St Thomas or St Croix

Alana -

ALL rivers, lakes and ponds in FL have resident alligators. Really an issue with 3 dogs.

My (urban) neighborhood in St. Pete has coyote warnings now - let your pets out after dark if you dare. Also raccoons with rabies, possums and armadillos if you please.

Then there are the rattlesnakes - my little dog was bit by one 5 feet from my backdoor - though survived after 2 doses of antivenin and $5000 of intensive care.

You know I'm poking at you 'cause of your warnings about the VI - however FL critters can be a deadly lot. Geckos and iguanas seem friendlier.

Destin and the panhandle = hurricane food.

wanderer -

Actually FL is bright RED.

Republican governor (FL resident for less than 10 years)
FL House of Reps - 26 Repubs, 14 Dems
FL Senate - 80 Repubs, 39 Dems

US House - 17 Repubs, 10 Dems
US Senate - 1, Repub, 1 Dem

Obama carried FL because of get out the vote efforts in the Tampa Bay area.

I see you point, the FL legislature does seem to be dominated by the republicans. But looking at the voter registration, the number of registered democrats and republicans is about the same in FL:

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/nvra/registration.asp

democrats don't vote

Alana -

ALL rivers, lakes and ponds in FL have resident alligators. Really an issue with 3 dogs.

My (urban) neighborhood in St. Pete has coyote warnings now - let your pets out after dark if you dare. Also raccoons with rabies, possums and armadillos if you please.

Then there are the rattlesnakes - my little dog was bit by one 5 feet from my backdoor - though survived after 2 doses of antivenin and $5000 of intensive care.

You know I'm poking at you 'cause of your warnings about the VI - however FL critters can be a deadly lot. Geckos and iguanas seem friendlier.

Destin and the panhandle = hurricane food.

Yeah, there is that! Makes our scorpions, centipedes, spiders, lizards, Mongoose, iguanas and other critters, pale in comparison. On the bright side, no wild roaming chickens and roosters who can crow incessantly like they have energizer bunny batteries. I assume they have better zoning code adherence than we do !

I plan on having an entirel fenced yard/area for the dogs and my dogs are pretty much indoor types. They wander into the fenced area I have now to play a bit and do their business but prefer the indoors. Thanks for reminding me to put those pesky little items on a list to consider! We don't have rabies in the VI, either.

What's so bad about an armadillo?
Not fond of rattlesnakes and will have to be watchful.
Glad your pup survived!

Not remotely interested in Destin or the Panhandle, unless visiting friends in that area. Nice to visit, don't want to live there.
Thanks.

curious about why you dont like the panhandle alana

Not the area I want, too far from family that live around where I plan on looking plus too many storms. I don't want to drive for hours to visit sisters and other family members on a regular basis. Granted I know there's no immunity from hurricanes wherever one lives in FL but panhandle sees its fair share. Been there done that, too many times, so ....like to lessen the odds.;)

thanks, at least it is not all because of the area. it is always better to be closer to family

Most of the Hurricanes end up in the panhandle.... Beautiful beaches but I would only want to wisit... I lived in Clearwater beach for almost 20 years then moved about 1 hr north to get away from all the traffic and craziness.... I am a dog lover and we always had dogs . I personally never had any issues with our dogs and critters but they are all indoor dogs, they only go out on the pool deck, the pool and when we take them to the beach, we are keeping our eyes on them as much as possible... Granted, anything can happen but we have been lucky so far..

When you make your move ghostrider, will you have dogs to consider making the move with? You can only fly pets in cargo during cooler months and not at all during summer months.
It's more difficult to find a rental allowing multiple dogs as you're probably aware. This is true for STX and STT. Majority of condos don't allow pets, ones that do may have a size and weight limit as well as limit the number of pets. Finding a residential rental with a fenced yard is harder as well and our neighborhoods in STT aren't like those in the states. No sidewalks or within easy walking distance to shops and restaurants, for instance. A car is necessary to get around to do just about everything. If you won't be working or have kids in school, you'll have more options for areas to live without having to consider the commute time back and forth for those things.

Maintenance on a home is pretty much never-ending here as well with the tropical climate, salt air, mold and mildew issues. Rare to see a flat grassy lawn here in STT that one can use a lawn mower on like you have in FL. Our roads aren't the greatest either. Most don't have sidewalks either. Right now, the Hull Bay road I use to get back and forth is like an obstacle course with deep pothole craters that will surely do damage if encountered at average driving speed. Dodging them and oncoming traffic is interesting.

Not to deter you but just a fact of life here. Like Wapa outages which occurs more frequently than stateside.

Do you have any particular questions?

Alana,
Thanks for the input... Here is what I am gearing up to... If we decide to move we will leave everything behind with the twins. They will hold down the fort for us for a year. We will be coming down wit just our clothes and my computers because that is what I do and I could still work from home and make decent money doing that. If we decide to stay, we will buy a home rather than a condo. We will bring down what we need and also the boys ( our dogs) after we purchase the house. My idea/dream will be to ship 4 Jeeps, 6 Jetskis, and 6 paddle boards. The intent of that will be so I can rent a place by some nice hotel's beach front and rent the jets and the boards out. Also to use the Jeeps for island tours. That should provide some income to cover our housing and not to have to go to the bank every week... We will not move down there until I am retiring in few years. I am 60 years old now and not planning to work one day past my SS collection day.... Then I can enjoy what ever is left in my life. My wife and I will be perfectly OK with a much simpler life. Right now my business forces me to fly around the country 48 weeks out of the year and be home only two days a week... If I can live in a hotel room 5 days a week, I should be able to scale down on my residence and be happy. I am ready to run away from dealing with politics, TV or Internet...it sounds crazy but I just want to spend as much time with the love of my life as I can.

My idea/dream will be to ship 4 Jeeps, 6 Jetskis, and 6 paddle boards. The intent of that will be so I can rent a place by some nice hotel's beach front and rent the jets and the boards out. Also to use the Jeeps for island tours.

Just a heads up - and you'll find this out soon enough first hand - but, if you decide upon STT, there's a lot of antipathy here towards jet skis and getting the go-ahead to open up another business in that field might be very tricky if even possible. There's one jeep tour business which has that niche pretty well sewn up too.

That's true. There already are concessions that rent just about everything from kayaks, paddle boards, jet skis, etc. and have jeep tours. Just saw a line of 6 jeeps in a row being led on a tour yesterday.

Dealing with finding a beach that doesn't have businesses already
set up will be a challenge. In fact, only 2 come to mind right now which are Brewers and Smith Bay Beach. You'll have to get on a list of possible concessionaires, deal with permissions and permits from Magens Bay Authority, DPNR, DLCA,, etc.,if they are even considering allowing such on those beaches.

Magens, for example, does not allow jetskis within the swim buoys nor rent them. They are noisy and the sounds just reverberate up the hillsides. Don't think National Park locations/beaches allow them at all.

You'll have to do your research when you get here but that market may be well saturated. Think you might find that true for STX as well.

It's good you'll be able to come unencumbered to explore your options. It'll give you more options until you find the right island and scenario for yourselves to bring your dogs down and find a home.

also some airlines do not fly certain breeds of animals-snub nose

The reason I was thinking about the jet skis is because few months back, I visited STT and we rented them at the Best Western hotel.. That wouldn't be a big deal since I can forget about them an concentrate on buying few more Jeeps and paddle boards with that money. I have/had several businesses over the year so I am used to the birocracies as well as government trying to tax you as much as they can... Not worried about having competition because this will be for fun and I do not need to make lots of money with it, just to supliment my income..if it will generate enough profit to pay for my electric bill, TV and Internet, I will be happy with it... As far as airline and pats, , I know of no airline that will not transport pets if the owner is willing to pay.. I just want to bring to dogs, not gathers, mo snakes.. Just 2 small little dogs.. If I have to, I can always find someone to privately fly them there. If I can't bring my dogs with me, there will be no move since we think of them as our kids and there is no way that we will leave them behind...
Anyway, thank you guys so much. This site has been a goldmine of information so far.

Ghost Rider,
Glad to see you took my advise and checked out this message board.
Forgot to mention the gun thing, see you are looking into it.
Terry

Since you are thinking about some back & forth between the isle you choose & Tampa, I have found STT/TPA flights to be about $100 cheaper with WAY less layover time than STX/TPA. That might have been a clincher for me had I realized it earlier.

all flights seem cheaper out of stt