moving for surf fishing??

[skinny fish]

I know this isn't exactly fishing related but... I am thinking of moving to the east coast somewhere from Maryland down to South Carolina. I live in Ohio now and can't stand being this far from surf fishing. I'm an medical device engineer and would need to find a postion there. Any suggestions for good cities with a reasonable chance for employment? Any direction would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Skinnyfish

[easternpoints]

I would think your field would have a lot of opportunties for employment, people get sick everywhere. I moved to Wilmington around 2 years ago. I did not have work lined up. If I had to do it again, I would have employment lined up before another move. There are plenty of sites you can check for employment in different cities.

[kip]

In NC the closest place to the coast that would offer you the best chance at really good employment would be Greenville and the medical school and hospital complex there. You'd be about 3 hours from Cape Point, 2 hours from Morehead City/Beaufort area. I would think about Virginia Beach, VA with all of the various military medical complexes there as well. About the same distance from Cape Point but much closer to the barrier islands of VA, and the Chesapeake as well.

Going further south to SC, while the weather is a little nicer, the fish also tend to be a little smaller. Stripers mostly stop at the end of Cape Lookout and the big drum there are average size up in NC

[savfish]

Check out the norfolk/chesapeake, va area. You could live in currituck county, nc and commute 30-45 minutes north to va to work and still be 1 hr from oregon inlet and 2 hrs to cape point in buxton. You would also be about 45 minutes to virginia beach which also offers some good surf fishing.

[newsjeff]

Good answers, guys. I went to school in Greenville (ECU!!!). Now I live in Virginia Beach. I can make it from my door to the Point in 2 1/2 hours if pushing the speed limit a little bit.
ECU's med school and Pitt Memorial Hospital might be a good place to look. But I'll tell ya the truth, I'd much rather live in Virginia Beach than Greenville. Nothing against Greenville, but there's some good fishing right here in my back yard.
Sentara has several good hospitals in the Norfolk area. Chesapeake General is a very good hosptial, too. And don't forget that big Naval hosptial in Portsmouth.
Currituck would be a great place to live. Housing costs/cost of living is cheap there.
I think you'd find the school system a litte better in Virginia Beach. So, I'd look into that if you got some young'ens. Over all, the area is a great place to live, IMHO. It's not Hatteras. But what is? Maybe I can retire there someday ... .
Best of luck to ya.

[skinny fish]

Those ideas sound really excellent. I'll look into that area and the commutes (no sense living close to fishing if it takes forever to get home after work). Any opinon about living in Raleigh and making runs to the shore on weekends? Seems like an easy place to get a job in my field. I don't need to live near a hospital necessarily because I design and build medical equipment that is sold to hospitals.

[mdram]

have you checked for those types of jobs in the area? that might narrow it down some too