Liveaboard Marinas Near Tampa

[cbtucker]

Again thanks to everybody for the information. It's all been very helpful. Another interview Monday so we'll see if I need to start getting serious or not after that. But in the meantime - plenty of homework to do

I'll keep you posted, and if it doesn't pan out I'm sure I'll be back asking for more information when i figure out where life is going to take me!

Oh and don't let this post stop anybody else from chiming in with more info

Thanks!!!

[chiropaul]

Agree with what's been said so far. Try checking out Davis Island which is right in downtown Tampa. Really don't know if there are any liveaboard places there but a search might turn up something. Also south of Tampa on the land side are Ruskin, Apollo Beach, etc.

[Jeff Millar]

Also looking for a live aboard marina, in the St. Pete or general Tampa Bay area. From February for a month or 2.
Private slip considered. No communate considerations. Just a good place to get the boat ready.
50 foot sailboat.

Thank you

[jcknox]

I'm in St Pete Muni on the West Dock and love it. I'm refitting to go cruising. Stop by and say hello some weekend.

[rossperez]

Any openings at St Pete Muni currently?

[Siege]

What size boat? There normally are openings in the muni marina. The Harborage has a couple spots right now as well. Or they did a week ago. There's nearly a thousand slips between those two downtown marinas, spots open up or get filled all the time. Best bet is to call them directly.

[rossperez]

27.5' - We're going to go visit them tomorrow. Thanks

[boating2go]

That area of St. Pete is very nice. Commute to Tampa is not bad either.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by boating2go

Commute to Tampa is not bad either.

That would depend on what you consider "not bad." From one of the downtown marinas in St. Petersburg to somewhere in downtown Tampa is probably going to take a good hour during the rush hour. Not so bad if you can travel at off times, but rush hour will suck. Plain and simple.

I once read an article that said you could get from the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina to the Tampa International Airport in just over 20 minutes. Boy did I get a good laugh out of that! Sure, google-maps says that it will take 25 minutes. Maybe at 3am, when there are no other cars on the road, that's how long it would take. At any "normal" time of day it's going to be closer to 40 minutes than it is to 25. During rush hour, plan on an hour--maybe even more.

Traffic around here in general is just bad. In fact, they were saying on the news the other day (for what it's worth) that the Tampa Bay metro area has the worst traffic in the country, when compared to other metro areas of the same size. The places with worse traffic are all areas with much larger populations. And there are a number of areas with much larger populations that have better traffic.

Bottom line: If you are planning on commuting from downtown St. Pete to Tampa for a job, I would make the drive a couple of times--during rush hour--to see what it is like before you make a major financial commitment to doing that every day.

[boating2go]

Denverd0n, I guess I lived in DC too long. When I lived there I thought the commute was a breeze. Slow downs in traffic are much nicer than sitting for hours in DC.

[Blue Skye]

Have to agree with b2g. I travel a lot for work and the DC area is horrible, Atlanta is bad, Houston is a joke and Tampa is way down the list IMO. Was just at the St Pete Muni, the downtown area is pretty nice.

[capn_billl]

I'm looking for a low cost slip for a 30' boat near Tampa, or somewhere on the west coast Naples up.

I'm used to paying $200 a month in Texas is there any marina at that price?

[Siege]

I can't speak for all the marinas in the area but when I was looking last year $300 seemed to be about the cheapest slip fees I could find for a 30'. Really $10-12/ft is pretty average around the Tampa Bay Area.

[jangann]

I think there's one in Palmetto, if you don't have to commute.

Regatta Pointe Marina | Florida's Premier Live Aboard Marina with Boat Slip Rentals

[denverd0n]

The very cheapest marinas in the Tampa Bay area are still going to be more than $200 a month for a 30' boat.

If you don't need all the facilities of a commercial marina, you might check craigslist. There are always a few people around who have a dock behind their house, but don't own a boat of their own, and are ready to rent their dock for around 1/2 to 1/3 the price of a marina.

Good luck.