Best town for sailors between Savannah, GA, and Georgia, FL

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Madison

Tom and I are looking to retire and move from nyc to a coastal town between Savannah and Jacksonville. Taking a trip there in May. The areas we've identified are around Darien and St. Simons Island, GA, St Marys, GA, or the Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island areas in Florida. We plan to buy a monohull for day sailing and short trips along the coast. Any info you have about living and sailing between Savannah and Jacksonville would be helpful. Thanks, Jackie

Originally Posted by Madison

Our 11-day trip will be 3 nights in Savannah, 4 in St. Simons Island, and 4 in San Marco, Jacksonville. Looking forward to exploring as much as we can. The furthest South we will go is St. Augustine.

We blew by many of those places on our trip north from FLL, but St. Augustine is one of our favorites. Camachee Cove is very near the inlet, and as long as your comfortable with that inlet, open ocean is very close. But also, the town itself has always been a fun destination, for us, even by car when we were living near FLL and working in Miami.

Jacksonville is nice, too, but mooring on the St. Johns River means some significant time to the ocean.

Thunderbolt was very decent, but we only stopped there for a few days so didn't get a deep sense of the broader area.

-Chris

[CarlF]

Kept our boat in Brunswick last year. The diver showed up to clean the bottom. Had on his wet suit and a pair of 7x50 binoculars around his neck. "What are the binoculars for?" I asked. "To check for gators", was the reply.

To echo the others. Charleston would be my first choice. I'm from Boston. Innovative chefs drive an exciting local food scene. A few years ago Husk was named the best new restaurant in America by Bon Apetite. Lots of art galleries. Massive Boeing plant at the airport brings in technology people. Very good College of Charleston is right downtown giving the place some college town feel. Long history of religious and ethnic diversity. In colonial times many New Englanders considered Charleston a second home. Biggest church building downtown is the old Unitarian Church. 200 years ago Charleston had the largest Jewish community in the country. Great sailing. Chareston Race Week in March is perhaps the biggest sailboat competition in the country. Clinton comfortably won Charleston county. But don't worry, you won't think you're in NYC.

Second choice would be St. Augustine.

[Madison]

Thanks so much. We did a trip to Charleston, friends of ours who had lived on their boat with their child for a number of years, set land there. They love it. We didn't love it. Seemed expensive and the traffic is horrible. But great restaurants. Sure we'll go back for a second look.

[Colin A]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Friend of mine moved down to St Augustine from Oriental, NC... seems to really like it there.
Dunno if its in your parameters but she likes quiet with quality nearby..

I was going to suggest this. Savannah is lovely and I'm really not a huge fan of Florida but St Augustine is pretty nice for Florida if I was living in Florida I would be there or near Destin on the Pan Handle.

[Colin A]

If you like food in ST Augustine my favorite is Ice plant bar (a little hispter vibe but not bad) but there are a fair number of good restaurants in town.

I would agree with the poster who said the inlet's can make the East coast of FL a bit of a challenge. A friend of mine who used to live in Lauderdale but now is in Tampa, said as an ocean sailor he preferred East Coast Florida but as a Day Sailer the West Coast is hard to beat. On the West coast I like the ST Pete area and Sarasota.
I really like the pan handle but really the pan handle is a bit different then the rest of Florida. It feels like a strange mix of Florida the deep South and mid Atlantic mushed together. I have only spent a few weeks there so many would likely have better info.