Best east coast town to live and surf in?

the outer banks??? Its a tough place to live- no jobs in winter, no girls in the winter, lots of drugs(we're not talking about a little bit of weed either), super expensive unless you live in a trailer. The only way I would live there again is with a good job, a wife and barb-wired fence to keep the retards away. I love Southern New Jersey i.e. OC, LBI, Brig! Great places to work, live and surf. OCMD is cool, but hectic. I currently live in Carolina beach and enjoy living in that area. Wilmington is small but cool and lots of places to surf in the region.....but we dont get great waves that often. I have great jobs, an awesome girl, and good friends!! Charleston is a REALLY cool city but the waves dont get that good.
Never been to and coastal Florida towns, but have a friend in Melborne that really likes it so cant wait to visit!! Never been to many places above NY to surf but I hear there are some cool towns in the RI,Mass areas. What about NOva Scotia??

 

yeah yeah true dat
but the barrels....

 

each are has benefits - my personal choice is
Melbourne beach Fl - good waves out front or 30min to spanish house and sebastion or an hour north to new smyrna and lots of good spots in between
plus cheap flights out of orlando to carribean and central america
only in a wetsuit for 2 months a year
good wakeboarding - diving - fishing
and great burritos @ dakine diegos while watching surf vids outside

 

All the places mentioned are fun with the exception of Florida. Knee high slop year round. The only plus is the water temp and air temp and the night life is fun. Otherwise, good luck finding waves higher than knee high and you will never see barrels again. Florida's economy is in really bad shape and unemployment is ridiculous. I'll take cold winter barrels in NJ or outer banks over Florida anyday.

Nova Scotia does look fun too!

 

you really think? south florida yeah i agree but every trip down there it seems like from about Jupiter Inlet north to New Smyrna/Daytona (so basically all of central Fla) is consistent waist high or better and ive never even been down when a swell hit.

Either way...i'd say for cold water lovers, Narragansett RI and for warm water lovers maybe Stuart or New Smyrna Beach

 

Wrightsville beach is a cool place to live if you have a boat, then you can get away. In the summer its a sh!t show, every wanna-b pro, touron,kook,redneck and yuppie are battling for a wave in a couple of surf zones. CB is more relaxed.....no surf zones, more parking and further away from I-40. It still gets crowded but not like WB.

 

ocmd, all day every day

 

No... not Jax. Further north... *wink*

 

I think cost of living is the biggest limiting factor to this question, b/c lets face it - there's not many places left where you can live(esp own) on the island or close proximity with a normal paying job.

Regardless of the answer, the way to go is to live in any of these EC cities/towns and own a place somewhere down in Central America/Caribbean. My question is....where would be the best place to purchase property considering cost of investment/proximity to surf/security etc...

 

Avalon back in the day during the new vision days. Even ten years ago Avalon had a sick group of locals that ripped just as hard or harder than any other town in jersey. That is true, and if you don't agree then you weren't around back in the day. The boarding house was a sick shop. Now I'd have to say either OCNJ or wrightsville... I got turned down by UNCW and i'm bummed. That place was sick and full of surf shops hot girls and fun waves. Oh and not far from obx. St. Augustine was pretty sick, I was impressed with the town surf shops talent and sand bars while I was down there.

 

I was mainly talking about South Florida, but I've been to central Florida too. The surf was crappy when I was there, but I've heard some people talk about good days in central Florida locations. I just prefer barrels and you don't see much of that anywhere in Florida. Everyone is more into pulling off airs than I feel is the real art of surfing (style, getting barreled).

Don't get me wrong. Florida is a great place, but just not my preference for waves. If I had my choice, I would be in Barbados. I know it's not east coast USA, but it's in the east coast area.

 

I agree that south florida stinks unless there is a hurricane - but that stretch from sebastion to patrick and then up @ new smyrna is some pretty good real estate - but like anywhere on the east coast you gotta hit it on a swell, plenty of barrels at spanish house on any actual swell - granted not as much power but very long rides

theres a reason that slater-the hobgoods-lopez-and many others all own houses in brevard county

 

+1, my number 2 choice of places to move...CHEAP housing but also jobs is scarce

 

sluts on the boardwalk in ocmd. not to mention all the cougar hunting at seacrets and ***ers island guidettes...

 

I have researched this many times, since the fiance and I have been tossing around re-locating back to the east coast... So, when I look at this topic, I have to look at the economy and job markets first, with the housing markets a close second, and the waves a close third and the weather a close 4th...

From my research (And the east coast is a broad generalization since it HUGE), but this is what I have found....

Virginia Beach is actually one of the highest ranking cities (although many people argue that there are MUCH more consistent surf areas)... But with VBs proximity to about 7 small cities... Norfolk, Hampton, Chesapeake etc... You have access to TONS of jobs all within a 10-30 minutes drive.... Also, the "Virginia Beach" area or Hampton Roads, is the LARGEST metropolitan community in the entire NATION that does not own a professional sports team... So bascially, the VB area is one the larger "cities" in the nation although you may not think so...

Second to that to me would be Jersey Shore, just because Technically if you needed to you could even commute to the Philly area or up into NYC or Jersey Cities... So although I would rank the weather in Jersey pretty bad.... The waves are second to OBX and Maybe parts of FL... So Jersey have decent, but cold waves and access to some Jobs...

I would rank OC MD as a sick "Surf Town" but if you dont work in the hotel/bar/restaurant industry, you will not survive... There is no other "ecomony" there really... So, Delmarva difficult access makes it a great surf town in the off season, but TERRIBLE for work....

Wilmington NC is probably Third on my list, because Wilmington has 100K+ people in the city, which makes it large enough with a stable economy, but not a insane gigantic city... The wave in WB area are more like VBs consistency, but WB has that MUCH, MUCH better weather... They see maybe 1/2 inch of snow each year and are only wearing rubber about 5-6 months total.... Super warm water and nice weather..... Hurricanes are a problem..

Then I would Say the Cocoa Beach area in Central FL is fourth... Nice hot weather... A much cheaper coastal housing market than most other beach areas... You are 30 minutes from Orlando if you really need a job... The waves are ok down there... Hurricanes are a problem though...


OBX isnt even included in this conversation because the guy wanted to know where to Live and have a stable life and economy and I think we all know OBX is out of the question there.

So anyway, I guess my "power rankings are as follows"

1: Wilmington NC - Weather, waves and economy
2: Virginia Beach - Mainly for the economy, decent housing and some waves
3: Jersey Shore - Better waves, decent economy, but cold water and colder air.
4: Central Florida - Cheap housing, warm water, warm weather and close to Orlando
5: OC MD - Cause you can argue that other than OBX, OC MD and Jersey are two of the most consistent places back east... But OC MD is isolated, cold and housing is PRICEY... Its crazy that I can find condos a block from the beach down in Carolina Beach for around 100K, but the cheapest, decent looking townhouse style condo in OC MD is still 200k+... Very pricey housing... Same thing in Jersey... As you move south on the east coast, coastal housing gets much cheaper....

Thats my long winded, nonsensical idea.

 

why is everyone sasying their spots....some of them i surf at. we have enough kooks as it is

 

I just named towns, not spots.

 

OCMD ftw. Summers are crazy and super fun and although OC is a" ghost-town" in the winter, i have grown to love it

 

Yeah I will have to agree that Avalon use to be off the hook at one time. I rember the place use to peel super clean lines and I held a head high wave without closing out like wildwood does