Anchoring Outside Tampa Bay

[cruisnusa]

Hello! It's sure location-specific, but I haven't attempted this before and wanted to see if it sounds crazy.

I will be renting a Catalina 445 in about 3 weeks for a 2 day/1 night excursion from the St Pete Municipal Marina area. The last time I did one of these weekend things, I sailed to the Manatee River and anchored overnight with great success and calm waters.

I'm wondering if it's plausible, and comfortable, to sail to Edgmont Key and anchor on the East side of the island. Though it sure seems close to 'open water' area--and that sweet shipping channel--so I don't want to be an idiot.

If that area is truly a poor choice for anchoring, is there a good spot north of Edgmont Key that could serve as a more appropriate anchoring spot?

For those out of the area but near a map, Edgmont Key is the comma-shaped island on the outlet of Tampa Bay.

Looking forward to the trip either way, maybe I'll own one of these suckers someday!

[belizesailor]

Used to captain charters in the area and lived on the Manatee River. Great cruising ground.

Yes, anchoring off the inland side of Egmont is quite popular, too much so sometimes, but watch the weather. If the winds pick up blowing down Tampa Bay it can get ugly there.

Ashore is cool too. Beach on both sides, hiking trails, tortises... Read up on Egmont history too. Served as a holding area for a while during our genocide of the Indians.

Egmont is close enough to the Manatee that it is an easy day trip too. So you can anchor in the more protected waters of the Manatee and day sail to Egmont.

[forsailbyowner]

Yep its a popular spot just southeast of where the pilot boats dock. Ive been out there in all conditions up to and including hurricane winds. The whole area has pretty good hideouts depending on the wind direction. If strong east winds are forecast sometimes I go outside by ft desoto, North on the inside by the same. Its typically my jumping off spot for heading south, I often spend one night there after sailing down the bay to rest up for the trip to the tortugas or key west.

[Captain Ahab]

There's nothing like the excitement of waking up to barge lights and a horn when your anchor has drifted in the middle of the night.

[jangann]

Another great location is at the Mar Vista anchorage, just south of Longboat Pass. Longboat is a clear pass (with drawbridge) but reliably usable; or you can come inside down the ICW. The Mar Vista anchorage is great, but come in right alongside the docks at Moore's crab house -- otherwise you risk hitting the bar protecting it. You can also tie up at the docks at the crab house for FREE if you eat there! But my fav restaurant is Mar Vista in that spot. Cool little neighborhood to explore and walk to the beach.

Edgemont is fine in calm weather. Get out if it's not nice though.

You can also go down to the Sarasota Sailing Squadron for cheap dockage, I think $30 a night.

[Hudson Force]

We've anchored on the east side of Egmont Key as a day anchorage while hiking around the National Park at Fort DeSoto. It's a favorite of ours. I would not hesitate to spend the night if the weather was well predicted, but there can always be pop-up thuderstorms in the summer with some short term harsh winds.

Despite the title of this thread I'm sure, when looking at the chart, people would consider the east side of Egmont Key as "inside" Tampa Bay.

[rognvald]

One of my favorite personal sea stories was helping an elderly unnamed captain sail his boat from upper Tampa Bay to Egmont Key for the weekend. We left at 2 a.m. for an early morning arrival but at 4 a.m., I was awoken below by an incredible blast of a horn. When I came into the cockpit, the glassy eyed captain sat at the helm with a half-finished bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand and the lights of a looming freighter shining into the cockpit. We were less than 10 yards from the massive hulk and I wrestled the wheel from him(he didn't want to give it up), pushed him aside and tacked away from the massive ship. My girlfriend, who was sleeping below, heard the commotion and to her shock ,when she stuck her head out of the companionway, saw Captain Barleycorn passed out on the cockpit floor. He had hit his head and was bleeding. The bottle of Jack had spilled and was rolling around. The freighter was still only 30 yards away. But, we were safely reaching away from the freighter in the busy shipping channel . I sailed the remainder of the way to Egmont on a clear starry night and we made an early morning entry onto the banks on the east side of the key before dropping the hook in the clean sandy bottom. Captain Barleycorn was fast asleep in the cockpit--his hair and beard disheveled, dried blood on his face and he snored in an unsteady rhythm to the lapping waves. It was a beautiful morning in late Spring and the sun was slowly rising above the shoreline of Tampa Bay and my girlfriend and I decided to go for a swim. We dropped the swim ladder into the water, unhooked the lifeline and were ready to jump when we looked below to see several bull sharks patrolling the water under the boat. They were between 5-6 feet long and appeared agitated as they twisted and turned in sharp circles over the clean white sand. The swim would not be today. When we returned to the cockpit, Captain Barleycorn was awake. I was still angry from his antics the night before but as he pushed himself up from the cockpit floor he said with a grizzled smile on his still bloodied face "Geez, I love this sailing." I watched him struggle to get up. There was a light east breeze on the back of my neck and the smell of sweet salt air as I turned towards him and said, "Yeah, So do I, Cap . . . so do I."
Good luck and good sailing to Egmont Key.

[ReMetau]

Have anchored off east side of Egmont Key all night a few times. Twice, the winds kicked up from the east at night making it really rough burying our bowsprit all night long, but we held fine.

[cruisnusa]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Ashore is cool too. Beach on both sides, hiking trails, tortises... Read up on Egmont history too. Served as a holding area for a while during our genocide of the Indians.

Egmont is close enough to the Manatee that it is an easy day trip too. So you can anchor in the more protected waters of the Manatee and day sail to Egmont.

Thanks for the tip, I think I'll follow that plan of anchoring in Manatee then making an early morning trip to Egmont. Gotta have the boat back to the marina by 5 I think, so that'd work best!

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab

There's nothing like the excitement of waking up to barge lights and a horn when your anchor has drifted in the middle of the night.

My FEARS exactly! Haha...speaking from experience?

Originally Posted by rognvald

One of my favorite personal sea stories... I was still angry from his antics the night before but as he pushed himself up from the cockpit floor he said with a grizzled smile on his still bloodied face "Geez, I love this sailing." I watched him struggle to get up. There was a light east breeze on the back of my neck and the smell of sweet salt air as I turned towards him and said, "Yeah, So do I, Cap . . . so do I."
Good luck and good sailing to Egmont Key.

Enjoyed that read! If you've got more of those, you should be sure to write a book. Glad the ol' guy survived, head injuries at that age of stubbornness don't usually turn out well. Funniest part is you kept sailing to the Key! haha..

Originally Posted by ReMetau

Have anchored off east side of Egmont Key all night a few times. Twice, the winds kicked up from the east at night making it really rough burying our bowsprit all night long, but we held fine.

Sounds like it's been done, which sure is reassuring. Maybe I'll visit the first time during the day and stay far away if weather threatens.




Thank you all for your responses, I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out. Still new to the overnight anchoring thing, great to have the input.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab

There's nothing like the excitement of waking up to barge lights and a horn when your anchor has drifted in the middle of the night.

Watched a power boat go adrift off Egmont one night. They were making pretty good time for the ship channel. Stone cold asleep. I and others flashed them with spots a few times and fortunately they woke up. I was about to drop the dink and go bang on their boat.

[s/v Beth]

Egmont is one of my favorite places to anchor and explore. I like to do a Bahamian anchor and place my boat right next to the southeast shore, with a quick dingy ride in. We have had pretty wild winds coming off the bay, that is why I always double anchor.
Ahh, good memories!

[the_alpine]

Basing out of the manatee river and day sailing up to egmont will eat up your time on a 1 night charter. As long as the winds are under 10 Kts easterly, or are blowing north, west or south, you'll have no problems and great holding at egmont.

Do it. It's what you want to do. The snorkeling at the ruins on the sw side is great too.

[cruisnusa]

To close out the thread, wanted to give a report of what we ended up doing that weekend for others' use if possible!

Was a great weather weekend, steady 6-10 knots allowed us to sail to Egmont key and spend about 4 hours there. The company I leased the boat from (www.sailingflorida.com--highly recommended with excellent selection to choose from) didn't permit overnight anchorage at Egmont using similar rationale as mentioned by several of you previously. This answered my original question about overnighting it there--they simply wouldn't permit it! Sand bottom with long enough rode though, think it would have been fine.

Ended up overnighting it in the Manatee river before cruising back the next day, all had a great time. Can't wait to start going further next time. Maybe a week aboard a 37 would allow me to make Key West?? Options abound..ha!

Thank you all for your advice, would it have been my boat I would probably have tried it off the Key thanks to your encouragement!

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by cruisnusa

... Maybe a week aboard a 37 would allow me to make Key West?? Options abound..ha!
....

Glad you had a good trip. I would love to get back to SW Florida one day.

Yes, options do abound on the SW coast of Florida. Lived there for about 5 years and loved it. Of course, that was before all the anchoring rights issues kicked into high gear.

Weather permiting, you could get to Key West and back in week but it would be a rushed trip and you would miss all the awesome cruising grounds in between. Late wife and I took 2 months once to make the trip from Bradenton to KW one-way and then I took another couple of weeks to move the boat back up!

There are, or there used to be, little charter companies all along the SW coast so you could explore each area on a local charter rather than humping it on vacation to move a boat back and forth.

[AnchorageGuy]

belizesaillor, Hope you get back to the west coast one day. We're currently cruising the Gulf coast and researching anchorage for our next anchorage guide. From Cape Sable to where we are now, in the Crystal River, we have not encountered any anchoring restriction, other than the Vinoy basin, St. Pete, which is now all moorings. Love the Manatee River and the many anchoring options. We very much agree with everyone else that Egmont Key is a settled weather day anchorage. Chuck