Moving to Tampa\Clearwater - best places to ride?

Hi Guys,

I am in the process of moving from Portland, Oregon to the Tampa Bay area and need some suggestions about possible places to live. My wife works on Highway 19 in Clearwater, and she doesn't want a commute longer than 30 minutes. I work from home so commuting isn’t a problem for me. We are looking for a home on the water, and thinking about the different riding possibilities. For home price, we are trying to stay in the $500-$600k range, but would go as high as $850k for the right place.

We have been looking at Lake Tarpon, but not sure what else we should look at. Lake Tarpon looks like it is the largest fresh water lake in the area which is nice, but seems like wind chop water is common and I imagine weekends are too busy to be enjoyable.

What about the New Pt Richey area and riding intercostal? I have never ridden in salt water so I have no idea what to expect.

How about the Anclote River? River riding appeals to me most because that is where I ride in Oregon. But not sure if this river is even rideable (is that even a word?) with the tides to deal with and it seems narrow and winding.

What other area should we consider?

Thanks in advance for your input. I thought finding a good place to ride would be easy, but it is a little tougher than I expected.

Thanks!!

Tampa is a great area to live, but over the past couple of years housing prices have gone insane. The commute from Palm Harbor (Lake Tarpon area) to US19 in Clearwater can a little rough. So it may be tough to find a place within 30 minutes unless you head to the inland side of the intercoastal. I have not ridden on Lake Tarpon, but it gets really busy and choppy on the weekends.

500-600 should get you into a older house on the bay or intercoastal. I am not sure what Lake Tarpon is running, but decent size houses around that area are in the 400's. If you go a little farther north, you can find some smaller private lakes. Landsbrook is a nice golf course community that has houses on the water, but also has a community dock to Lake Tarpon.

I will drop you a PM with some area's to consider.

I live in south Tampa and trailer to Tarpon and it's about a 45-50 minute run. It's the only lake I've put in, since I've been here. Over all I'm pleased with the lake. Only problem I've ever had with choppy or crowded water was when the winds blew from the south. East or west gives you one side of the lake pretty calm. It would be even more calmer if the tubers would stay in the middle. Are you towing from Oregon? I got a bud that lives up in that area, so I'll see if I can get him to log on and add his two cents about housing up there. Good luck man.

Hey Steve, I would say most of what has been said here so far is pretty good advice. I know the further north you guy you are going to find cheaper housing, however then you have the commute. Where on 19 in Clearwater is your wife going to be working? If it's on the north side of Clearwater, like say north of Sun point Road, then looking in New Port Richey might not be a problem. However, I live a block off the intercoastal, so I do not know what the commute down 19 is like. If you are looking by the intercoastal I have seen houses that don't look that big (don't know bedrooms, etc.) running for 400K. For resale value of your boat, you really do not want to be riding in saltwater. There are some lakes in the Tarpon area besides lake tarpon, but I don't know if any of these are rideable.

list of lakes in north tampa area, these are all within in the tampa bay area:
lake keystone (can be wally world but very pretty)
lake allice
whitetrout lake
lake carrol
lake magdalene (my lake)
lake padget (land o lakes)
crystal lake (land o lakes)
lake seminole (sucks)
lake tarpon (might as well ride in the ocean)
alafia river

Thanks for all the input! THis helps a lot.

Does anyone actually ride in the intercostal or in Tampa Bay? I have seen a lot of flat water in these areas, but suspect it may be due to speed/wake restriction because I never see any boats in the calm water.

the bay sucks for riding, it looks flat but it really isn't...why ride salt when there is so much fresh water? My lake probably has 15 houses for sale on it among many other lakes, and they are all great for wakeboarding and reasonably priced

Thanks Kyle - Excellent input!

no problem, just realized i havent updated my profile in 2 years, haha...but i would really recommend lake magdalene, where i live. It is in a great location in tampa, has plenty of places to buy/rent and generally has very nice conditions. If you want any specifics on the lakes and locations and water conditions and such, email me at linsey@nova.edu

Hey Kyle, most of the lakes you mentioned are in North Tampa, correct? How long does it take during a normal commute to get to Clearwater, do you know?

Also, just a quick update, Lake Seminole has been shut down for riding. Some water restoration project.

Steve, welcome to the area! I live in east Tampa/Brandon area on an 150 acre private ski lake that's perfect, but too far from US19. So when you get here and want to have a nice boarding weekend, lemme know and we'll get a bunch of the Tampa boarders around and hang. We typically ride in the morning and then surf in the afternoon when the other boaters are out. The lake's all ours until about 3pm on the weekends.

I used to live on Lake Mag - at Kyle's suggestion. Its a nice lake and perfect size for riding - very close to 75 and the turnpike (veterens exp) I live up in Ocala now and ride Lake Weir - one of nicest lakes in the area IMO. Very clean and very deep - just to far from Tampa...about an hour.

a clearwater commute is a little bit of a treck when dealing with traffic, i would say 45-50 minutes...if you are working in clearwater, north tampa is not the best place to live. It is all about how close to the highways you are in tampa because our highways i find are very fast. Like Ted said, lake magdalene, lake carrol and whitetrout are all very close to the veterans expressway, which is how you would get to clearwater.

Thanks Scott. I am actually in the area now, just recovering from an ankle injury. But I will definitely be getting in contact with you.

It's a nice little lake Steve. I got a courtesy ride, when I was in the cast. Scott T, where and when do you want to get everyone together? I’m free up to May, after that it’ll be away. Would be nice to have a location big enough, where everyone can put in and have a BBQ pit w/ some beers on the side. Maybe Steve can strum that b flat 53212.

Thanks again everyone for your input. I am still in Oregon at the moment, but wife is already in Clearwater now. She is going to go out with our Realtor this weekend to look at some homes in the areas you suggested. I am looking forward to getting down there and riding soon!

Whelp, we got plenty of space out our boat ramp and a few islands that we can hang out at, or we can hang at any number of our houses... I finally finished my outdoor kitchen!

Oh yeah, here's another great reason why I love my lake:

Scott I just sold my 04 Moomba and Im looking for someone to ride with once in a while in Tampa until I buy another boat.Hit me up if you think you can pull me.Duffy...

Steve nice boat man Im ordering an 07 at the end of summer.I just sold my 04 Moomba so I can save up.I have some good people to ride with and they have boats to.So you guys could even go with us if you wanted.Definitley hit me up when you get here and we'll show you guys around Tampa its pretty cool. GO BIG!!

Very nice Scott. BIG difference. Took a while huh? When's the party? =)

We are going out Wednesday on the boat, to Tarpoon? If any one want's to meet up with us are more then welcome. The boat will be full. So bring your own BBB.
Boat, boards, and beers.

thanks man, I'm always down to party, whenever you want to. I'm trying to upgrade boats right now to a lightning or cyclone.

dam man sorry to hear. Buying new or just repairs to the old.

I've had a few minor problems with the current boat, but I've had MAJOR problems with my dealer. Centurion is doing a good job of making me happy... so far. I'm supposed to get a call from the factory this afternoon.

Hey Tarpon isn't too bad if you are there at the crack of dawn. haha. I ride there most of the weekends and we get on the lake around 7:30 am. But it gets nuts in the afternoon.

Steve, how is the move going? Finding any good properties?

I'm try to head out there Sunday. You going to be there Sunday Jerrod?

Unfortunatly I am out of town this weekend visiting family over in Lake Placid, FL. I am planning on being out there the following weekend though.

After some debate with my wife, we have decided to purchase a home on Lake Tarpon and expect to close on it in mid-May. The location is closest to her work and thus the shortest commute. I am a little concerned about the "lake tarpon - might as well ride in the ocean" comment above, but I am happy about the decision otherwise.

Thanks everyone for you input and I look forward to seeing on the lake at the end of May.

I worry about that comment too much. Its not a perfect lake. But you ride most any weekday/evening after work and just have to be alittle selective about when you ride on the weekends. I grew up on an incredible for riding, but even it got crowded on the weekends like most public lakes.

I ride Tarpon on the weekends and we ride til 11:30 or 12 and have good water.

Steve, Tarpon can be choppy sometimes but you should be able to find some decent riding. I've ridden there quite a few times. As long as it's not a weekend afternoon you'll be good.

Scott, Good to hear from ya man. Looks like you been busy on the house. Looks great! I haven't been on the board yet this year so let me know if you can drag my old ass around sometime!

Hey buddy!! Yeah, I'll give you a shout, I'm heading out of town this weekend, but I just picked up a 04 X2 on Friday, so come on out!!

Scott, that would be great! I'm actually heading out of town this weekend too but definitely give me a shout when you get back. It's been way too long!!

congrats on the the new boat scott, post a picture.

Thanks man! I started a thread in the boats section. Mike I'll call you soon.