It's been a while for me, it used to be that if you chose to live in one of the larger bases (BOS, HYA, SJU) then for the first year or two you could not hold your base year round. It would be the Northeast in the Summer and the Caribbean in the Winter. But you had the advantage of living in a larger city, and having a more varied schedule, picking up extra days if you want. And you got paid a bit more for making the move in the winter, moving expenses, higher Caribbean rate, and something called the 2 season bonus. So that was the way to go if you where after the money.
If you chose to live in one of the podunk EAS outstations (there are dozens of them... something like Rockland, Maine or Saranac Lake, NY) You might be based there with just 1 other person and work a simple half-time rotation. Nice and easy, routine, hold your base year round. But little opportunity for extra money.
Edit: This is for Captains. AFAIK they don't normally base FO's in the outstations.