Orlando living?

There's a chance that I could be offered a job in Orlando in the near future. Having never lived there I was wondering if anyone could give me some information on what it's like up there? I currently live in Ft. Lauderdale and I'm afraid that the diving up there won't be nearly as good as it is down here, and I'm not a cave diver so being that close to cave country doesn't really impress me much. What are the home prices like? How about the cost of living there? Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks

Scott, what do you want to know? The weather is a little stickier and wetter than you have had it on the coast - no sea breeze to blow things away. It has to be a little higher in altitude - at least 100-150ft

With regard to the city itself, its busy enough, but traffic is no better or worse than Ft Lauderdale. There are good places to live, and not so good, but without knowing the area you might be working in i wouldnt want to suggest where might be nice/convenient to live. Colin just bought a house a little outside of Orlando in Deltona i believe, not sure about prices in the city though. The rest of the cost of living is about the same for food etc, gas is a little cheaper, around $1.90 right now.

As for diving, your options are springs, lakes and travelling to either Tampa/SW, New Smyrna/Daytona or back down to the SE. If you intend to continue teaching up here, you have the main training lakes/springs of Lk Denton, Alexander Springs, Blue Spring (Orange City) or heading up to one of the other cave country springs (Manatee and Ginnie are good examples). There are dive shops a plenty, pretty much everyone is covered in one way or another around here for agencies or manufacturers.

If you are into that kind of thing, the theme parks offer a nice annual pass deal every now and then and make nice day trips! Keep asking questions and myself and others will try to answer them. Also, why did you put this up in Non diving related rather than in the FCD forum????

Scott - I'm making the move to that area myself. Several things are influencing it including lower house prices

I can't wait to get up there!!

I'm not really looking forward to moving, again. I just bought a house and moved into it 3 months ago so to pack everything up and move again is going to be a big PITA. The airlines aren't doing to good and I'm looking at a possible layoff or at the least a transfer to another city, most likely Atlanta. Either way if it happens I'm through with aviation. I found a job that sounds interesting working for Universal Studios so I applied. I haven't heard from them yet so it's not offical that I'm moving I just wanted to know what it was like up there incase they do offer me the position. I like South Florida for the great diving we have here and I've made some good friends but if I have to go I will. Especially if they offer me nearly the same money and I can actually work a normal schedual. This nights and weekends crap is killing me.

Thanks for the info guys, now it's just wait and see what happens.

Don't be surprised if you get offered great pay in sunshine dollars

I'm with you in regards to the constant uncertanty that the aviation environment is providing. The IT Tech field is like that as well... most employers treat techs as if they were no more than skilled cashiers.

All the more reason why I'm diversifying my income and working several things part time vs. relying upon the industry to maintain any sort of consistancy.