ASA 104 in St. Pete, FL

[SouthernHiker]

Getting pretty excited, wife and I are heading down to finally take our Bareboat course in St. Pete this upcoming weekend.

Anybody got any tips for the area? Stuff to see on land or sea?

[callmecrazy]

Walk the Docks

St. Pete is the Mecca for used boats, which equates to low prices on a large variety of vessels. Use the opportunity to check a few off/on the list. You'll be in "boat mode" anyway.

Otherwise, when I took my 104 there wasn't much time to do any shoreside excursions. Unless you're taking a few extra days for non-class stuff...You should be spending majority of your 3-4 days out on the water or on the boat. (thats what 104 is for!) We anchored out one night and dingied to shore for breakfast, then stayed in a marina the next night and walked to local food place for dinner.

[denverd0n]

Who are you taking the course from?

If you're a baseball fan, catch a game at the Trop.
Salvador Dali museum is close to the downtown marina area.
Beaches, of course, on the other side of the peninsula.
Wouldn't top my list, but The Pier is not a complete waste of time.
If you're there on a weekend they have a great open air farmers market right next to the marina area on Saturday's.

If you want to travel a little farther, consider Busch Gardens, Tarpon Springs, the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, the Marine Aquarium in Clearwater.

[SouthernHiker]

Thanks for the feedback,

We're taking the course with Sailing Florida Charters, ever heard of them? If so what have you heard? The course is two days w/ an overnight anchorage, which I found to be a little short compared to other 104 courses, but it was cheap enough not to pass up the sailing opportunity either way.

We've been to the pier before, like you said not the highest on the list, but something to do.

Planning on catching the Devil Rays game Monday night. We were going Friday, but instead are going to see the Coral Reefer Band play at Skipper's Smokehouse (??)

Know of any good marinas, etc.... to boat window shop at, budget boats is our area of interest right now?

[denverd0n]

My wife and I took the 101 course from them several years ago. We were very happy with it.

The Vinoy is walking distance from the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina, where there are always a lot of boats for sale. And a further hike (or short drive) to the South is the Harborage Marina, where you will find Massey Yacht Sales.

They actually changed the name so that they are just the Rays now, not the Devil Rays. Nonetheless, at every game, you will see people wearing Devil Rays gear. They're 3-and-8 on the season so far--not a very good beginning--but they won their last two, so maybe things are looking up. And the food options at the Trop are fairly good.

Skippers is a ways up North, past Busch Gardens. Depending on traffic through downtown Tampa, it could take you anywhere from 40 minutes or so up to an hour and a few. That is assuming that you're coming from the vicinity of the Vinoy Marina where the sailing school is headquartered.