Thinking of getting out of Florida, we did.

[Jolly Roger]

My wife and I have been absolutely dismayed to see all the boats pilled up on top of each other in Florida, after Ian. I can’t imagine how I would be feeling if it was my Britannia, which until May this year had been docked at Cape Canaveral for twelve years.
We moved house to North Carolina in January and brought her up later, just in time to miss the hurricane.
We are now in Fairfield Harbour, near New Bern, NC. This is a man-made sailing community—a veritable mini-Fort Lauderdale—with a main lagoon and finger canals branching off, and houses with docks at the bottom of the garden. As good a hurricane hole as anywhere, and $1000.00 less insurance for my boat.
The other advantage is the dockage. In The Cape, I was paying $674.00 a month, plus electricity. Here I pay, $270.00 including electricity.
Our new sailing ground is the massive Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds, an inland sea only surpassed in size by the Chesapeake.
If we had not moved, I would damn-well be thinking about it now!
If any boater is considering getting out of Florida, check it out, or PM me.

[OutOfControl]

You can run but you cannot hide. There is no safe place on the east coast to avoid hurricanes.
Historically, North Carolina is ranked #4, after Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, in the number of cyclones that produced hurricane-force winds in a U.S. state. And in 2018 New Bern was hit by Florence causing a lot of damage and flooding.

You pays your money and you takes your chances

[MicHughV]

Yep, hurricanes do go everywhere, NC is no safer than Florida.
It's all a throw of the dice. Who would think Florida would get hit by a hurricane coming from the west side ??

At first Tampa thought they were going to be in the cross-hairs of Ian. but one wobble and it was Ft. Meyers/Sanibel instead, so who knows.

It's also a tad colder in NC, not to mention a bit further from the "B'mas and rest of Caribbean..

But, I will say this, in my humble opinion, NC is a beautiful State, with very friendly people.

[thomm225]

There's a big water temperature difference in and around New Bern, NC as compared to most of Florida so when a hurricane does strike there it is usually less severe.

This may change in a few years but for now New Bern 9and NC as a whole) has been hit by far fewer hurricanes than has the state of Florida

Plus it's quite a ways inland and protected by a large land mass and by Barrier Islands.

It's actually quite a long drive to New Bern from Morehead City which is on the coast.

I was at Cherry Point for a few years and we had a couple hurricanes but not really noticeable as compared to the ones we had in Pensacola, FL.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ne...!4d-77.0441143

[MicHughV]

Hurricane Ian caused quite a bit of flooding problems to Florida inland areas, and also east coast beach erosion, so being inland does not necessarily get you a "get out jail free" card.

But it really all depends on whether you get a direct hit or if you are on the "good" or "bad" side.

Not sure if there is such a thing as being on the "good" side of a hurricane ????

[Tetepare]

You can move to Great Lakes, where your boat is on the hard for six months. And as you age you don’t dare go outside for fear of slipping and busting bones.

New Bern looks great. I’ve had enough of cold and snow. We’re FL bound, hurricanes or not.

[Jolly Roger]

Of course hurricanes are a crap-shoot, everyone knows that, but my post is not just about the risk of hurricanes. I assumed that risk for twelve years, and paid an increased insurance and dockage every time one came through. I was with Lloyds for six years, then they suddenly decided they wouldn’t cover names storms anymore, so bye-bye Lloyds. You can bet your Florida insurance and dockage will be even higher next year—that’s assuming there are any boat insurers left in Florida.
Nowhere is perfect, but losing your house and/or your boat to the likes of Ian, or even just watching on the TV, should make you wonder about living somewhere so vulnerable.
I’m not getting into the other aspects of what’s happening down there either, but one serious reason we left is the horrendous traffic, both on the roads and water.
I was making the point that, if anyone is thinking of moving, the Pamlico Sound, and particularly Fairfield Harbour, is a very nice place to consider, and there are other superb locations around as well.

[thomm225]

Another thing about Florida especially along the Gulf Coast is that it is so hot during the Summer.

It seemed okay in the 90's but as the years went by it was just sweltering in Summer.

I did lots of outdoor sports then with beach cat sailing and racing most weekends until about 2006 then cycling long distance.

These rides started at 7 am so we were usually through with our 50-70 mile rides by 11 or so.

Then there was running during week but the trail I used which was along the ICW near Pensacola Pass had trees for shade helped

I'll definitely be exploring the Pamlico Sound here in a couple years plus Oriental, Morehead City, Beaufort, and Cape Lookout.

Oh yeah, and we had 8-9 hurricanes while I was there also .......and lots of false alarms where you had to go through the prep process anyway or you had no water or gas as they sold out first especially after Ivan in 2004