Best cruising guide for SW FL. and the Keys...

[Zydeco IV]

I'll be shoving off in a couple of months for those beautiful waters. Haven't made the trip in a couple of years (Pensacola to Key West). Not sure to what degree recent storms have affected marinas and services below St. Pete. I'd welcome recommendations and advice including "be sure to avoid"....on the trip. I know there are now a number of new publications out dealing with the area. Are any more reliable than others?

Thinking about trying to make the jump from Appalach over to Crystal River, just below Cedar Key. Here it's quite beautiful there, relatively quiet, peaceful and it's got a good marina. Then on down with stops in St. Pete, Longboat Key, Cabbage Key (a gorgeous little island off Caya Costa), and finally on to Marco Island or Everglades City before the final jump to Marathon.

One of my big questions is about access to quality Detroit service along the way. Thanks.

[J's Dream]

I can tell you that the storms have certainly changed the sandbars around in and around the Marco Island area. Even a good cruising guide will not be much help there. Only everyday local knowledge will get you in and out of the Marco Rivers safely, since these sandbars are shifting all the time. Also, Everglades City is one of the most difficult places to get in to even in a flats boat. I have seen numerous boats run hard onto oyster bars only to have the tide leave the high and dry for hours. My recommendation is to probably stay in Naples at the city docks (Tin City) and then continue on to the Keys. Just my $.02.

[Nonchalant1]

We're going there for the first time this year on the Great Circle Route. I have liked Skipper Bob's book Cruising the Gulf Coast. It also has lots of stuff about the stretch in between LA and Crystal River. It's only $15 and has lots of plain where to go info on those locations. It's here: http://www.landfallnavigation.com/skipperbob.html We're going to go around the bend from Carabelle to Steinhatchee to Yankee Town to Tarpon Springs, stopping overnight at each neat place. Read the stuff on deciding to make the long overwater trip vs. skipping around the bend. Very enlightening. This book also indicates the best place to stop is at the Little Shark River before making the jump to Marthon.

There are lots of other Gulf Coast books here: http://www.landfallnavigation.com/bookscruisesoeus.html

Concerning how to get service, you can go to the Detroit Diesel website and lookup their closest service center by zip code, or come here and ask after you find out you need service.

Good luck on your trip,

Doug Shuman

[Liquid Asset]

I am in Palmetto, which is just north of Bradenton/Sarasota. Here in the Tampabay area we have plenty of Detroit service, which will travel. Florida Detroit Diesel is the service center for Florida, www.fdda.com.

If you run into a problem in this area, feel free to contact me, I can recomend a couple detroit mechanics.

I would recomend the Florida crusing directory. www.floridacruising.com

I have this book and have found it to be extremly usefull for marinas for service/fuel and dockage all around florida. Give it a try, they even cover the Ocochobee waterway.

Good luck with your trip.

[double eagle]

hi
hope your trip goes well..
everglade city has no fuel for sale anywhere
docks are so so for now...
marathon [ where I am ] all the docks on the gulf side where damaged or are gone only marinas are near boot key harbor on the ocean side if you know what I mean...call ahead for dockage they start to have slips starting in march and april as the winter people leave...plenty of places to anchor
let me know when you wil be here we could meet up...
double eagle 58yf

bill
ps
we will be cruising the west coast from mar 14th -29th marco to sarasota

[Zydeco IV]

Thanks to all for the info and advice about the sw fl. excursion. I'm really keen on the comments regarding shifting sand bars, particularly south of Sarasota. Already had one unpleasant experience in the middle of a channel near St. Pete but didn't know about the Marco Island situation or the Everglades City problems. Had many pleasant visits there with no real problems. But after all these storms.......

Doug, regarding your trip, I'd love to hear more about it. I've made the jump several times, usually straight from Applach or Carabelle down to Tarpon or St. Pete and the inverse, of course. Looking forward to a more leisurely experience this time though. Particularly Crystal River. Thanks for the insight about "Skipper Bob", I'll check it out now. Hope to hear from you.

[Nonchalant1]

Zydeco,

We're taking it slow and fun anyhow. So even though we've got stabilizers, there's no need to run 10 hours to make the jump. We're going to take almost 10 months to go 5600 NM from Chicago to the Keys, up the East Coast to New York, up the Hudson River & Eerie Canal and back through the Great Lakes to Chicago. We'll spend a month cruising around the Keys, a month in the Chesapeake and Washington DC, etc. So who cares about an extra 2 days around the bend?

If you're interested, I can send you my Cruise Plan via e-mail if you do MS Excel spreadsheets.

Doug