Moving to San Diego to Work On Coronado - Some Questions (Orange: rentals, buying)

[JInglee]

HI

Thanks in advance for any help.

I have been researching options for living/working in the San Diego area.

I will be working on Coronado Island and am looking for opinions/personal experiences regarding travel time over the bridge from the SD side into Coronado vs living in Coronado close to work.

If I am to be at work at 7:30 and I am coming from the SD side, what is the commute like over the bridge?
It seems like it could be a grim experience each morning if it means bumper to bumper over the bridge.

Second, if I were to live on the SD side, say in the Gaslight, is taking the ferry back and fourth a viable option?

I have spent some time in Coronado and while it is a nice community and all, it seems too cramped.

Well.....any personal experiences or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks
Jay

[cruitr]

I was on the Coronado ferry last weekend with out-ot-town guests. The ferry is fun when you have time but I couldn't imagine using it for daily commuting trips.

Living in downtown SD and drivng the bridge everyday would be an acceptable option. There's no bridge toll but there are occasional accidents with complete stops of traffic.

If I worked on Coronado, I'd try living on Coronado for a while. Rents are comparable to the mainland and EZ commutes are always nice.

Btw... it's Gaslamp not Gaslight.

[JInglee]

Thanks for the feedback -

Gaslamp, right -thanks.

[treedonkey]

Bridge traffic was awful when I lived there back in the 80's and early 90's. I'm certain it's much worse now. If you can afford living in Coronado, then just do that and make the short drive to SD whenever you feel like going out... Anytime outside of rush hour, things like Balboa park and Petco park would actually be closer to Nado in driving time than from the gaslamp end of the city. The ferry is probably not viable for a daily commute, paddling a kayak would actually be faster, although I would not recommend that for obvious reasons. Back in the day you could have taken a dinghy across and moored it there where the landing is now, but I doubt they would allow that now since it's all been turned into a tourist resort.

As far as bridge traffic, Coronado's rush hour revolves mainly around core Naval base hours which tend to be earlier the the rush in the city. Morning rush at around six am and afternoon rush at around 3pm. If yo don't have to commute all the way across town to the base you will save a lot of time. On summer weekends, traffic is always bad along Orange Ave.

[loveautumn]

I don't know your age, but if you are young and single, I wouldn't recommend living in Coronado. You'd be better off in downtown San Diego with all it has to offer, or areas around there.

[sandiegogolfer]

Check out the rental prices and compare.

Even if the rentals are slightly higher it is worth it to have an easy commute and less hassle.

It doesn't matter where you live to have fun after work hours if you have a car.

Coronado may be an older community but there are still things for younger people to do there such as the beach, fishing, kayaking, sailing, etc.

[JInglee]

Thanks to all.

[littlewheels]

When my husband and I were looking for places to live we were staying on Coronado and he got up early, drove off the bride and drove back on at different times of day. It wasn't bad at all - he drove from Mission Hills from around 6am to 8am and it took about 15 minutes.

Fast forward 4 weeks. 3 carriers have pulled into North Island making his daily commute double and sometimes triple of what it was a few weeks ago. The extra 9,000 + people have really put a damper of his drive.

We wouldn't change anything though, we love this area!

[ccstewart]

If you live downtown and commute to North Island, it is totally doable. My husband and I lived downtown - his commute was generally 15 minutes door to door. Yes, as another person mentioned-- when you have additional navy ships in port, the traffic is pretty bad. But if you can arrange to have a flexible schedule, it's not that big of a deal.

As far as activities-- downtown is much more fast paced than the island. But you can connect with the Coronado community and find a new favorite watering hole and really get to know your neighors. Renting on the island is an option for a single person, but don't even think about buying unless you are a multimillionaire :-)

[Just1Lion]

maybe it was just my experience, but i found many of the residents of Coronado to be really snooty, dam right hoidy toidy...if you will