I just have to say, first Nords threw cold water on Hawaii, and now my Key West bubble has been popped :(
I'm running out of tropical fantasy locations!
Costa Rica. :-)
It does sound like the Keys might be something we enjoy for a few months, say renting a 3 month vacation house for $3500 a month in a nice area and get our fill of fishing, snorkeling, sailing (I do look forward to sailing our 17 foot Montgomery there).
I have relatives in Tampa and it has always been nice, also St. Georges Island was a place we vacationed yearly as a kid (massive empty white sand beaches).
Oh man...the Florida tourism industry just took a big hit with the ER crowd. Must save my state from further bashing.
Plenty of people love the Keys. I just pointed out the lack of beach thing since you were dreaming of spending time on the beach while in the Keys.
It's a boater's and diver's paradise. You could also have a lot of fun kayaking around. I used to take windsurfing trips down there and surf the bay side (flat waters).
There's a lot of more inexpensive places if you can rule out Key West.
I do an annual two day bike ride to Key West. I'm a little burned out on the touristy parts of Key West but the ride down is beautiful.
That said, if I had to pick another place to live in Florida it wouldn't be the Keys. I'm am not a boating person and I would need to be close to the beach (as I am now). I'm too much of a beach bum I guess. My toes need to sink into the sand every now and then to keep me grounded.
I still haven't made it to the panhandle, but it looks like there are a lot of state parks along the west coast of Florida north of Tampa. I've mostly done the east coast drive up. Some day soon I will explore that upper west coast and panhandle of Florida.
EDIT: Forgot to mention the mosquito problem in the Keys. Well that happens in the Everglades as well. That's a summertime problem. They go away in the winter. But close to my east coast beach, we don't get mosquitos in the summer. So I guess that is Keys bashing, but not Florida east coast bashing. It's really a great state!