Marathon to Tampa--West Florida Travels:

[WindsAloft2010]

With good weather windows---what would be a comfortable sailing time from the Dry Tortagus to St Petes?? Thanks a bunch!!

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by WindsAloft2010

With good weather windows---what would be a comfortable sailing time from the Dry Tortagus to St Petes?? Thanks a bunch!!

From the anchorage at Ft. Jefferson to Southwest Channel at Egmont Key is about 178 miles. Given your boat shuld be able to average 5 knots SOG in any decent wind, you're looking at about 36 hours. Leave in time to arrive during daylight to make the run up Tampa Bay unless you are quite familure with the Bay.

FWIW...

[Siege]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Leave in time to arrive during daylight to make the run up Tampa Bay unless you are quite familure with the Bay.

FWIW...

I did search and rescue in Tampa Bay while I went to school at Eckerd College (they have a great free SAR program for the area BTW). I know the bay really well and coming in at night can still be confusing, especially considering all the ATON lights tend to get lost in the 360* of shore lights.

In daylight it's a piece of cake for the most part.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Siege

I did search and rescue in Tampa Bay while I went to school at Eckerd College (they have a great free SAR program for the area BTW). I know the bay really well and coming in at night can still be confusing, especially considering all the ATON lights tend to get lost in the 360* of shore lights.

In daylight it's a piece of cake for the most part.

Ohh you are in one great program! I will never forget my first encounter with them -- small, tippy boat, a following boat, and a crew member who thought that having the boat round up and head toward a broach was ... fun.

Bunches of things went wrong, and things started breaking, and i called Seatow, who kindly asked me to be on the (tiny, bouncy) bow when they got there.

EKSAR was monitoring 16 and when Seatow sent me to 68 or whatever they followed. They realized we were potentially in a lot of trouble and sent a boat out -- unasked.

They stayed off my bow until I caught the towline and DIDN'T go for an unscheduled swim. Then they waved good bye and took off.

Nobody I would rather see ready to fish me out than them.

[Rakuflames]

ER... that should have been a following SEA, not a following BOAT. Sorry!

[Siege]

Rakuflames, I'm glad you think so highly of EC-SAR they really are one of the best kept secrets (unfortunately) in Tampa Bay for boaters. They are a non-profit, volunteer, free program staffed by students and run by alumni. They train constantly and I doubt you will find a more professional group of people in the SAR business.

Seatow and them don't get along very well as the local Seatow franchise sees them as competition and a detriment to their bottom line. Strangely enough Towboat US holds the opposite opinion and both them and the USCG have called EC-SAR when they were overloaded with cases. I really don't know what Seatow's problem is as EC-SAR has a "no poaching" policy and being unpaid volunteers, all they want to do is help the local boaters.

Sorry for hijacking the thread, I could literally go on for hours about my SAR days.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Siege

Rakuflames, I'm glad you think so highly of EC-SAR they really are one of the best kept secrets (unfortunately) in Tampa Bay for boaters. They are a non-profit, volunteer, free program staffed by students and run by alumni. They train constantly and I doubt you will find a more professional group of people in the SAR business.

Seatow and them don't get along very well as the local Seatow franchise sees them as competition and a detriment to their bottom line. Strangely enough Towboat US holds the opposite opinion and both them and the USCG have called EC-SAR when they were overloaded with cases. I really don't know what Seatow's problem is as EC-SAR has a "no poaching" policy and being unpaid volunteers, all they want to do is help the local boaters.

Sorry for hijacking the thread, I could literally go on for hours about my SAR days.

No sailor in this area that I know stays with Seatow. (Struggles to get thread back on track) -- too bad EC-SAR won't go down to the Keys ...

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

The locks are not "constantly down" gotta disagree with that. Two were closed for a while this summer but all are open now. Of course things happen and one can't be *guaranteed* that a lock will never malfunction any more than one can be guaranteed that a bascule bridge will always function. But currently all locks are operating.

When it seems that nearly every year the water way is closed for months for one lock or another that, to me is "constantly. "

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

When it seems that nearly every year the water way is closed for months for one lock or another that, to me is "constantly. "

Well, I disagree. One lock was closed for one month, and another for two. Locks can malfunction just as bridges can -- surely you've been stuck in front of a malfunctioning bridge? But most of the time, they're fixable in a reasonable amount of time.

The lock that was closed for the longest time this year was for a major retrofit to protect manatees. That isn't something that's going to happen every year.

The system is more likely to be unnavigable because of low water -- not right now, but sometimes, yeah.

As people have said, check with the Army Corps of Engineers.

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

Well, I disagree. One lock was closed for one month, and another for two. Locks can malfunction just as bridges can -- surely you've been stuck in front of a malfunctioning bridge? But most of the time, they're fixable in a reasonable amount of time.

The lock that was closed for the longest time this year was for a major retrofit to protect manatees. That isn't something that's going to happen every year.

The system is more likely to be unnavigable because of low water -- not right now, but sometimes, yeah.

As people have said, check with the Army Corps of Engineers.

How can you disagree in 09 it was closed for 3 months for maintenance
and repairs 2 months in 2010,
And again in 2011 and yet again in 2012. These weren't a day or two or week were talking month to months. That is pretty much the definition of the word constantly. " recurring" etc.. why argue about it I was only stating facts.

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

'just a trick to use,- The Everglades Nat'l Park does not permit crab traps, so you can run just inside the park boundry and avoid the traps!

Just curious is this fairly safe to do at night ? We draw 2'10" would like to do what you suggest

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

How can you disagree in 09 it was closed for 3 months for maintenance
and repairs 2 months in 2010,
And again in 2011 and yet again in 2012. These weren't a day or two or week were talking month to months. That is pretty much the definition of the word constantly. " recurring" etc.. why argue about it I was only stating facts.

I never said weeks.

I did say months.

Should they not have repaired???

All the locks are done now.

It's not a guaranteed route; always check with Army Corps of Engineers, but now would be a great time to cross, well wait just a bit to cool off because of bugs -- water is high and everything is running well.

[zeehag]

we spent 5 days getting to dry tortugas from st pete. we made one stop--ueseppa island--beautiful. then we went inside from ueseppa to ft myers beach, hooked a mooring for coupla days in the matanzas mooring field enjoyed great pizza; then went to fort jefferson. watch out for the drift net--very old--that lies a lil deeply under the sand--makes anchorage poor holding...has been there for a while.....

[Sumner]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

Just curious is this fairly safe to do at night ? We draw 2'10" would like to do what you suggest

We ran inside the boundries from Everglades City to ....




... New Turkey Key and from there...



...down to Little Shark River with the Mac and it draws about 6 feet with the centerboard down and about 4 feet at the rudder. We never hit. Lots of over 5 feet or deeper water inside the park, just don't venture too close to shore. Some of the time we were outside the park to maintain a straighter course as to stay inside you need to parallel the shore and it is crescent shaped down there (see chart above).

Park boundaries are marked out in the water by some poles that show on the charts. I've heard that some are broke off just below the water line and you wouldn't want to hit one. I marked them on our chart so that we would stay clear of them if we were near them. The charts do show some as submerged piles so those might be the broken ones.

We really liked that area....more here,

FL Spring 2011 page 14

Sum

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

Just curious is this fairly safe to do at night ? We draw 2'10" would like to do what you suggest

My only concern at night would be the unlight poles that mark the Everglades Nat'l Park Boundry. These are well charted and once you confirm their location with your GPS chart or plotter, looking for any offset data; then, I would consider it a safe choice. The only place we tend to take a little clearance off the park boundry is at Schooner & Oxfoot Banks and this is extra prudence with our 4'3" draft. At 2'10" I think you can stay out of the trap floats and lines within the park.