Sarasota Florida

[+Finty]

We have been to Florida - Orlando with the grandchildren-twice and the Gulf Coast - Cape Coral, North Port, Tampa area and Siesta Key by ourselves during the winter and we love it. We are due to spend 6 weeks in Siesta Key again this December/January. I don't know if it maybe regarded as rude to ask but since the killing of two British tourists last year who apparently strayed into a "no-go" area we are a little concerned about where we should and should not go geacaching. We have looked at the cache map and see that there are only a few caches within a mile or so of where the Brits where killed but we wondered if there were other areas we would be wise to avoid. Are we being paranoid because previosly to this sad happening we have always felt safe. We must admit that we did not go to Florida last winter but feel that we should not be intimidated by something we feel was hopefully a rare occurance and we miss the weather.

[+Gamaliel]

The British tourists were on foot. So don't wander too far from the car.

 

In all seriousness, most urban areas in Florida are pretty cache dense, and you can tell from the geocaching map which parts of town are the bad ones because of the gaps in the map. The change from bad to good can be very abrupt in some places, but areas frequented by tourists are quite safe and well patrolled by law enforcement or security.

[+SwineFlew]

Did someone said Sarasota Florida? My great uncle used to owned a bunch of houses down there. Yes, I got some pretty strong family ties there. And yes, I been there as well. Before geocaching.

 

Make sure you stop at PineCraft. It might open up your eyes really wide.

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the South and Southeast forum.

[+Ohiosiouxfan]

Well let me first say "Bravo" for managing 6 weeks at Siesta Key! That's our favorite vacation place. You'll grab the few on the key itself, and have fun reaching for the one across the street from the Lobster Pot restaurant! In Sarasota proper (off the key) I'm not as experienced, but I would recommend driving south from Sarasota down Highway 41 and do some caching in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. There are a lot of mystery caches there as well, so you can start working on solving them now.

[+Finty]

Forgot to mention that we are coming from the UK so our knowledge of USA is somewhat limited despite the fact that we first visited in 1972 but did not "find" Florida until 8 years ago. Incidently I have been reading a blog attached to a local Sarasota newspaper and am horrified by the vitriolic, nasty remarks some so called local people have written about "snowbirds" that they steal, cheat and are generally horrible people and all the locals hate them. I understand that the term "snowbird" usually applied to Canadians going south for the winter but we could also be regarded as snowbirds coming from the UK. My husband dismisses this nastiness as "don't believe all you read on the internet" but it has left me wondering how welcome we really are.

[+Shawver83]

I live in FL, and the term 'snowbirds' wouldn't apply to you. It's a term used to describe people from northern states who come to FL for the winter. They usually have homes in FL, and live part of the year up north, and then winter down here. They aren't really tourists. You would probably be much more welcome than some snowbirds! There's sort of a love-hate relationship going on with native Floridians and snowbirds!

[+TheMasses]

I'm a floridian who loves snowbirds!!! It may make our streets more crowded but our local economy would not survive without you - so welcome!!!!