How many on here live on or near (+/- hour ) the gulf coast?

Pros?

Cons?

Bout an hour and a half here cant say anything other than its easy to go to the beach.

Lived on the gulf coast my whole life except for a couple years in grad school. Saltwater fishing is what I love most about the coast. It runs deep in my veins and always will.

We just traded in our pontoon with some cash for a center console.

Cons. Hot, humid, flat land, too many people, too much traffic.
Pros. I got nothing.

I grew up in Pensacola. I enjoyed the beach as a teen but as an adult, I have to much to do. I do not miss the heat. It is usually 6-10 degrees cooler than at my mom's house. I love the mountains

We live in OBA on Ono Island. I could never be away from the water

Pros - not having to fight the traffic or craziness at the boat ramps

Cons - hmmm...still thinking

Lived on little lagoon in gulf shores for a few years right by the federal park. Saltwater fishing inshore/offshore and fishing off our pier as well being able to eat fresh seafood was the main incentive. We had the best of both worlds really. On the bottom floor of the house it was like living on the lake since the lagoon was are front yard. The upper story of the house you could hear and see West beach. Down side of living there insurance/flooding and not if but when you get storm damage. Sand and salt spray on and in everything and all the traffic. Haven't been back but once in 8 yrs. Ivan and Katrina did a # on us and after that it really started growing up and getting crowded down there. And after that it wasn't the same.

I'm about 23 miles from the Gulf. Dang traffic from the north is down right crazy. I think all of those yankees from north of Montgomery think the dang thing is going to dry up if they don't drive 90 MPH and drink all the beer on the way down here.

I was born and raised in Pensacola. I love going to my trailer in Ala. but I also love sitting on the back porch and watching Pensacola bay, always something to see.

Howdy neighbor, we don't live on Ono year round but we've got a place on River Cove.

Pros: too many to list

Cons: the explosion of people and condos in the last 20yrs

@friscojames we have a place across the river at Perdido Beach and Yacht. Let's go fishing or beer drinking soon.

I grew up about 35 minutes north of Destin until I was about 26. I guess I took it for granted living there when I was younger. My area had rivers to fish, woods to ramble, just minutes from beaches,
a variety of ethnic restaurants, beautiful women, nightlife. The only drawbacks were the temperature is 3 or 4 degrees warmer and the Summer traffic. I would never want to actually live on the beach but enjoy access to it.

We vacation every year in Gulf Shores with our Texas friends. They are planning to retire there in three years and mentioned we should move there as well when I retire. Told them Lake Guntersville was about as far south as I wanted to move.

I live 30 min north of gulf shores and have my whole life. I like it, I am 5 min from causeway for inshore fishing in the mobile bay/river. 10 min from Fairhope. Fish around orange beach a lot. And go to Robinson island a lot of Saturday's during summer when I'm not fishing. My father in law just bought a place on terry cove, so will be spending a lot more time down in orange beach now.

Pros- I love the water, and GOOD food
Cons- traffic during the summer. But now beach express is open it's not bad(for me)

Pros: Various types of fishing, food, entertainment (concerts, festivals, etc.)
Cons: Rains almost daily in the summer, summer traffic, typically have to travel further for good/great hunting

I like the Gulf, but would not want to live there. And here are the reasons why:

1. I love the mountains and the seasons.
2. People talk about the food, but honestly there is much better food in Birmingham than there is on the coast.
3. There are lots of people and lots of tourist, and tourist are worse than people.
4. Once you've fished, and drank and laid around in a chair out on the beach all that's left is the heat, the salt and the sand.

All that said, we are still building a place on our property down there, but will not live there full time. Plus we are building in a place that (for now at least) is not too commercialized or crowded and mainly is a place inhabited by retired or semi-retired locals. So I think I can deal with that for a while. It will be an interesting self study for us to see which of the 2 places we end up staying most of the time. Hell, I may change my mind and start liking the coast more than the mountains?

My daughter lives in Pace, FL and loves it. My grandkids love it. So maybe I'm just an old fuddy duddy.

I briefly fell in love with the Virgin Islands when we stayed at a house down there for 2 weeks, but having to drive on the steep, tiny mountain roads or take a boat to get ANYWHERE got old after a while, plus I didn't like the thought of not having anywhere to go to escape from a hurricane.

It was a lot better back in the 70's when it was still a decently kept secret, and well before the boom.

Pro's - awesome fishing
Cons - having to listen to all of your Yankee azzes calling The Gulf of Mexico the Ocean.
Rant over

I was born and raised in Mobile ,,I've been living in downtown Mobile for over 30years now , just a spit from Mobile bay and some great bass fishing. It's bout a 1 hour drive or less depending on traffic to Dauphin Island and Gulf shores. Casino's in Atmore,al and Biloxi, Ms about a I hour drive ,

Where I live you have the choice to freshwater fish or saltwater. Buy a combo license and you are covered for both. I'm on the bay way in about five minutes and can fish the causeway or about twenty minutes drive north on I-65 go to Live oak landing or hit hwy 225 via the causeway headed east and go north on 225 in Spanish Fort and launch my boat from Buzzbees and further down 225 put in at Cliffs,, also numerous ramps on the causeway,,, caution the causeway is bad with shallow flats especially during low tide .

Hunting is great too,,, two huge WMA's on the lower and upper delta. access by boat and land. Lots of timber land to lease and plenty of clubs.

Plenty of places to eat ,, all the cuisines are represented here. More seafood restaurants than you can imagine,, beaches are nice,, plenty of places to party... Birthplace of Mardi Gras,, can I get a moon pie.

The one thing I hate the most are the hurricanes, you can leave Mobile or stay and wait it out. I've never left ,, the summer ,,, well ,, lets say I pray for short summers and lots of over cast sky's ,,,keeps things cooler. the humidity is awful being right at the bay. Mobile has won rainiest city in the nation many times,,, out annual rainfall is tremendous most years.

Traffic on Govt street gets real bad when time to knock off from work , one accident on I-10 or I-65 and traffic can back up for miles. I fear I'll be dead and gone before the new proposed bridge ever gets started and completed.

Most of the well to doers packed up and moved to West Mobile or across the bay to Baldwin county, this is where all the new development is taking place. Downtown Mobile has good and popular dining and pubs bars and lounges.