night and never felt any issue, family's walking with kids is always a good sign. Saw many dogs on boats at cruiseport..last year when I did a delivery trip through there we had 2 big dogs aboard and absolutely no issues.
Security is tight, I wouldn't hesitate to leave a boat there.
Hollywood

Scary said:

Keeping your boat in the Bay Area has the weather your looking for 60 deg winters, with some cruising into the delta and up and down the coast to Monterrey, Santa Cruise, Half Moon Bay and north to Bodega Bay. The variety of things to do here is unparalleled anywhere in the world. It's not the tropics, but it's unlimited fun. Hell you can dive,bike ,sail and ski all on the same day, maybe even take in a world class play that evening.

Click to expand...

And you don't have to live in the expensive bay area to enjoy sf bay and delta waters. My marina commute is 1:15, about the farthest I'd want to drive to be able to enjoy my boat on a regular basis. I'd like to move closer to within 30 minutes of the marina, but life is full of compromises on the path to happiness.