posted 12-05-2002 06:17 PM ET (US)            

Winter: Mazatlan, MX.

posted 12-05-2002 06:19 PM ET (US)            

The ONLY place for a Whaler to live happily is in Door County Wisconsin on beautiful Lake Michigan and Green Bay. Fresh water, huge water, lots of marinas. The list goes on and on.

posted 12-05-2002 06:38 PM ET (US)            

gvisko (westhampton)

posted 12-06-2002 01:52 PM ET (US)            

Fishing is fabulous from small bay fish to big game tuna. Crabbing and clamming on the inside coastal area is excellent.

Cruising. At 110 miles long and 14 miles wide, what ever your needs are, you can find it. Gunkholing in secluded anchorages, house watching up and down all the miles of canals, full service overnight facilities with beach access, restaurants, bars, etc. NY City skyline, enough said?

Good water. The bays on the south shore offer protection and well marked channels. The five inlets are usually tame enough with only one (Moriches) requiring local knowledge. One can sail on a broad reach (beam wind usually from the southwest all summer long)for the entire length of the island. The north shore offers sailboats great deep water and blustery winds in the spring and fall. Summer months are relatively calm seas on both shores.

Service. Some of the most concentrated with marine qualified mechanics of any area I know. Many work side jobs at night and "off the books"

Dockage is voluminous and relatively cheap compared to the rest of the country I have visited.

The only downside is too many people who buy boats and know little if anything about boating. The problem is not restricted to Long Island but rather due to their population density (7.2 million people the last time I checked). The entire state of Florida where I now live has only 16 million people.

posted 12-06-2002 02:10 PM ET (US)            

The Delta: 1000 miles of waterways for boating and fishing year round

San Francisco Bay: very scenic speaks for itself great sailing and fishing

Lake Tahoe: largest Alpine lake in the country great for boating in summer

Northern Coast of California from San Francisco to Fort Bragg: great fishing and diving and my favorite area (the only place in the U.S. that abalone can be taken)

Monterey/Carmel: Diving Mecca and great fishing

Since most of us fish, here is a list of popular species that we fish for with boats: Salmon, Halibut, Albacore, Strippers, Sturgeon, Ling Cod, many varieties of rock fish, Sand Dabs and Dungeness Crab

posted 12-06-2002 02:49 PM ET (US)            

The San Juan Islands are just outside of Bellingham Bay and the Canadian Gulf Islands are an easy destination. You can see the snow covered Cascade Mountains from the water. Mt. Baker is snow-covered year around. The marina is first class and much cheaper than Seattle.

I used to harvest 400-500 Dungeness crab per year without trying very hard. The salmon fishing, although is not what it used to be, is still good.

The weather in the summer is 75-80 degrees, with bright blue skies.

posted 12-06-2002 05:52 PM ET (US)            

1. Bayfield, WI
2. Sister Bay, WI

posted 12-06-2002 10:50 PM ET (US)            

Don't get me wrong, Alaska has incredible fishing and outstanding scenery, but coastal Alaska has a lot of precipitation (Juneau 90-inches per year), 50-degree water in the summer, and some of the worst weather you can experience.

Great Peconic Bay in the summer? Waterski all morning, sail all afternoon, water temps high 70s to low 80s, access to Shinnecock Inlet and the Atlantic, or head east through Little Peconic, around Shelter Island, Gardiner's Bay, Block Island, and New England. Sand bottom, no rocks, great weather, 3-ft tide max, friends, relatives. Well, it has my vote. But I'd still rather live in Alaska.

posted 12-07-2002 03:37 PM ET (US)            

As a resident, I'll second milwhaler's love for Milwaukee. Not just for the beautiful third coast and river through downtown, but the Sprecher also.

As a frequent visitor, I'll second Montauk's Minoqua area and the Northwoods in general. Some of the loveliest lakes, rivers and woods in the nation. Shear quantity, while not trumping the exceptional quality, certainly comes into play here with Vilas Co. boasting one of if not the greatest number of lakes in a single county in the nation.

Brian's, Dave's and JB's reference to Door Co. goes without further explanation. A beautiful peninsula cutting into the Bay of the Packers and The Big Pond.

And finally, I also must give props to JB's LOTW. 1,000,000 acres, 14,000 islands, 65,000 miles of coast and some of the best fishing on this earth. Not to mention one of my favorite vacations, towing the striper behind a houseboat for a week with the boys.

posted 12-08-2002 02:50 AM ET (US)            

You can't beat South Louisiana,... or any part of Louisiana for that matter. In the New Orleans area there's Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne, The Rigolets... Go "down da bayou" and you've got Venice and all the thousands of great places to fish in the Mississippi River Delta. Beautiful swamps and marshes abound. Toledo Bend in the West! It just goes on and on. You could spend your entire life exploring and never see it all! Our Whalers would never live anywhere else.

Come check it out!!!

L50 in Whaler's Paradise.

posted 12-08-2002 12:06 PM ET (US)            

(sorry, stuck in MI. It was 5 the other day. That's like 5 DEGREES.)

The only way you could not vote for this area is if you've never spent a lot of time boating there!

posted 12-09-2002 02:01 PM ET (US)            

All year round, got to vote for the Florida Keys, for all boating and fishing in shore or off shore. Take money, eat drink and make mary and don't worry about liver cells.

posted 12-09-2002 05:38 PM ET (US)         

1. British Columbia Coast, from US border to northern end of Vancouver Island.

2. 30 Thousand Islands area of Georgian Bay, Ontario Canada.

3. Abaco Islands, Bahamas. (and probably Eleuthera and Exuma, but have not been there)

4. Coast of Maine

5. Isle Royale, Lake Superior

6. In FL, from Jupiter to Captiva, and everything in between, including Keys and Everglades.

7. Northern Lake MI, the Islands and adjoining North Channel of Lake Huron

8. Cape Cod and the Islands (except for the crowds)