Retirement: Pensacola-ish...

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Frankly

You guys don't know what condo city looks like until you see Cartagena. Makes Miami Beach look like Carabelle.


We do have hurricanes and they do seem to be getting stronger. It is hot and humid in the Summer, but never any trouble walking these sugar white beaches.

The coast between the FL AL border down to Apalachicola is one of the most enjoyable I have ever encountered (not quite up to Cam Ranh Bay standards, but most everyone speaks some version of English ). Not nearly as crowded from a watercraft perspective.

I moved here 55 years back, no plans to ever live anywhere else.


Frankly

Depends on where you are in Cartagena, the new section or the old. The old section is still beautiful and well preserved...nothing like that in the panhandle.

I was also puzzled by comments about sand too hot to walk on. Ive spent a LOT of time on the "Redneck Riviera", which has the most beautiful super fine white sand Ive encountered anywhere...its like sugar...and never had any trouble walking on the sand there. Black sand beaches, or even the brown sand of the MS Gulf Coast, are a different story! [emoji44]


Re comments about the heat, anywhere in coastal Florida gets hot...good for acclimitizing to life in Cartagena!

[Ex-Calif]

Here are some shots of what's calling us - LOL...

First is a shot of one of the 3 docks in the bay. Second is a boat we looked at. Third is a shot of my wife (in white shirt & shorts) with our place in the background. If you count 2 buildings past the condo with the green windows, then the giant round tower, our unit is in one of the 2 6 story buildings on the beach. Just beyond us a huge Hyatt (I think) is going up.

So, yeah, Bocagrande is completely booming. The condo owners were offered like $250k each to sell out for redevelopment and voted it down last time. "Reportedly" the circular tower developer paid people cash for their condos and gave each owner a new condo in the new building. We would like to hold out for a deal like that.

Next is my Corona commercial recreation and last is a selfie in front of our condo with the condo entrance across the street.

Retirement is getting real enough to touch almost.

edit - I have no idea why my selfie is upside down. I even tried to re-upload a rotated version - weird.

[sailorboy1]

The only thing about sailing for Pensacola it that its a long way east/west that a larger sailboat can get in/out. But i enjoyed my 2 stays this year in Pensacola.

[zemurray]

We keep our boat in Pensacola and commute to it, spending about a week a month there. We have looked at slips and various property for investment purposes all along the emerald coast. We’ve also spent quite a bit of time sailing in all the bays from Alabama, down to St Andrews Bay, both inside and outside routes. A few of the previous comments I’m not sure I agree with?

The sand in Pensacola, Perdido Key, Santa Rosa Island, Navarre, Destin, PCB, is all white good cool sand. You can walk on it in the hottest of days.

Hurricane Michael didn’t touch Pensacola, there was no damage at all. The top wind speeds they saw was around 40kt. We were sailing down there a week later. The damage started around Destin, but mostly PCB, Mexico beach. PCB is starting to recover, about 25% of the Marina’s are back online, and others still working on coming up.

With any boat larger than 30ft, your are going to be limited to outside routes between the bays. There are some 48’ bridges between Santa Rosa Sound, and Choctawhatchee Bay. Outside of those, I “think” the rest are 65’.

Access to the gulf in Pensacola is about the easiest out of any of them, except PCB perhaps. I’m just off the Santa Rosa Sound and I can be at the Pass in about 75 minutes (its 7 miles).

Slip fees in Pensacola, and Alabama are far cheaper than Destin and PCB. There are a lot more sailboats as well. I find that Destin really favors big motor yachts and sport fishing.

St. Andrews Bay is beautiful for anchoring out by the state park just east of PCB. We’ve anchored there a few times and love that location. The ICW route is also beautiful but does require some motoring due to the narrow channel and pines blocking wind.

There are a lot of really great areas and bayous to anchor at and explore in the FL/AL border area. One of our favorite anchorages is in Big Lagoon just east of Pensacola pass. Many nights there with the place to ourselves and our own private beach on Perdido Key (the only way there is by boat, no land or vehicle access).

Pensacola shipyard is a full service shipyard that has many great contractors on site. Not sure about the daily rate and how that would work for you but you could certainly get work done and have access to great resources.

Waterfront property is expensive. Anything we’ve found waterfront with potential for dockage is way more than paying for a separate slip and property a block away from the shore.

It’s not any hotter than anywhere else in the south. We have no AC on our boat. We stay on it year round. I will say that in dead summer, we can’t stand to be in the marina and will go anchor out immediately. Once at anchor, we have plenty of ice, cool drinks, and hatches open, on the hook, boat pointing to wind and it makes a huge difference. I refuse to use AC on the boat as I just think you get used to it and it makes the heat unbearable and I’d rather be outside and enjoying a sail and the water. I work from the boat in the heat as well, conference calls, online with my laptop, etc.. As long as we are on the hook, its very doable.

Personally, I think the Pensacola and eastern Alabama area is about the best and most cost effective sailing grounds in the panhandle. You can cruise the rest of it for free, but access, cost, and resources are plentiful for the home base. Pensacola reminds me of the old days tourist spots, before everything got over developed. It’s still a really small town and has that just right feel.

[thomm225]

The sad thing is you will not know until you know which will be a few years after you arrive

It might be best to move down to Pensacola and get an apartment even at Jamestown and buy an old boat that you can dispose of in a couple years and learn the area on it

It's like learning anything but with boats especially coming from inland it's a very complicated thing

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by zemurray

Personally, I think the Pensacola and eastern Alabama area is about the best and most cost effective sailing grounds in the panhandle.

Many thanks for the comprehensive post. I really appreciate it. The info you provided about Hurricane susceptibility was particularly useful. I suspected that the further east you go the more you could be affected. Of course storm track and magic sharpies means even Alabama can get "devastated" - LOL...

We are for sure going to be renters for 6-12 months so property prices don't scare me too much. I also like your perspective on getting out into the gulf. I am looking forward to getting down there this summer/spring for a look see...

[zemurray]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Many thanks for the comprehensive post. I really appreciate it. The info you provided about Hurricane susceptibility was particularly useful. I suspected that the further east you go the more you could be affected. Of course storm track and magic sharpies means even Alabama can get "devastated" - LOL...

We are for sure going to be renters for 6-12 months so property prices don't scare me too much. I also like your perspective on getting out into the gulf. I am looking forward to getting down there this summer/spring for a look see...

Happy to share my experience, although limited. I do want to make sure I didn’t mislead you on Hurricanes. I was specifically referencing Michael damage, but make no mistake, the area is in the hot zone for named storms. We had 2 tropical storms last season that were close. If you have a mast over 48 feet, you will probably want to make sure and have a hurricane plan that includes a haul out and get on a list somewhere since that will limit your east to west ICW escape routes. Our boat is small, so I have more options for bayous and hurricane holes, not to mention I raised the hull value to match the money we have in the boat. I’m taking risk for sure. We get real nervous starting in August and watch that NOAA app like a hawk.. LOL. I’m fortunate to have flexibility in my work where I can drop things and go deal with it if we get in a storm track. Its just part of the risk we accepted for good sailing grounds.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Many thanks for the comprehensive post. I really appreciate it. The info you provided about Hurricane susceptibility was particularly useful. I suspected that the further east you go the more you could be affected. Of course storm track and magic sharpies means even Alabama can get "devastated" - LOL...

We are for sure going to be renters for 6-12 months so property prices don't scare me too much. I also like your perspective on getting out into the gulf. I am looking forward to getting down there this summer/spring for a look see...

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Ivan came right in Pensacola Pass in 2004 with it's 14' - 18' surge. It dropped from Cat 5 to Cat 3/4. We had no power for 2 weeks and there was a curfew. Everyone off the streets by 4 pm.

Ivan was totally different than the other 6 hurricanes we had while I was there. it was one of the new type we see now.

Also some of the weather forecasters were really "proud" of Ivan the way he "hit the hole" like a running back between Cuba and Mexico and didn't lose any of his strength

The point is when a hurricane gets into the Gulf it's time to stand the blank by

Katrina hit a year later further West with it's 26' surge. I was on the dock at my old apartment complex (I still kept my beach cats there) when Katrina was 180 miles south of Pensacola and the water was almost as high as a Cat 1 passing right over. I then knew it would be bad for who ever was in it's way when it came ashore

My apartment before I moved in 2001 was maybe 3-5' above high tide level. I almost moved back in August 2004 to a lower floor apartment but decided not to. My old apartment complex pictured. (after being condemned and rebuilt after Ivan taking two years) That apartment received about 8' of water inside.

Sailing in Pensacola and the surrounding area is either Pensacola Bay which is maybe 7 miles across and the ICW or you can sail out into the Gulf to no place and sail back

Sorry for being so blunt but the Gulf gets hot in the Summer and even more so now

It's nice to look at all the touristy pictures through rose colored glasses but it's still the real world down there and it's a scorcher in summer. Then there's the beach traffic.....

They do have a lot of nice festivals in downtown Pensacola though at the park near Hub Stacy's Bar

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=is...=1578438283667

[Ex-Calif]

Like I said - Hot doesn't scare us in the least and Hurricane season we will be in Cartagena or San Andreas, Colombia.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Like I said - Hot doesn't scare us in the least and Hurricane season we will be in Cartagena or San Andreas, Colombia.

Well, I guess the heat of Pensacola doesn't scare you if you will not be there for the entire hurricane season June - November.

[tkeithlu]

Hmm. Check out MS Dockside Marina on Timber Island in Carrabelle. It's history was the shrimp boats before the bust. They have a 100,000 lb hoist, are very DIY friendly, and either have or can find help in any topic I've been able to come up with. There must be thirty boats on stands at the moment. They're just off the bay in the harbor. In the last week they have helped me figure out a problem with my oil pressure gauge and received a boat hoist shipment for me, all without charge.

-

Their presence was a big factor in our retiring to Carrabelle, because I built our boat and it's rather central to our life. We wanted a working yard, not a fancy marina.

[oldcal46skipper]

We retired, the first time, in 1988 and sailed away from Long Beach, CA, intending to roam until it was not fun. Cruising in our Cal 46 exceeded all of our dreams. We loved SoCal, family, friends, weather etc., but $$$. We enjoyed several years in Sea of Cortez, Central & S. America. and in 1995 "discovered" Bayou Chico, Pensacola. Feb. 1996 we bought a dock with home attached at an unbelievable low price. We lived at OUR dock, rented to house to Flight Students and cruised 6 - 9 months each year. YES!


Family deaths, age and health challenges slowed us down and we have not cruised long distance since 2007. Okay, we have hurricanes, but we had earthquakes in SoCal...



Anyway, we LOVE it here in Pensacola, but don't want to see overpopulation destroy the area like it did SoCal. However, the OP sounds like good folks, so PM us for #.s and come visit. We have a guest cottage and parking for RV. We are NOT trying to sell anything.

[zemurray]

Right on Oldcal46skipper. Pensacola is great. We’re right across from you over at Little Sabine. I’ll look to give you a wave from SV Kairos..

[jbrasseul]

I spent a year in Pensacola on my boat, great city, great bay, great marinas, and very nice anchorages and docking close by (Pirate cove for instance, free!). I would recommand Palafox Pier marina, right in the center of town.
https://jbrasseul.wordpress.com/?s=pensacola

[ranger58sb]

If it matters, Miami and south Florida in general presents a much more Latin multi-culture. We enjoyed our years there when we moved south for that work transfer....

-Chris