Florida Cruising

W

Will-C

New member
On March 1st we left our truck and trailer at the Harbortown Marina in Ft. Pierce Florida after trailing down from Pa. We wondered down the intercoastal waterway about 0 miles to North Palm Beach and stayed at the Old Port Cove Marina. Because of winds in excess 20mph we hungthere for a few days before heading down to Ft.Lauderdale. We stayed at Los Olas Marina which was nice as it was only two blocks from the beach and had water taxi service to most of the points in Ft. Lauderdale. From there we headed down to Dinner Key Marina at the top of Biscayne Bay. We then wondered down the ICW until Angelfish creek crossed over into Hawk channel to Key Largo and into the Pilothouse Marina via a canal that leads into basin with both commerical and recreational boats. Three restaurants and a marina with great facilities. We left Key Largo and headed for Marathon we stayed at the Marathon Marina which was nice although no floating docks. Next we went about ten miles to Bahia Honda for a night and then on to Key West. We traveled about 350 miles and it took thirteen days. The winds stayed out of the east blowing 15 to 20 so we rented a car and went back to Ft. Pierce and came back with the trailer and launched the boat in Key Largo at the Pennecamp State Park and boated over to the Pilothouse Marina where we took a slip for a week. While we like cruising but with marina fuel being as high as high as 5·44 a gallon we plan on doing things a little different next year. The plan is to trailer the boat to places like Goodland,Port Richey,Naples,Marathon, Key Largo etc. take a slip for a week at a time as slip costs for week cut the daily transient slip cost in half. Taking boat trips from a base camp marina allows you to access to your vehicle which is real nice cutting down on boat fuel costs and saves you from the high one night transient slip fees. If the weather looks bad you just pull the boat and head to the next point of interest and stay there a week. Our Coastal Explorer has a blog portion which we posted some pictures and a daily routine. If that would be of interest to anyone go to www.coastalexplorer.net/users/willc/blog
We will leave on Monday for home back in Pa.. It's been a great trip maybe April next year so we can keep some of the fine grouper we caught.
D.D.
 
That sounds like a wonderful trip. Your idea of staying a week at each place after trailering there is great and an advantage of trailer boats. People don't realize that in the winter, Florida gets a lot of northers blowing through, which can be a problem if you want to go north or east.

What were the overnight slip fees? And gas at $5.44/gal must keep a lot of power boats in their slips. Another advantage of having a trailer. Pulling the boat out refueling it and dumping it back in means you can earn up to $75/hr, just on the fuel savings.

Boris
 
from Boris:
".... Pulling the boat out refueling it and dumping it back in means you can earn up to $75/hr, just on the fuel savings."
Click to expand...

Great :!: At that rate the more you boat, the more you save. :wink: :thup

Thanks Boris, I love how you think. :mrgreen:

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

JC_Lately_SleepyC_Flat_Blue_070.thumb.jpg
 
Boris
overnight one night slip fees ran anywhere from 37 dollars to eighty dollars with tax tags etc. Weekly slip fees were usually half of the daily rate 20 or 40 dollars a day on the weeky rate. The gas thing was high at at Ft Lauderdale at 5.44. Here at the Pilot House Marina in Key Largo 90 octane non ethanol is 4.94. diesel is 4.59 per gallon. One good thing is gas fillups come with free ice as much as you want. Our current marina offers free ice to anyone renting a slip for one night or a year. Gas on the street here is 3.89 diesel on the street 4.11. We are traveling with another couple who are Tugnuts and we had drinks with some loopers who down sized from a 40 boat to a 27 foot Ranger tug. they travel to different areas and stay a month if the cruising and local action can hold their attention. The monthly rate gets even better. We were doing daily transient slips for the thirteen days it took us to get to Key West and at thirty seven to eighty dollars a night slip fees can add up even at 40 dollars a day. We are traveling with an older dog and anchoring and dinking the dog for walks is out for me as I like to take naps etc. My wife is not comfortable dealing with our crazy dog and operating the motorized dink at the same time. Plus now having a home for a week we have the ability to take day trips and still come back to a slip with your vehicle to make supply or land based tours. You can cover a lot of ground cheaper and quicker on a trailer than you can travel over water in a lot less time. So if time is an issue you can see more doing things by trailer hopping rather than having to wait out weather or only making about fifty or sixty miles a day. Which is my usual down here at least with bridges and manatee no wake speeds can slow your average speed down to a snails pace. That's not all bad as there is much to see. Plus we have had some winds which made the shallow Biscayne Bay a little rough as we had a beam sea with winds near 20. Thank God for our auto pilot. Our last leg going down the back side of the keys to Key West we got beat up with a closely spaced following sea. we all put on our life vests. Not having to rig the boat everyday for cruising is a little less stressful and dealing with less than ideal conditions can make some of the crew a little edgy. Some of the marinas directing you into slip assignments alone can be exasperating with wind and current. There are plenty of very expensive boats down here to run into should things go a miss. It is beautiful down here. All of the people have treated us well. We will alter our plans to take better advantage of the deals on longer stays at prime places next year along with fueling up at land based gas stations.
D.D.
 
Be sure and put us on your list next year. RV Thataway, and the Caracal or C Dory 22 , will be at Knights Key for two months next winter (this is at the entrance to Marathon harbor)--always good for a few meals and transport.
 
Bob,
Are you going down in January and Feburary? I think we are doing the west coast of Florida first and then shoot over across the bay to Marathon. There is another place very close to where you are staying on the bayside where we intend to stay. I'm thinking ts called Harbor Cay our friends stayed there it was pretty reasonable and you can share the land based kitchen etc. minimum stay was a week. Looking forward to meeting you.
D.D.
 
20th Jan thru 20th March is our time frame next winter. Bahia Honda is a state park, where you can stay on the boat---where the camp ground is reserved for a year or so ahead of time. Bahia Honda is on the South Side of the 7 mile bridge, which begins at Knight's Key (Marathon).

We also enjoyed a few days at Flamingo in the Everglades--and may also take in the Western part of the Everglades next year. We have driven both the Trail and toll road--the Trail is much more scenic.

You can hit those places in the boat--Fuel is available at Flamingo (not cheap--but that way you can make reasonable hops. There can be some significant chop on some days--even in Florida Bay.
 
Bob,
We stayed a night at Bahia Honda's protected little basin both this year and last year. This year we saw a manatee right in the boat ramp area. Fish jumping all over place, but no fishing in the basin. Water and power for boats,but a long stroll to the showers over at the RV section. The east winds that prevailed for almost the whole month of March covered the pretty beach with a weed mat a bummer for the girls. Pretty place. I'll try to get a pictures up today.
D.D.
 
Dave,

When are you heading back to your rig?

Marcia and I will be cruising from Ft. Myers to Beaufort, SC next month and should be in the Stuart/Manatee Pocket area around the 12th of April and then head north from there. Keep an eye out for us if you're in the area then.

BTW: I'm with you about Pilot House Marina. I first stayed there over 20 years ago and love the place. I bet you've had more than a few seafood dinners from the wholesale place across the harbor.

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
Nick,
We are getting the boat lifted back on to our trailer tomorrow about 7 am. We are heading home tomorrow as we have been on the boat since February 27th. I used some American Express Points to stay free at the Double Tree Resort in Key West for a couple nights. We stashed the dog in a kennel for a couple days. We went up to Ft. Pierce to get our trucks and trailers. We wanted to spend more time here at the Pilothouse Marina. I trailered the boat back up to Key Largo from Key West rather than wait out some questionable weather. No sense seeing the same real estate twice anyway. I did like Ft. Lauderdale a lot. The restaurant over at Key Fisheries near the Pilothouse has the best conch and stone crab chowder anywhere in the keys INMHO. There food is remarkable. We have been traveling with a Tugnut couple since Marathon before we worked our way down to Key West. They are staying another week here at the Pilothose before heading back to Rhode Island by trailer. It has been one of our best vacations ever. We had pretty steady east winds blowing 15 to 20 for the whole month of March. It's calmed down for the last couple of days. Have a great trip I hope you have good weather. Catch up with you next time. :D
D.D.
 
Dave,

Sounds like a great time!

I first visited the Keys in the early 70's when it was more like being in the Bahamas or Cuba. I taught scuba for about 25 years part time and lived in Key West for two summers training scuba instructors at the Naval Base when the YMCA Underwater Activities Program was based there.

On your way home consider stopping at Ballyhoo's Restaurant in Rock Harbor (Key Largo) at Mile Marker 97.8. It's just past Shell World on the left, in the median area. It doesn't matter what meal - it will be great! We often stay at the Coconut Bay Resort across the road on the Gulf side.

Have a safe trip home.

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
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