Sarasota to Key west any advice ?

[Expert]

Super newbee Looking to sail from Sarasota to Key West in a few weeks.
any advice ?

[Benz]

Turn left out of Sarasota, go south. There's nothing to hit 'till you fetch the channel at Key West. Marco Island is the last decent bailout option on the way.

[motion30]

Keep the land on your left

[BenBowSirocco]

Lots depends on type of vessel and draft of vessel. But we had a great stay for a couple days in the Everglades about this time of year last season. We enjoy the quiet and the birds. Personally found the entrance decent even at night, good lights. We carry a 5' draft and entered on an incoming tide.

Depending on the amount of time that you have, there are many different strategies for moving around.

You can day hop, at whatever lengths your vessel is capable of and many people find this enjoyable. Take your vessels average speed and then calculate distances traveled from anchor up to anchor down to last about 6-8 hours depending on factors like whether you can leave out pre-dawn or not, amount of daylight etc.. Just plan to be anchor down before sunset in some new place each night.
This style of cruising can give you surprise overnight passages because of a planned inlet entrance being unpassable and such things- so always have 3 passage plans in place and make any crew aware that this is a real possibility in order to avoid disappointments. You will hear these called "Bail Our Anchorages", also very important due to unforeseen weather variables or changes and should always be a standard part of your passage plan.

Or you can just leave out for an overnight passage (or two) at the appropriate time to arrive about mid day to your destination. The keys are pretty close by to Sarasota and doing the run down straight through is easy in good weather.

Use GRIBS. Predict Wind, Wind Finder etc.

There is a term called a "Staging Anchorage" that is very useful, often leaving from a marina can add a lot of time just inland motoring, waiting on bridges, and add wasted hours to a passage. A staging anchorage is an overnight spot as close to the inlet of your choice as possible (that is safe enough). You simple arrive at the anchorage in the evening the day before you plan to head out and get the boat ready for passage before bed. This way you wake up in the pre-dawn and are ready to leave, just raise the hook and out you go, saving hours of messing around and helping you reach your destination at a reasonable time.

The inlets around the coast of FL are sometimes subject to swell/breaker problems, do your research on any inlets before planning to use them. Active Captain and Bobs Anchorages are good resources for this type of knowledge, as well as this forum.

My favorite way to transit the gulf coast is during a big north-east wind. It blows everything offshore and you can run along the coast at hull speed in flat water. Although this makes entrances even shallower than normal if day hopping.

[sailorboy1]

I all depends if you what to just get the KW, or stop (if you draft allows) and feed the bugs and make the trip longer.

But it is a straight shot to KW