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Rosalie B.

wrote:

My sailing club is planning a Christmas 2008 cruise to the Keys but
the more I think about it the more I wonder if this sort of thing can
work well. How do you decide whether to anchor out most of the time
or to use marinas half the time. What marinas do you use when people
have radically diff budgets (yes, I am cheap)?
I'll admit, having another boat to comisserate with on long boring
passages or for company on scary ones would be nice but a whole pack
of boats can cause problems. Many anchorages are just too small for
more than a couple of boats. Marinas are not likely to have slip space
for more than a couple of transients too.
How do you deal with these issues?

Frogwatch

Depends on how many boats and also what kind of boats. We've never
cruised in a group, except occasionally when we've been in the ICW and
have paralleled someone else traveling at the same speed.

But I've seen people who have cruised in the Chesapeake in groups and
they often make reservations at the marinas for the group, and the
people who don't want to go into the marina will anchor out I guess.
For instance groups will come to our marina, and there's space
opposite for people to anchor out if they want to.

In January, you will find that there are races in Key West and every
available slip will be taken and I've seen race boats just sitting in
the fairway between the slips, not really tied down at all.

As far as the rest of the Keys, it will depend a bit on the draft of
the boats whether they go down Hawk Channel or on the bay side.