best beaches near ocala?

[CMK10]

Originally Posted by =^..^=

What do you hate about living there? The heat? The bugs?

The oppressive heat, the high crime, the high COL, the scenery and the lack of pride or identity in central Florida.

As I said, some places in Florida have some very attractive qualities that wipe many if not all of my concerns off the table. However, I've been here since 89 and I'm over it in a big enough way to change my entire surroundings. If I were set on living on Florida, I would move to coastal city. Ocala, Orlando, Gainesville, etc. are soul consuming black holes. IMO. Others love it.

[bobjlv]

It's not a beach, but my favorite place in Marion County was Little Lake Kerr located in Salt Springs. You can rent cottages by the weekend. Oddly when I worked for Elite Resorts located on Hwy 19, everyone from Jacksonville and Daytona would come to Salt Springs because they enjoyed the lake better than the beaches, but if you want the beach, best bet is Ormond or Daytona Beach. They are the closest, just take SR 40 east from Ocala until you hit the beaches.

[=^..^=]

Originally Posted by CMK10

The oppressive heat, the high crime, the high COL, the scenery and the lack of pride or identity in central Florida.

As I said, some places in Florida have some very attractive qualities that wipe many if not all of my concerns off the table. However, I've been here since 89 and I'm over it in a big enough way to change my entire surroundings. If I were set on living on Florida, I would move to coastal city. Ocala, Orlando, Gainesville, etc. are soul consuming black holes. IMO. Others love it.

It's even more expensive in the coastal cities. Everything is higher there. We did some real serious research as we had planned to move to FL earlier this year. But after finding out about the COL, the heat etc., we decided to be snow birds and stay where we are. We get the best of both worlds this way.

[=^..^=]

Originally Posted by bobjlv

It's not a beach, but my favorite place in Marion County was Little Lake Kerr located in Salt Springs. You can rent cottages by the weekend. Oddly when I worked for Elite Resorts located on Hwy 19, everyone from Jacksonville and Daytona would come to Salt Springs because they enjoyed the lake better than the beaches, but if you want the beach, best bet is Ormond or Daytona Beach. They are the closest, just take SR 40 east from Ocala until you hit the beaches.

About how many miles is it from Ocala to the beaches in the east coast?

[emi__]

Depends on the beach. I think it's maybe 80mi at the greatest when you go straight down SR40 to Ormond-by-the-Sea.