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Originally Posted by senior citizen
Yes, it is good to know.
When we were there in October and November, the traffic flow seemed good and the parking availability wasn't too bad, not like it appears to be during the winter months. Only one Sunday we had to wait in a very long "line" on the boardwalk area near The Lighthouse Restaurant, only because we went "after the lunch hour" due to the visiting grandbaby.
Other times we went prior to the lunch hour and got right in. However, the baby loved watching the boat on the lake when we were seated on the outdoor deck.
I've always thought that most of Florida would be busier during "snowbird" season. I've heard, over the years, many of our friends say that their parents were either driving down for the winter......or returning from the winter in Florida. With our children, we always went during Easter or school vacation or in the autumn.........and the coastal towns we went to never seemed crowded like it has been said about TV. Good "word of mouth" as everyone we know has "heard of it"......as everyone says, the place sells itself.
A QUESTION: How many of you have explored other places before settling in THE VILLAGES. How many have explored very small coastal towns????
The reason I ask is that we met a lot of folks at the airport who were from Michigan, etc., etc. and owned homes in The Plantation and vicinity, south of TV, but had their homes on the market as they "missed boating" and were either in the process of buying, under contract, or looking to buy condos or homes on the Gulf of Mexico.....small sleepy type towns.
When we were very young we lived for one year in Satellite Beach Florida a block from the beach, on a canal .........which went out to the intracoastal waterway. We had to cross A1A to get to the beach. We were very close to Patrick Air Force base; in fact our daughter began kindergarten at Patrick Air Force Base. Our son was 2 years old. They both loved the beach.
It was a small very quiet developement which I notice has escalated in price.
Anyway, we were there for ONE YEAR.......ALL THE SEASONS and there was no snow bird explosion of population at all......it was always a sleepy quiet little area..........a few strip malls. Indialantic had the shopping on the beach side..........and Melbourne (which we never went to) on the mainland.
Just curious if a sleepy little town might be better for those who don't like the overcrowding of the snowbirds in the winter time. Nothing was ever crowded there...........Cape Kennedy was a short ride away. We had a dock in our back yard on the canal............just reminiscing. The neighbors were all retired Air Force and very quiet folks. The family next to us did have a teenage son who was very nice but other than our two children, and one little girl down the street whom my daughter swam with......there were no children.............I still remember the church, the swimming lessons for our daughter, the movie theatre where we saw Sound of Music and the Publix, the library, etc. That's about it as it was a very long time ago. When I google it, it seems to have grown a tiny bit. Again, we were only there 1 year. We did return ONCE , many moons later, while staying in Vero Beach and my husband drove right past the gate and entrance......our children have also returned to see it (while staying at Disney) for nostalgia reasons.
THE BEACH WAS TOTALLY EMPTY...........A FEW CONDOS WITH ELDERLY PEOPLE IN IT. MY HUSBAND SAYS A FRIEND OF HIS HAS A CONDO ON SATELLITE BEACH THAT IS A TIMESHARE AND HE JUST LOVES THE PRIVACY AND QUIETNESS OF IT.
So, for those who don't like the high busy winter season.........maybe there are other places with less traffic, etc.
p.s. We were not an Air Force family but rented from a widow who had a beachfront condo; her husband had been a general in the air force, passed away and she didn't want to live in the house.....so moved to the beach condo. Our children remember fun "treasure hunts" and such on that totally empty stretch of beach........the seashells, etc. and the coral in the water. Again, Indialantic was not far away for commerce. The ride to it was leisurely on a back road.
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I think you bring up a very good point.
It is a generalization to say that "all of Florida" has a population explosion during the winter months. I'm a native Floridian and have lived in Florida for most of my life (grew up in Miami). There are some areas that do experience a major influx of snowbirds--Miami Beach in the 60s used to, Naples/Ft. Myers, most of the beach towns in the panhandle (Seaside, Grayton Beach, Destin, etc.), the Keys (especially Marathon), the Orlando "resort" areas, etc.
There are other areas in the state that do not experience this influx. Miami/Ft.Lauderdale/West Palm are so large that it is very difficult to tell much of a difference between seasons.
Conversely, smaller towns (you mentioned this in your post), especially "smaller" seaside towns (Steinhatchee, Cedar Key, Hudson) don'thave the infrastructure to support a large population influx so they might see an uptick in "day" visitors but not an increase in those residing there for the winter.
Then there are the really small Florida towns (Archer, Williston, High Springs, Alachua, etc.) that are barely affected by seasonal increases.