approach to Resort & Club At Little Harbor On Tampa Bay

[henryjm]

I will be chartering a 40 ' Hunter out of the Vinoy Renaissance Resort in mid-June in Saint Petersburg, FL. I heard that the Resort and Club at Little Harbor (Ruskin, FL) is a nice place to visit and is close by (6 km). I can't find anything about the water depths at the approach to the resort's marina on Crab Creek. Does anyone have any experience docking there? Or at any of the three marinas in the area, eg, Bahia Del Sol, or Antigua Cove Marinas?

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by henryjm

I will be chartering a 40 ' Hunter out of the Vinoy Renaissance Resort in mid-June in Saint Petersburg, FL. I heard that the Resort and Club at Little Harbor (Ruskin, FL) is a nice place to visit and is close by (6 km). I can't find anything about the water depths at the approach to the resort's marina on Crab Creek. Does anyone have any experience docking there? Or at any of the three marinas in the area, eg, Bahia Del Sol, or Antigua Cove Marinas?

The approach depth there is about 5' but there are a couple of "bumps". Consider you will be at the Vinoy, I don't understand why you'd want to sail over to a different, lesser, resort and pay transient fees of $1.75/Ft for that but its your trip. Contact the harbor master at 813-645-2288 for more info. Note that they do not monitor VHF so any contact needs be made by phone.

FWIW

[denverd0n]

I don't, but here is their website:
Little Harbor Marine and Hi and Dry in Ruskin, FL on Tampa Bay

I'm sure they could tell you everything you need to know.

[henryjm]

Thanks for this info. I'm going to St Pete mainly to look at real estate but saw that the cost of a boat was only a little more than the cost of a room at the resort so there you have it! We're going to do some daytrips but probably will return to the resort each night.

[tdh1849]

I have recently been into Little Harbor Marina in the last month at the wheel of a Island Packet 31 ,draws 4'9 or so. I saw nothing less than 8 feet on the depth sounder on both trips.
Pay attention to the chart plotter, there is a shoal at the beginning of the channel as you enter, left side when entering and right side when exiting.
And the Tiki Bar is wonderful to watch the sunsets.
Lastly, a few months ago in the evening a power boat 400hp plus ran into the restaurant at a high rate of speed, possibly got airborne and imbedded itself in the restaurant.

[henryjm]

Originally Posted by tdh1849

I have recently been into Little Harbor Marina in the last month at the wheel of a Island Packet 31 ,draws 4'9 or so. I saw nothing less than 8 feet on the depth sounder on both trips.
Pay attention to the chart plotter, there is a shoal at the beginning of the channel as you enter, left side when entering and right side when exiting.
And the Tiki Bar is wonderful to watch the sunsets.
Lastly, a few months ago in the evening a power boat 400hp plus ran into the restaurant at a high rate of speed, possibly got airborne and imbedded itself in the restaurant.

Thanks so much for this info-thats exactly what I am looking for. I recently went aground going into the channel at Tween Waters Marina on Captiva and am pretty gunshy about it happening again! One thing about sailboating-we'll never go airborne...

[tdh1849]

The channel into the complex, apartments etc, is well marked, stay slightly to the righ of center when into the area of the apts, the marina is very visible.
Have fun..........

[Scout 30]

It's a pretty easy sail up to the Clearwater Beach Municipal Marina & they always have transient slips available. Egmont Key is also close & a great place to spend the day.

[palm trees]

Originally Posted by henryjm

Thanks for this info. I'm going to St Pete mainly to look at real estate but saw that the cost of a boat was only a little more than the cost of a room at the resort so there you have it! We're going to do some daytrips but probably will return to the resort each night.

I live in Ruskin and my boat is at Apollo Beach, Little Harbour has great food and like someone said the sunsets are great.....but why would you want to come to the east side of the bay when you are so close to the other great locations on the west side and on out in the gulf.....outside of LH there is nothing here.