Looks like another boat trip is coming together and I'm looking for input. I'm going to help a fellow HOF'er move his recently purchased boat from the Fort Myers area to the Chicago area starting the middle of next week.

First, does anybody have any local knowledge of Cedar Key? I have never been there though I do have charts for it, both electronic and paper. Just wondering about depths, marinas, etc.

Given this boat has apparently had some previous cooling issues which are presently being corrected, I don't think it would be prudent to head from Ft Myers to Panama City as we originally discussed. I'm sure the boat will be properly repaired/prepared, but I'd like to get a few hours in to make sure everything is in order. Ft Myers to Cedar Key should give us enough run time to be comfortable crossing to Panama City.

I did this trip out of Clearwater on my 58 a couple of years ago but at half the speed we'll be doing it on this 55C, weather permitting, so I'm not real sure how things will work out in terms of destinations en route to Mobile. Once we're at Dog River, I'll know better what to expect in terms of predicting where we'll be after a day's cruising.

Meanwhile, I figure Baypoint Marina in Panama City will be our destination from Cedar Key. From there, I'm not sure how far we can run in one day, but there's little doubt we'll run outside. Would it be realistic to think we can make the run from Panama City to Dog River in one day?