[senior citizen]

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[Carl in Tampa]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

I eventually developed pneumonia after spending a week or so on Longboat Key off Sarasota back in the eighties. The Red Tide initiated bronchial problems which eventually led to my hospitalization. I could not live in an area experiencing Red Tide.

I had forgotten that many people become very ill with lung problems when we have a red tide bloom that kills the marine life, particularly fish. I believe this is a greater problem on the gulf side because we don't have tide movements as great as the Atlantic side.

On the other hand, the densest population of sharks who can actually be seen swimming in shallow water along with the tourists wading in the water is at New Smyrna Beach, just south of Daytona Beach. You can count on an aerial video of the sharks among the people being shown on the evening news each summer.

New Smyrna Beach is called the shark bite capitol of the U.S. In this video you can see a shark a few feet from shore, with swimmers farther out.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISKISlJyDQU]Video shows shark near bathers - YouTube[/ame]

[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by Carl in Tampa

I had forgotten that many people become very ill with lung problems when we have a red tide bloom that kills the marine life, particularly fish. I believe this is a greater problem on the gulf side because we don't have tide movements as great as the Atlantic side.

On the other hand, the densest population of sharks who can actually be seen swimming in shallow water along with the tourists wading in the water is at New Smyrna Beach, just south of Daytona Beach. You can count on an aerial video of the sharks among the people being shown on the evening news each summer.

New Smyrna Beach is called the shark bite capitol of the U.S. In this video you can see a shark a few feet from shore, with swimmers farther out.

Video shows shark near bathers - YouTube

Just the other night on TV I saw where sharks by the thousands migrated close to shore in that area. Hammerheads were preying on the smaller sharks. All of them were in shallow water near the shore. The gulf stream apparently funnels the sharks through the area.

Oh My...red tide and rats on the roof...Thanks for your post! We might be able to deal with the red tide but rats .... just reading your post made my wife scream...
It is odd looking for a retirement home. All these years jobs, schools, kids, and our budget dictated where we lived. Now we have so much freedom its a bit disorientating. In a way we feel like kids again with so much freedom, and at other times it is kinda frightening. Going through a open house in the villages was nice, and everything was new, but it seemed so distant from the things that were our life up north. When I'm on the beach I have a sense of peace. Thanks again for your helpful posts!

[senior citizen]

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[senior citizen]

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Senior Citizen your posts are so well written. When we were at the Villages my wife, my best friend since we were 16, loved all the things she could do, and since I expect her to outlive me by 20 years I felt that she would have a safe place to live in the villages after I was gone. The other plus about the Villages is that everybody was very nice.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

P.S.
Extra notation to my other reply.

These aren't the Norway rats like in the N.Y.C. subway tunnels.
They are "roof rats" and "citrus rats" like in orange groves.
Smaller size.

In Venice they were in the palm trees as we walked underneath. You could see them.

I've read since then that they are ON ALL THE BARRIER ISLANDS FROM NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA....DOWN TO FLORIDA AND AROUND FLORIDA THEN AROUND TO LOUISIANA AND TEXAS........

As for alligators, I was told by a realtor at TOP OF THE WORLD north of THE VILLAGES.....that he had a friend who worked at Disney World during his college years............his "job" was to keep all the alligators in a certain location around the perimeter of the Disney World grounds.......but not allow them to get any closer..........he and a team of workers.

All the years we visited D.W. never once did we think of an alligator.
Never knowing that they were "there".......but kept at a distance.

In Venice, I read in the newspapers that they were in the sewer pipes.
It was quite a problem. Some of the sewer pipes went out to the beach.
I wonder why they just don't use something like D-con. Better that then to ruin a town's reputation. The realtors all knew it. A few women realtors told me that they would warn the owners to cover their toilets with saran wrap so that the water didn't evaporate.......or else the rats came up and would chew the draperies, rugs, furniture,......now, if that didn't creep me out. Esp. when you go to sit down??? The Venice newspaper had an article in it about a woman who got up in the middle of the night and a rat was swimming in her toilet. It was a lot of things.........not one little incident.

Plumbers who were working on our kitchen remodel in the condo chatted about all the snakes they were called to "fish out of toilets"......I was never so happy to return to Vermont.

I think snakes in toilets is a prank that guys like to share. NEVER ever heard of one for real. We will now hear from the guys again. I think they like to laugh at the thought of us very scarily lowering our naked parts to the porcelain throne. My brother was a plumber and he says .....Nawwwww.

I will never forget that Handyman posted that one on here years ago. I never tortured the truth out of him, but I am pretty sure he was pulling our collective girls legs.

One of the biggest sources of rumors and incorrect information and downright fibs are some of our local contractors. They are also the sources of the truth and good direction. Depends who you are listening to.

[Madelaine Amee]

Originally Posted by hollander

Oh My...red tide and rats on the roof...Thanks for your post! We might be able to deal with the red tide but rats .... just reading your post made my wife scream...
It is odd looking for a retirement home. All these years jobs, schools, kids, and our budget dictated where we lived. Now we have so much freedom its a bit disorientating. In a way we feel like kids again with so much freedom, and at other times it is kinda frightening. Going through a open house in the villages was nice, and everything was new, but it seemed so distant from the things that were our life up north. When I'm on the beach I have a sense of peace. Thanks again for your helpful posts!

Why don't you just rent in different places until you find what makes you happy, there really is no other way of being sure. I always thought I wanted to live on the beach and we spent 10 years on the Gulf coast in both condos and rental homes, then one day I found out there was nothing to do but walk the beach all day and shop and that suddenly got real old.

The biggest problem for us about beach living was the salt air rust, it had eaten through a metal door in one of the condos we rented. You should also take into consideration that if the condo building needs repair or upgrading the condo association votes on it and you have to pay your share. The residents in one of the condos we were in had just been assessed $25,000 per family for essential repairs due to salt water rust.

Another big minus on beach living is the very real fact that it is vacation all year round. You get the winter residents, then spring break, then Easter, summer vacations, July 4th is big on the beach, etc. etc. It is very transient living which may suit some people, but I wanted to "belong" somewhere.

On rereading my post to you it seems to be full of negatives. I don't mean it to be, it is just a heads up for you to look into what you are buying into wherever you decide to buy.

[ssmith]

Not sure that this applies to the areas you are looking at but one poster found there was dangerous red tide near where they lived....bad on the lungs....I would check that out for sure before I moved to the ocean area

OK on different computer and someone has already mentioned it!!! Sorry for the repeating it!!!!

[senior citizen]

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[senior citizen]

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[senior citizen]

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[senior citizen]

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[mjdollard]

We looked along the Tampa Bay area, Apollo Beach had several nice developments. There is a Del Webb development along with a couple of other nice looking ones. Just not a lot of variety in things to do.