Best parts of Florida for living (on land) and sailing/cruising hobby?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Tonali99

Been away for quite some time haven't you? Let me update you.
Crab pots, lots not 'em.
No way you can anchor off Cocoa Beach.
Any named storm mandates evacuation from marinas. All of them.
Unless you know there's plenty of shoals around the spoil islands, the daysail can get expensive. Any distance off the minimal channel shallows pretty quick too. Tacking can be a bitch,
Never saw a mangrove on the canal.
Can't anchor or tie off there either. Navigable waterway. (some do anyway like casino boats and fishermen)
Still haven't fixed the bridge after Matthew. Extra six miles to go around. Upside is I'm on a dead end road now and feel safer than ever.

You sound pretty sure of yourself but I own a slip there, have been in the mangroves in the Canaveral Barge Canal during Dorian, incl. a hundred other boats and can report the mangrove trunks go up to 12” diameter so they have been there for a while. Also, there is no evacuation for all named storms and some marinas didn’t even evacuate for Dorian. I know, I left my dinghy in one.

The bridge worked pretty good; it was the locks that required repair.

[dennismenace111]

Originally Posted by Knot Fast

New Cat on our dock sailed in from Bahamas. He said he and wife got CV there, as did a lot of their sailing community. I said I read Bahamas only had 12 cases (at that time). He guessed they only had 12 tests.

FL has 1350 miles of coast line and 67 counties. There is incredible diversity throughout FL, and the CV status is unique to each area. State-wide mandates are few (Senior Homes), leaving county and city governments to determine what is best locally. I was tested in St Pete (Pinellas County); waited 15 minutes for a Quest antibody test, results in 18 hours. For me, personal responsibility is prime. Has any government in history ever managed a pandemic well? I do not expect this.

It appears that the governments of the EU are handling the virus quite well... The entire EU, 440 million citizens... had about 3000 cases the other day.. Florida with 21 million citizens had over 10,000 new cases.

So it appears that the ability of the government to manage the pandemic has alot to do with that individual government.

The US as moe o less 4 % of the worlds population, yet we hav 25% of the deaths due to corona. Go figure..

[Tonali99]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

You sound pretty sure of yourself but I own a slip there, have been in the mangroves in the Canaveral Barge Canal during Dorian, incl. a hundred other boats and can report the mangrove trunks go up to 12” diameter so they have been there for a while. Also, there is no evacuation for all named storms and some marinas didn’t even evacuate for Dorian. I know, I left my dinghy in one.

The bridge worked pretty good; it was the locks that required repair.

Which bridge? Only thing crossing Sykes Creek are bicycles. Or people on foot.
The locks close occaissionlly for maintainance. Last time was for repair, before that? to clean the muck out.
Mangroves? Nothing you can hide in. Unless you're talking about that same Sykes Creek.
Remember that restuarant that was closed for selling crabs from the Indian river? Toxic ones they were.

[Tonali99]

Side bar:
Most common mangrove in Fl is the red version. Grows about 20' max.
Trunk looks like a stilt house on acid. Lots of tangled roots all clumped together.
Once through the locks you've got a bridge to wait a bit on. Heading west you've got the hwy. 3 bridge opens on the half hour except during really busy times when it's closed to boat traffic for 2 hours. Like when the NASA people go to work and back.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Tonali99

Which bridge? Only thing crossing Sykes Creek are bicycles. Or people on foot.
The locks close occaissionlly for maintainance. Last time was for repair, before that? to clean the muck out.
Mangroves? Nothing you can hide in. Unless you're talking about that same Sykes Creek.
Remember that restuarant that was closed for selling crabs from the Indian river? Toxic ones they were.

It’s clear that you are somewhat familiar with the area but clueless to what we’re talking about.

When Port Canaveral is evacuated, we go through the 401 bridge, then the Canaveral Locks. That’s it, no other bridges. You’re talking about a small secondary road (Sea Ray Drive) bridge over Sykes Creek while the primary road right next to it is the 528 with perfectly intact bridge.
Then your claim that all marinas evacuate: Harbortown too? Or are you talking about the marinas in Port Canaveral (duh... yes the whole port evacuates, this is why we move)

I attached a satellite picture of the canal with Harbortown.... mangroves! many boats there during hurricanes.
Also, a picture of Jedi actually hiding there.

[BlackHeron]

That doesn't look at all protected IMHO. Not "in" the mangroves but along the mangroves by the side of a pretty wide ditch. Hurricane hole?

Unfortunately it could be IN the mangroves permanently once the storm hits. The point of actually being in the manfoves is being able to tie off in all directions to them but still being able to float out again afterwards without needing a crane or a helicopter.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by BlackHeron

That doesn't look at all protected IMHO. Not "in" the mangroves but along the mangroves by the side of a pretty wide ditch. Hurricane hole?

Unfortunately it could be IN the mangroves permanently once the storm hits. The point of actually being in the manfoves is being able to tie off in all directions to them but still being able to float out again afterwards without needing a crane or a helicopter.

How many hurricanes of what categories did you get your boat through safely? Dorian was a close miss for us but we’ve been through many incl. cat5 direct hit. Our bow anchor alone pulled us through a cat5. We’re not further in the mangroves because we’re stuck in the mud.
The Canaveral Barge Canal isn’t a ditch; it’s a canal used to transport rockets, space shuttle’s etc. It has the reputation of the best hurricane hole on the Atlantic side of Florida, mainly because the locks eliminate the storm surge.

Anyway, I posted the picture because the previous nay sayer claimed there were no mangroves

[BlackHeron]

I think he meant there wasn't the kind of mangroves you can poke up into and tie up within. Those mangroves are basically on land. For all intents and purposes there don't seem to be any mangroves "on" the water there in the traditional sense that you can tie up inside them.

[a64pilot]

I’ve been through there myself a few times, you anchor in the canal? Isn’t that a waterway?
Harbor town would I think be a decent place to hide, but really doubt you could get a slip.

I’ve heard many times that those locks would stop a surge, but it would seem that any real surge would overtop them. I can attest that there are no tidal changes past the locks as I’ve stayed there for days before, watched Space-X heavy launch from there.

By the way, don’t let “Gator” do anything to your dinghy and be wary of buying anything from him

[Tonali99]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I’ve been through there myself a few times, you anchor in the canal? Isn’t that a waterway?
Harbor town would I think be a decent place to hide, but really doubt you could get a slip.

I’ve heard many times that those locks would stop a surge, but it would seem that any real surge would overtop them. I can attest that there are no tidal changes past the locks as I’ve stayed there for days before, watched Space-X heavy launch from there.

By the way, don’t let “Gator” do anything to your dinghy and be wary of buying anything from him

*
I have no idea how long he's been here but ....

There was serious concern once about 'surge' in the Indian and Banana rivers. Some enthusiasts predicted 9 to 13 feet. Half of Merritt Island would have been under water. Didn't happen. Look closely at the topograpgy of those two areas. How much water would it take to fill up, well nearly the entire ICW?
In all the years I've stayed where I am, I've found that wind seems to increase east or west in the canal. Kinda like a venturi, but why? Don't know.
Tide change is about 1 foot and a few hours later than at the port. Go past the hwy 3 (Christy McCaully) bridge and watch the spoil island get smaller.
I wonder if he strings lines across the canal like I've seen others do. Rude.
Anyway, where ever he goes I hope he's safe there. Seems like a nice boat he's got.

[s/v Jedi]

Maybe y’all should be googling before voicing zero-experience opinions
https://www.cruisingworld.com/prep-for-hurricane/

How is securing during a hurricane rude? The whole of Merritt Island was evacuated and even towboats with their tow alongside them could still pass. Like people want to tourthe canal during a hurricane, you guys are outrageous :facepalm

There were at least 100 boats tied up in the canal. Maybe they read CruisingWorld instead of CruisingForum

[Group9]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I’m what would be considered to be a Redneck, and yes the Panhandle of Fl is more Redneck than the rest, and that is to a large extent why I like it, because I really don’t get along with the Ny and Nj crowd.
The Mid West crowd on the West coast is a lot easier to take, simply put they aren’t so rude and don’t act as entitled.

If you don’t like Jim Bob, and Peggie Sue, and want to be able to buy a bagel with lox, don’t go to PC, and for sure stay out of Carrabelle.

Probably 20 years ago we were going down there because my Brother kept his boat at the Moorings Marina, his wife told mine that they would be the prettiest girls in Carrabelle, because they had all their teeth
Carrabelle used to be a big Commercial fishing village, many people walked around wearing white rubber boots, and every single truck had at least one pair upside down and stuffed between the bed and the cab of the truck.

All of Florida was like the panhandle sixty or seventy years ago before the New York/ New Jersey invasion. The panhandle is the last holdout of Old Florida.