Panama City to The Keys

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by Ken Z

panama city to carrabelle, to cedar key , hug markers, tarpon springs or clearwater, duneden for supplies, icw to sanibel draw bridge, supplies up cal. river to ft meyers,anchorage in lee of sanibel island, marco ,south to inside passage ,on the inside toward maimi, a small public dock south of maimi, maybe 30 miles. A nice trip. good luck.

Been a while since you've been there?

The Sanibel causeway draw bridge was replaced with a fixed bridged 10 years ago.

[Frankly]

Here is my $.02 worth.

Outside down to St Joe Bay. Eagle Harbor in any but strong East Wind or St Joe Marina if you are not into anchoring out.

Gulf Industrial Canal to ICW and then on to Appalach. Anchor on East side of river above the bridge or into Municipal Marina.

Out Gov Cut and head for Anclote Key or down to East Pass and out between Dog and St George Islands. Overnight in Shipping Cove (Dog Island) in good weather.

Behind Anclote is good anchorage and Tarpon Springs is a great stop if you can get into downtown marina (not sure about your beam).

Outside and down the coast to Pass A Grill or on to Long Boat Key if you can reach it.

Up the bay and a visit to St Pete if you have the time (St Pete Muni) Dali Museum and Chihuly Glass Museum.

On Down the coast Venice is a reliable inlet just no place but the marina to RON.

Boca Grande good inlet. Gasparilla Island a neat visit or anchor in the State Park on the South Side.

If you can clear the 49' railroad bridge at Pt Mayaca then across the lake is an option.

We usually overnight down to Marathon ot Key West.

IMO the trip down the Florida West Coast ICW is not fun and a real Hell on the weekends.

The West Coast passes tend to shoal on the North sides so give a wide berth before turning into any of them to be safe.

Lake Worth and WPB is a good jumping off for the Abacos and Marathon and up to Anglefish Creek for the Exumas. Hit the bank at South Riding Rock or Cat Key. You are then at the promised land.

Good luck and have a safe trip.

Get you a Local Boaters Option pass from CBP for coming back to the US (that is if you are planning on coming back).

[wesevans]

From Claribel you can stop in Steinhatachie about half way to Tarpon Springs.

[Bay Breeze]

We make the trip from near St. Marks (east of Panama City) each spring - 149NM and 26 hrs straight to Dunedin - or via St Marks to Rock Islands/Steinhatchee, Crystal River, then Dunedin, Anna Maria, Lemon Bay (Stump Pass), Ft Myers/Ft Myers Beach, Marco-Goodland-Gullivans Bay, Little Shark River, Marathon or Key West. We make about 6 knots and travel 40 - 65 miles a day, about a third in marinas, 2/3 anchoring in favorite spots. For marinas we like - Marker 1 in Dunedin, Snook Bight in Estero Bay, and Marathon Marina. Favorite anchorages are Cayo Costa, Rookery Bay, 10,000 Islands, and Anna Maria.

Note that Pine Island Sound from Placid to Sanibel bridge (on the inside) has the most rude and novice boaters. We try to avoid traveling thru this area on weekends.

From Panama City to Carrabelle - depending on choice to motor/sail and air draft - the ICW is a choice. Or go out the cut to St. Joe (nice marina), canal and ICW to Apalachicola to rattlesnake cove (good anchorage), to Carrabelle or Dog Island - then offshore or poke around the big bend. Watch for a good weather window for an overnight passage. Would not suggest trying to enter Apalachicola Bay from the Gulf at East Pass or Sikes Cut.

Once in the Keys there's a lot to explore form Dry Tortugas up to Biscayne Bay.

If we had the option, we would go through the Lake to jump off to the Bahamas (Grand Bahama/Abaco) But mast height limits us to going to Rodriquez Key or Angelfish Creek to cross to Bimini.

That's our 2c - see you out there -happy sails to you!

[jag39]

If you aren't in a hurry, there are a ton of places to stop along the coast. Carrabelle is good, lots of Marinas, or you can anchor in the river. Restaurants and grocery store are all right along the river. St Marks is nice, but you have to go up the river 6 miles to the town. Two restaurants there. You actually have one more good stop along the coast before either Cedar Key or Tarpon Springs. That's Steinnhatchee. Good channel, and beautiful wide river. I just anchor in the river when I'm there, but the first marina you come to usually has a guest dock available. Cedar Key is next. Just before you get to Tarpon Springs, you have the choice of ducking into the intercoastal or staying outside. If you are going all the way to the Keys, might want to check out the Fort in the Dry Tortugas.

[Ken Z]

yes dotdun i left the area in the 80s a well needed bridge thanks for the up date, sailing the emerald coast of fla. much more peaceful .

[rassabossa]

Originally Posted by Bay Breeze

We make the trip from near St. Marks (east of Panama City) each spring...

Thanks BayBreeze for the good advice. I spent 25+ years fishing and crabbing in the area and know it well. I am on a Gemini 3200 in Jax now, and have the same draft as the 3000.

Ryan/Chantal: If you have the time, I encourage you to explore the area. I would add to the discussion, anywhere you are near inshore will require you to go slow and watch the depth finder. Some areas, like right in front of Mashes Sands, you can walk out hundreds of yards at low tide. As long as you go slow, and travel on the rising tide in those areas, you'l be fine and find lots and lots of remote areas where most cruisers never go. Note that some rivers are quite rocky and are best explored in the dinghy. But there are other areas, like the St. Marks where you can take your boat all the way upstream to Outz's and the Hwy 98 bridge.

Normally, I wouldn't want to let the secret get out but because it is so shallow, most cruisers never venture there.

[a64pilot]

I have also run aground several miles off shore from Alligator point in a 23' fishing boat, on plane. I figure it might have drawn about 18 inches?
Had to wait on the tide to float off

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by ryanandchantal

good morning all, We have recently purchased a Gemini 3000 and are located currently in Panama City. We would like to sail her to the keys then West Palm prior to going to Bahamas in the spring.
Can anyone suggest the best routes and stops from experience ? we do not plan on doing much night sailing and would expect to average 60- 100 miles per day...

thanks in advance

As someone who took three months to sail from BKH to DT and back the first thing I suggest is to figure out just how long you expect to your cruise to take. The answer to your question is highly dependent on the weather. As a rule the wind will be out of the East so the sail down the West Coast of Florida should be easy as long as you listen to CH2-9 every AM and keep up to date on the days weather. But that may mean some days when you hunker down and don't sail. activecaptiandotcom has good information on anchorages and marinas where you can get out of the weather, but no one can tell you before hand where you will be when weather hits. I am also a fan of "A Gunkholers Guide to Florida's West Coast" which is a good read even if some of the information is dated.

It is quite possible to break the Big Bend section of the trip into daysailing legs and anchor a mile or two off shore in fairly shallow water. Also possible to sail 200NMs or so and avoid the area. Once you get to the IWC keep in mind that bridge construction may alter the bridge opening schedules. In December of 2016 the Blackwater Bay Bridge was only opening at 8:00AM, 12:00PM, and 4:00PM, and some other bridges were not opening on demand but with an hour wait. Even Active Captain did not have the updated information.

Since the wind is normally out of the East going across the lake will probably mean motoring. I don't really like that route. The 60ft motor boats often throw up a 4 foot wake which the jet skiers love to jump; but that can be entertaining. The ACOE is also working on the locks and they were closed last week; but again as with bridge work that changes day to day. The water is also filthy as the lake is basically a retention pond for central Florida.

Be sure to stop at the domed houses at Cape Romano if you head to the Keys. I also stopped and anchored maybe two miles off Middle Cape in 10 foot of water to avoid bugs. It is an easy jump to the Seven Mile bridge and BKH, but I stopped at Content Key.


It is also possible to head to the Boca Grande Pass to anchor, then Marquesas is 15 NMs across the Pass and DT another 40 miles. It is a nice shake down cruise I suggest if you are going to the Bahamas for the first time. The problem is all of this is West so getting there with an East wind is easy, but getting back is not so easy.

Once you get to BKH you can leave straight to the Bahamas, and probably find a buddy boat at BKH. You can also head to Rodriguez or Anglefish which would be my suggestion to jump off to the Bahamas.

But not knowing your time frame it is not easy to suggest a route.

[EmeraldCoastSailor]

Apalachicola has great restaurants and stuff to see so I second Frankly's comments.

[Bay Breeze]

Originally Posted by rassabossa

Thanks BayBreeze for the good advice. I spent 25+ years fishing and crabbing in the area and know it well. I am on a Gemini 3200 in Jax now, and have the same draft as the 3000.


Normally, I wouldn't want to let the secret get out but because it is so shallow, most cruisers never venture there.

Secrets out now! - great coastline with 200 miles public ownership - down side is few marine services.

There's a lot to explore from Panama City to Tarpon Springs - if you take the time and have the time. There's a book with lot's of local information "Cruising Guide to Florida's Big Bend" by Pelican Publishing - often found deep discount at used marine supply outfits - or book exchanges at Marinas. We've explored land side and bay side for a long time and found it's a quiet, special place. We draw 30" yet can still find the bottom, worse rocks!

Because it's a shallow and tricky coast and time consuming to day sail the Big Bend. So we jump off to Dunedin to begin our spring cruise. It's a little closer from our home port, but about the same as Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs.

On the advice about going to Dry Tortugas - plan your trip to sail from Key West or Marco or Ft Myers to DT. Then return on a northerly course. Going east to Key West increases chances to fight head winds and either a lot of tacking or motoring. We knows this first hand.

Another interesting route is from Naples to Marco and the inside channel from Marco to Goodland. Also check out Rod and Gun Club at Everglades City if you have the time. And others will tell you to be prepared for insects at Shark River.