Anyone in Northeast Florida? Think about moving there, until reading about the Alligators, How bad?

But you don’t mention the lifestyle. Our lifestyle is one of water sports, constant all day swimming and being in the water with our boat.
This wouldn’t affect someone who for example goes golfing or fishing or non of the above.

I went air boating and didn't see any alligators. There's alot of water related activities available for people who are living in Florida. You make it seem like people are dieing on a daily basis because of the environment when that's clearly not the case.
 
This was one of my ponds.
I used to party with this gator when I visited.. Just a small one but didn't bother me...

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Our lifestyle here in South Carolina involves boating all day long in freshwater floating around the lake and swimming diving off our boat. I guess when I go to Florida we will see if people do that there.
It sounds like you live a happy life there in SC already, and your family is close by. So why the thought of moving to FL?

Just curious...
 
I wouldn't do it. I grew up in the southeast and have seen hundreds of gators. I've never had one bother me but I've never gave them an opportunity either. Climate is changing, animals are being displaced and behaving differently. If I wanted to spend a lot of time in water other than a pool I would not want to do it in the southeast. Of course I'm sure most folks don't share this view. I mean, "what are the chances?" 😁
 
We live on Vancouver Island. It's a lovely place. But we do have black widow spiders, ticks that carry Lyme disease, cougars are sighted from time to time, and this area will eventually have a really big earthquake potentially with a really big tsunami - in fact it's overdue.

But we don't have an avalanche hazard or grizzly bears like in the mountains, polar bears like in the North, rattlesnakes like on the prairies or central Canada, tornadoes like on the prairies or central Canada, or hurricanes like on the east coast.

One of our friends was moving back to Canada from Australia. He couldn't deal with our risk of earthquakes and tsunamis so he settled in Tornado and Ice Storm alley, alongside Traffic Hell instead.

You pays your money and you takes your chances. No matter where you live there will be concerns.
 
Florida is full of creatures....palm rats did $4000 dollars of damage to my neighbors Beemer (Chewed up wiring etc...). I'm thinking of selling my condo and buying in South Carolina due to the never ending building, traffic, constantly rising HOA fees etc...Another thing is the lack of competition in the grocery field...'PUBLIX' has a monopoly and charge plenty.
 
Jacksonville might be a little noisy due to Naval Air Station jacksonville being there.
Jacksonville area is noisier in certain parts due to gunfire.

I read three stories in the news today about alligators in FL, not in the Jacksonville area though.
1.) Gator ate a golf ball while some guys were golfing. Not sure how many strokes the penalty was.
2.) Investigating dead body from suspected Alligator attack.
3.) Mans' face bitten by gator while retrieving golf ball.

Oh yeah, this one was yesterday:
https://www.wesh.com/article/snipers-protect-divers-gators-florida/40141587#
So, really, not bad at all. Besides, Florida's full and most people are trying to move AWAY from Jacksonville.
 
We have lived all over, including south Florida for 9 years, but now that I retired and we moved back from Bolivia, we chose Palm Coast. A quiet place between St. Augustine and Daytona. Not having a boat, we bought two blocks in from the Intracoastal, and I walk two miles along it each morning, and then back, or through one of the other trails. Beautiful place. We do have an aligator in the pond behind the house, but he doesn't bother us. He mostly goes for the egrets that are trying to catch fish. We have a resident Black Racer, and its babies each year, but he is rodent elimination, although he always eats the turtle eggs. Most of the snakes (occasionally a ring snake or one of a few rat snakes or corn snakes) are harmless, although a neighbor got bitten by a cottonmouth a few weeks ago and spent a week in the ICU. In theory we have Pigmy Rattle snakes, but I've never seen one.

A good friend and ex-work partner lives on the Intracoastal 4 blocks from us and has two boats plus two jet skis on their dock. We go out together occasionally, and never any alligators on the Intracoastal, although plenty of Manatees and Dolphins.

We go over one of the brides to the ocean every week or so where swimming is great. And we have never had a snake or aligator in the lanai, although my friend has had a baby black racer. (their bites don't even hurt, I'm told)

My Brother retired to Charleston, and takes his 29 Ft boat down from Charleston every other year for 3 or 4 months, across the state through the locks and up or down the other side. The other years he goes north. He left this morning after spending the weekend with us on his way to Tarpon Springs.

If you like the big city, Jacksonville is ok. But we prefer the quiet and trails, paths, beaches. You should come down and rent for a week or two in different places to explore and see the market. Your timing is a little off, as home prices have increased 70 to 80% in the last three years. I could get 80% more for mine than I paid 3 ½ years ago.
 
Yeah but I’m not sure if that answers my question. Would moving to Florida require a lifestyle change, I’m sure when we go down there to look around we will find our answer.

Our lifestyle here in South Carolina involves boating all day long in freshwater floating around the lake and swimming diving off our boat. I guess when I go to Florida we will see if people do that there.
This would be, Northeast Florida anywhere from Yulee down 95 to the southern part of Jacksonville and also a few miles west.
We don’t want to be too far off 95 simply because we have kids here in South Carolina and moving to this area of Florida is only just over a 4 Hour drive which is a piece a cake.

If the car drive wasn’t a concern we would consider the north gulf area of Florida which we love anywhere from Panama City to Destin.
Yes we do that here.
Sometimes see them in the water with you 99.9 % of the time they don't bite
 
Born in Jacksonville, still have family in Gainesville and Middleburg. Spent a lot of time as a child jumping off my aunt and uncle's dock into Santa Fe Lake in Melrose, and consider myself and my cousins lucky that we never got bitten by a gator or a water snake. You're better off where you are if you like to spend a lot of time in the water. Always keep in mind that just because you don't see them doesn't mean they're not there.
 
I went air boating and didn't see any alligators. There's alot of water related activities available for people who are living in Florida. You make it seem like people are dieing on a daily basis because of the environment when that's clearly not the case.
No I’m not, I’m asking a question Of people who boat and swim in Northeast Florida.

Really a simple question, I’m hearing brave comments, and I understand they’re trying to be helpful, but they’re from golfers, fisherman and people like you with air boats.
As far as actual attacks that is documented all over the internet but was curious what “locals” think.
The post above this was helpful in what I was asking = swimming for hours at a time.
 
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