Lannen,
Every summer, when the gulf gets to hot and cloudy to dive, my
family and I take our little
power boat up to Crystal River to dive kings spring and enjoy a little cool
water. It was August of last year when we last went. There is an anchorage just on the north side of the island in the middle of Kings Bay (N28 53 449 W082 36 052) where there are always several, some large, boats anchored. A few summers ago i did the sounding along the river and up to that anchorage spot and found it deep enough for our sailboat(5.5 draft). There is decent protection from
wind but I have no idea how good is the holding. Please take this info with a grain of
salt as it has been three years since I did the sounding from the gulf to that anchorage.
I also would like to sail to Crystal River someday to test my theory about boats in cold(er)
water. I want to see if a
boat in 72deg water will stay cooler inside, during the summer, due to natural "air conditioning".