Here are some photos from our February cruise to Venice,
St Pete Beach, Isla del Sol YC, Long Boat Key, Sarasota Bay, Cabbage
Key, Useppa Island and Pine Island Sound.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoonos...bum?.dir=/d25d

We made the trip north from Cape Coral in two days, overnighting at
the Crows Nest Marina in Venice. After 4 days in St Pete Beach at
Isla del Sol YC, we enjoyed a nice leisurely cruise south on the ICW
with stops at Long Boat Key, Sarasota, Cabbage Key/Useppa Island and
several anchorages in Pine Island Sound. The cruising guides all
refer to this area as paradise and it's not difficult to see why.
Best of all, it's almost in our back yard.

Once again we were reminded how inadequate and out of date the charts
are for western Florida. The channel leading east to Isla del Sol is
totally unmarked but has over 10 feet of water. The chart track shows
zero feet. Pine Island Sound is a little better but not much. There
is a popular anchorage behind the north end of Cayo Costa Island that
is unmarked and uncharted except for a 3 foot sandbar at the entrance.
After noticing quite a few good sized boats there, I checked it out
last weekend with the small boat. There is a minimum of 5 to 6 feet
if you can find the right track going in.

Wayne:

SW Florida is a most underrated and almost unknown cruising ground. In many
respects it is better than most of the Bahamas. We enjoyed a few weeks
cruising there down the coast from the Tampa area to Key West. There were
many delightful anchorages and very benign cruising conditions.

There is a nice small booklet: Cruising Guide to SW Florida (that is the
name of it - more or less) that gives very detailed descriptions of
anchorages and detailed harbor charts. Our favorite anchorage was a small
bayou on the backside of the barrier island that forms Charlotte Harbor.
Absolutely charming and totally secure and protected. You could hang out
there for weeks.

David

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005 22:20:17 -0800, "David&Joan"
wrote:

Our favorite anchorage was a small
bayou on the backside of the barrier island that forms Charlotte Harbor.
Absolutely charming and totally secure and protected. You could hang out
there for weeks.

=====================

That sounds like the anchorage I was referring to on the north east
side of Cayo Costa. Was there a small dock there for the state park?

Any idea where one can obtain the cruising guide you mentioned?

In article , Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 7 Mar 2005 22:20:17 -0800, "David&Joan"
wrote:

Our favorite anchorage was a small
bayou on the backside of the barrier island that forms Charlotte Harbor.
Absolutely charming and totally secure and protected. You could hang out
there for weeks.

=====================

That sounds like the anchorage I was referring to on the north east
side of Cayo Costa. Was there a small dock there for the state park?

Any idea where one can obtain the cruising guide you mentioned?


Try:
http://nauticalcharts.com/cruisingguides.htm

On David&Joan wrote:
There is a nice small booklet: Cruising Guide
to SW Florida (that is the name of it - more
or less) that gives very detailed descriptions
of anchorages and detailed harbor charts.

There's also "Gunkholer's Guide to West Florida",
I think the author is Lenfestey. I loaned my old
copy (2003) and haven't been ready to look for a
replacement.

--
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"Faith manages ... even though she didn't get promoted" - me
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