Man, how time flies. It was a year ago today that we left our home in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to Tampa, Florida, and what a year it was. We really didn't know what was to come, or what we were going to do, but one thing is for sure, we learned a lot over the past twelve months. So much has happened, that thinking back and reading some of the entries in this blog, it even amazes me what we have done, places we have gone, and things we have seen.
In celebration of our one-year anniversary here in Tampa Bay, here is a rundown of some of the things we have learned:
WEATHER:
One of the first things we noticed when we got here was the weather. It's hot. Not just hot a few days or weeks, but for months. It can be 90+ for months on end, and combined with the humidity, it made it unbearable until we got used to it. Then mix in the extreme seasons, where in the summer it rains almost every day, where one one minute it is sunny, then the next minute the skies open up and pours down rain. We have never seen so much rain come down at one time anywhere we have ever been as much as we have seen here. Storms are a common occurrence in the summer, and with it brings huge thunderstorms, where when we watch the weather on television, they actually keep count how many lightning strikes have been recorded, most time numbering in the thousands in just one storm. Then the dry season comes, and it doesn't rain for months and months. Nice thing about that however is you don't need to wash your car for a long time.
HURRICANES:
The very first weekend when we arrived here, we were smack-dab in the middle of Hurricane Dennis. While it never came towards the bay area, with it brought large amounts of rain and high winds. We also were witness to the power of these events first-hand, including Hurricane Katrina and Wilma and saw how these storms really tear up the beaches along the gulf shores. During our Christmas vacation, we spent a week in the Florida Keys and saw just how bad these hurricanes can be, and this was still a couple of months after Hurricane Wilma tore through the Keys and over towards the Atlantic coast of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. We just hope the day never comes where we face one of them face-to-face, for they are nothing to take lightly.
BRUSHFIRES:
The dry season not only brings some very climate weather, it also brings the danger of brushfires. Hundreds and thousands of acres of land can go up in flames in the blink of an eye, and is very dangerous. Just a month ago, we had a brushfire breakout not too far from our home, and although it was not a threat to us, it was kinda scary to smell the thick smoke all around us for several days.
ALLIGATORS:
When we first moved to the bay area, we really didn't notice alligators, much less hear about them. As the months have gone by, we started to seek them out, for we were told that anywhere you find freshwater in Florida, chances are an alligator lives in it. So to see if this was true, we started to seek them out, and man, they are everywhere. Just about every fresh body of water we have come across, there they are. Sometimes, in water you would never guess they would be in, much less live in. Most of the ones we have found and photographed were in the three to four foot range, but we have also spotted several over ten feet, sometimes even more, in length. We even had an encounter in the Florida Everglades where one fourteen-footer actually came out of the water, onto the road and chased after us. Let's just say that as long as we are out and about, never will we even step foot in a freshwater pond, lake or river. Ever.
BIRDS:
If you spend any amount of time in the bay area, and Florida in general, you can't help but notice the huge amount of birds. They are everywhere, and found in great numbers, sizes, colors and shapes. Never have we seen such a large diversity, and we decided one day we should try to photograph as many as we could find. Problem is, there are an estimated 800 species that can be found at one time or another here in Florida, and I don't think I will ever see them all. One of the coolest encounters we had however was seeing an American Bald Eagle in the wild. We saw one in Key Largo, Seminole and on our favorite island, Honeymoon Island in Dunedin. We have also photographed Roseate Spoonbills, Sandhill Cranes, Ospreys, Red Shouldered Hawks, Vultures, Magnificent Frigates, Swallowtailed Kites, Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls, Screech Owls, Herons, Egrets, Pelicans, Anhingas, Cormorants, Night Herons, Parakeets, Mockingbirds, Terns, Shorebirds, Ducks and lots of other smaller woodland birds. We also had the opportunity to watch many of these birds raise their young this past spring, something that was simply amazing to witness.
BUGS:
There are some really ugly bugs in Florida. We have seen some of the most bizarre and scary looking creatures crawling around, something almost out of a science-fiction movie. Our first encounter with the bugs of Florida was an almost microscopic bug called a "Noseeum". When we went to the beaches, we came back with welts on our legs and arms, something like mosquito bites. Funny thing was, we never saw a mosquito bite us, so we were puzzled as to what was biting us and causing that awful itching. After doing some research, we learned it was the noseeums. They are so small, they are almost undetectable on the skin. They almost look like tiny specks of black pepper, but boy, do they bite hard. We found a place in Bonita Beach that sells a spray called "Everglades", and now we have a ample supply of it for it works wonders for those times when they come out of the brush and are active.
DRIVERS:
One of the first things we had to do when we moved to Florida was to change and update our auto insurance to a Florida policy. When I met with our new agent and told her I wanted the same type of coverage as we had back in Cleveland, it almost doubled. I was floored, but my first reaction was it was due to the hurricanes. But when I asked, I was told it was because of all of the elderly people, and they cause a huge majority of the accidents. Living here now for a year, I gotta agree with that, for they are terrible drivers, and I can't tell you how many almost accidents I have gotten into. They are famously known as "Snowbirds", and they stream into the state in the late fall, and leave in the early spring. Since they are not full time residents of Florida, they carry much lower out-of-state insurance, and when they cause an accident, don't pay a higher premium as the full-time residents have to. It is really wrong, and most if not all of them should be restricted from driving down here period. Not too mention the rest of the drivers here, for they are some of the worst I have ever had the misfortune of being on the road with. Throw that in with the careless "Spring Breakers", and it is a scary commute around town.
INSURANCE:
Florida is in trouble. Big trouble. The rates for homeowners insurance is unbelievably high, if you can even find it. This is a story that is going to have a bad ending for many homeowners, as families are starting to move out of the state for they simply can't pay for it anymore, and the state doesn't seem to want to do anything about it.
HOUSING:
Out of control and overpriced. Now we understand the "location, location, location" thing, but Florida as a whole is simply ridiculous. There is no hard rule as to what housing should cost, for the rule many use is greed, for they will price a home tens of thousands over what it is truly worth just to see if someone will pay for it. That trend however is starting to reverse now, for many are finding that getting people to pay $300,000 for a home that costs $225,000 everywhere else is a harder sell these days.
So, was it worth it? Did we make the right decision? The answer is an overwhelming YES. There is no perfect city, state or neighborhood anywhere. Name any city or town in America, and they all have their problems, and they all have their plusses too. So why did we pick Tampa? While I won't say it was an easy decision, I knew that if we ever did relocate, it was going to be somewhere that we wanted to go to, not somewhere we had to go for one reason or another.
We moved to Tampa for both personal and professional reasons, and mostly for the lifestyle we both really enjoy, which is the beach. Ever since we have moved here, we have gone to the beach hundreds of times, and each time, can't believe that we can now go and enjoy the warm, gentle waters that we used to spend thousands of dollars to visit, and for only a few days every few years. Now we can go whenever we want, and enjoy snorkeling with Dolphins, Manatees, Turtles and the numerous fish, crabs, starfish and other creatures we enjoy to learn about and study.
It has been one hell of year, for it still feels like we are one long summer vacation, and we still have a million more places to explore and experience. We should be plenty busy for a long time to come.
