Crossing the Gulf of Mexico - specific scenario

[a64pilot]

I sailed the Gulf for three years off and on.
About MAY-JUN the wind goes away, literally. It will return around OCT-NOV.
Nobody like to hear this, but plan on either doing a lot of ghosting and waiting on wind, or motoring. If you wait, you may wait a week or more and then not get much wind.

Once you round FL and start heading North, the stream will add as much as four kts of speed. I’ve done 250 miles in a 24 day in the section North of Stuart.

[Catboat Willy]

We did this trip in early April/May from Kemah, Tx to Fort Myers, FL on a Swan 55 with four sailors aboard. It was the first leg of a trip to Aruba. We headed south until the end of the safety zone out of Kemah. We purposely left so that we had the light of a full moon to navigate by as there are many unlighted stand pipes and oil rig paraphernalia in the gulf that are poorly marked or unmarked on your chart plotter maps. Always keep a sharp look out at night. Route was direct to Ft. Myers, FL as it has excellent repair and re-provisioning facilities. With your draft, I'd head from Ft. Myers and a one day trip over night to Marathon in the Keys. (If you need to see Key West, take the county bus from Marathon to Key West . Once on the east side of Florida.....well, you have good advice by others. But use the Gulf Stream. Good luck.

[EmeraldCoastSailor]

Crossed in July 2015 and encountered some bad t-storms with water spouts. May ought to be better. We left Galveston and got well outside of small rigs before heading east. We crossed SW channel entrance of Mississippi rather close at 02:00 with no issues in good weather. We would have been further out if bad weather. Planned bailouts were Grand Isle and Panama City. Unless really comfortable with forecast (possible in May) I would not cut directly across to Keys as we the GOM can quickly turn nasty. I don’t know best point to get through keys to head NE.

[shanter]

haven't had any experience out there but don't you think it's pretty unlikely that next year Covid will not affect your travel plans? still trying to figure out if I should travel anywhere in February.

[tomfl]

As others have noted the weather is the key to your course. I made a similar trip in May of 2017. Got caught in a bad thunderstorm with a micro burst. Broke the four sheave block on my main sail when the wind shift resulted in an unintentional jibe, probably 60 knots of a more than 90 degree wind shift in the blink of an eye. Had to duck into Clearwater and wait four days for a replacement block.

No one has any idea what the weather will look like two weeks from now, less yet what it will look like in May. I would aim for Ft. Myers and then Moser Channel to Marathon for a pit stop before jumping into the Gulf Stream North. If you have to see Key Weird take the bus. Funny thing was for the first few days the weather was super. But popup storms can happen at any time.

[sailjumanji]

We've made two GoM "hops" coming back from the Bahamas. We usually come around the Everglades, and then stop at Ft Myers for provision. Then I fly the wife home, and bring on my offshore crew. Program is to sail straight from Ft Myers to Grand Isle, and if we need fuel, go in there. If not, we divert to Galveston (2016) or Freeport (2019). In 2016, we ended up motoring almost the entire way to Grand Isle, except every afternoon got hit with a big thunderstorm. (Then we'd hoist sails, make speed in the wind, and then drop everything after it went still again.) We went in, fueled up every jug we had, went back out and raised sails, and never motored until we got to the Clear Lake channel!

In 2019 return, we had strong wind the entire way and didn't go into Grand Isle. We were reefed the entire offshore trip, and the first two days couldn't go below for risk of seasickness within minutes. It was a quick trip. Mostly single and double reefed, and dealing with big waves. The forecast called for light winds and expected motoring.

In the Louisiana offshore section west of Grand Isle, there are a lot of platforms and wellheads you have to avoid. And Gulf shrimpers, who operate very sporadically. We found radar and AIS to be necessary in this area, and a keen watch.

[Rigdaddy]

I made a crossing from Matagorda to Key West two years ago; leaving just before Memorial Day. Followed a norther for four days with good results; almost rhumb line until the prevailing SE winds arrived; tacked almost to Cuba before last NE run to KW. As a single-hander, my AIS and radar were extremely useful. Open CPN was a good addition to my regular chartplotter as some of the locations of platforms seem to be more current. My next leg was to Bimini, so I can't help out further. Good luck.

[introverted]

Originally Posted by tradrockrat

Thanks for all the replies so far. I appreciate it.

Some responses:

1. I have the pilot charts, know how to read them, and will use them, you can be assured of that.

2. Ultimately, the winds and weather from GRIBS will be the determining factor, of course, but I was hoping for - and many of the responses have been, so thanks again - routing for the common conditions of early May.

I guess I'm confused by what you are looking for. If the ICW isn't an option then you only have one other option: Exit Galveston Bay, find your best angle and make as much East as you can and adjust for changes. Others have given good options in regards to ports to enter or shoot for depending on fuel/provisions etc. But, in the end, you go East. After you round Florida, jump in the stream and go North. Are you looking for waypoints? Cause that isn't going to help. Most people I've talked to that make the trip to southern FL, I never have, try to do it in as straight a line as possible once clearing the jetties. I think for the most part its pretty straight forward. There isn't anything to dodge in terms of land unless the wind has you running to Key West. But, do keep a solid eye out for oil rig trash/pipes/wreckage/etc. its not all marked. Someone else in the thread mentioned full moon. Thats smart.

East and South then North. Find the wind and go.

Edit: another option for information might be Cornell Sailing: World Cruising Routes. I'm pretty sure there is a chunk of the book dedicated to Gulf routes.

[tradrockrat]

Thanks again to all who shared their experiences crossing the gulf. I appreciate the knowledge.

[Jetx]

We just made the Kemah -> Key West crossing in July. This was our first eastbound GOM crossing, so we sought advice from lots of other folks who've made the trip. Basically came down to three scenarios. We planned to do #1, but departure was delayed due to Covid shutdowns / uncertainty, and we wound up doing #3 instead.

1) Follow a strong cold front, sail east towards Tampa as long as N/NW wind allows, then as wind veers NE/E/SE, your heading curves SE and then S towards Key West. This is the best scenario, but is more likely to work out if you can leave before May, when the fronts are more frequent and stronger.

2) Head from Galveston Jetties to a point directly south of Southwest Pass, roughly 150-165ft depth contour. There are LOTS of charted platforms/structures on this leg (but of course it's the UNcharted ones you worry about). Be sure to keep out of the LOOP restricted area just before SW Pass. Then from SW Pass, head for Boca Grande (Charlotte Harbor), refuel, then hop south to Key West whenever wind permits. Alternate stops for fuel or weather bailouts would be Grand Isle, Venice LA (via Southwest Pass), Pensacola, and Tampa Bay.

3) If no favorable wind in the forecast, then wait until you get a big high over the GOM, which means you'll have NO wind. Head more or less straight across** the middle and run non-stop to Key West, expecting to motor most of the trip. If you don't have the fuel capacity for this, then you're back to #2 above. (**Not exactly straight across. To minimize risk of uncharted structures in the oil patch, we chose to stay in the safety fairway leaving Galveston far enough so that we would be in at least 100ft of water before exiting the fairway at night. Then head ESE to catch the top of the eddy/loop current hoping for a 2kt speed boost going east, then turn direct to Key West after exiting the eastern edge of the eddy. When in the eddy, consider staying near the northern edge if possible, so you can bail out to the north quickly if east wind picks up and seas get ugly due to wind vs. current.)

From Key West, we took Hawk Channel up to Miami, completed some repairs and waited out storms, then did outside jump direct to the Chesapeake. Recommend anchoring at Old Point Comfort / Fort Monroe near Hampton VA if you want to stop and rest when you get there.

[makoman]

Originally Posted by Snore

Getting a boat that draws 5’7” from the GOM to Marathon is going to be tight. I have found Navionics to give the best data, but even then some visual navigation is needed.

There are two long crossings. You can take a guess at routing, by doing what others have done. Or do what the better pros do- use satellite weather. The latter let’s you route around bad weather, and travel as efficiently as possible. My tracks usually do not follow what I though was the best route when I planned the job. But invariably, they take less days than planned.

If you choose to go into Marathon, Marathon marina is deep and has deep water access to the channel going under the 7 mile bridge. Its a known stop over for deep draft boats.

[Mickeyrouse]

Having done the back-and-forth Texas to Florida a few times, I can confirm the ICW has great stretches of charmlessness, with the added thrill of heavy traffic and delayed bridge openings in Louisiana. Past Pensacola to Carabelle, most bridges are 50 ft clearance- and it only takes one to require offshore sailing.
However, the OP’s Tayana mast clearance shows to be 54 ft. According to sailboatdata.com, a Tayana 37 has a 51’ mast height, so I assume that includes VHF antenna.
A Lake Okeechobee passage shoudn’t be ruled out. It could save a couple days. Checking the charts, the minimum bridge clearance is 55 ft. for all obstructions in the St. Lucie Canal. Since those are commonly expressed as clearance at high tide, passage should be safe- just watch the tides.
We passed under a bridge out of Goodland FL en route to Marco Island one time. Didn’t realize that a lunar eclipse that evening caused tides that were spring-plus- rattled our VHF antenna on the bridge supports- we can normally get under 53 ft. A heart stopping moment.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Mickeyrouse

However, the OP’s Tayana mast clearance shows to be 54 ft. According to sailboatdata.com, a Tayana 37 has a 51’ mast height, so I assume that includes VHF antenna.
A Lake Okeechobee passage shoudn’t be ruled out. It could save a couple days. Checking the charts, the minimum bridge clearance is 55 ft. for all obstructions in the St. Lucie Canal. Since those are commonly expressed as clearance at high tide, passage should be safe- just watch the tides.
.

1. Okechobee doesn’t have tides, it does have a regulated lake level (sort of)

2. The port Mayaca rail bridge is 49’ at normal pool level.

Port Mayaca Railroad Bridge (lift type) S. Central FL Express, Inc.
• Horizontal Clearance = 56'
• Vertical Clearance = 49' Up (based on 14.5' water level)
• Vertical Clearance = 6' Down (based on 14.5' water level)
• Located at Okeechobee Waterway Statute mile 38.0

And today the lake is 14.39’

[Mickeyrouse]

Right. Lake Okeechobbe doesn’t have tides. But the locks at Port Mayaca, west of the bridge, are in place to prevent salt water incursion into the lake, so since there are no other control structures between Mayaca, and St. Lucie Inlet it's safe to assume there is tidal influence in the St. Lucie Canal.
According to current Navionics charts- at some point, we either accept charts or we don’t- The Florida East Coast Railroad Bridge is fixed at 55 ft.
I will point out that this is a variance- Florida has raised a lot of bridges, especially on the East Coast- since we were last there, and the bridges at Mayaca and Indian Town (Published 50 ft. at the time) were known then for cruisers employing 55 gal drums of water on their side decks to heel enough to make the bridge clearance. Sounds like more weight than I want on my decks, which is why we didn’t do Okeechobee.

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by Mickeyrouse

Right. Lake Okeechobbe doesn’t have tides. But the locks at Port Mayaca, west of the bridge, are in place to prevent salt water incursion into the lake, so since there are no other control structures between Mayaca, and St. Lucie Inlet it's safe to assume there is tidal influence in the St. Lucie Canal.
According to current Navionics charts- at some point, we either accept charts or we don’t- The Florida East Coast Railroad Bridge is fixed at 55 ft.
I will point out that this is a variance- Florida has raised a lot of bridges, especially on the East Coast- since we were last there, and the bridges at Mayaca and Indian Town (Published 50 ft. at the time) were known then for cruisers employing 55 gal drums of water on their side decks to heel enough to make the bridge clearance. Sounds like more weight than I want on my decks, which is why we didn’t do Okeechobee.

The gentlemen who provided the limbo servicing to heel over has passed away. There does not seem to be a continuing service available. Indeed a lot of weight and requires the loads to be carefully rigged and tied off to hardpoints else they will break the lifelines and stanchions.

Sail the ocean, the ditch is boring.