Quote:
Originally Posted by a64pilot
The whole Big Bend area, which is huge, is a no go area for sailboats in my opinion.
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I share your opinion.
I have a 5'
draft and sail from
Pensacola to Port St. Joe or Apalachicola with no trouble, except for going inside the
ICW between Port St. Joe to Apalachicola; Lake Wimico is scary shallow with no place to pass when a big fat barge is heading your way in the opposite direction.
I also avoid Destin, with it's poorly marked shallow entrance and fine selection of tee-shirt shops and entertaining late night blasting
music ashore.
Going south, the nearest place you can put in is Steinhatchee, but it's dicey, and not something I would do unless I had no other choice. We prefer to sail overnight from Apalachicola or
Carrabelle to Cedar Key or Tarpon Springs. I've done
Pensacola to St. Pete a few times; not bad if the
weather holds.
When the weather-guessers get it wrong, and not in your favor, the big bend is not a good place for a sailboat because there's just no place to run. My last adventure in that regard was predicted under two-foot waves that proved to be eight feet plus and dead on the nose.
Fair winds,
Leo