:

A friend of mine took an 18' Hobi from Key West to Dry Tortugas with no
problem (it is 68 miles). They slept on the tramp under a boom tent.
This guy might consider a few "dry runs" in the Keys cuz I have never
seen any crocs there and there are a lot of islands for him.

Ok, the Keys do look interesting, and have the advantage thatif I can get
lost there, I will nor consider the Bahamas

What I don't understand is the number of people who suggest it is a bad idea
but don't say why.

Earl Colby Pottinger

--
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The Keys a bad idea? Dunno. Another option is the Big Bend area of
Florida (up where the Suwanee River goes into the Gulf) There is a
canoe trail that wanders the coastline among true wilderness among
isolated islands and a few tiny towns. Perfect for the sort of vessel
you describe. The town of Cedar Key is the perfect place for such a
launch point as it has access to many of these islands. Going west,
you could reach the islands at the mouth of the Suwanee or even the
uninhabited Pepperfish Keys.
The area around Carabelle is another possibility (SW of Tallahassee) as
it has access to isolated Dog Island, western St. George Is.
(uninhabited) and St. Vincent Is. If you got tired of salt water, you
could go up the New River and get lost for the rest of your life in the
swamps. I had a homeless riend who lived for several years on a
$500Venture 21 sailboat there. He did more cruising than anybody else
I ever knew.

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 21:09:36 -0600, Earl Colby Pottinger
wrote:

What I don't understand is the number of people who suggest it is a bad idea
but don't say why.

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

If you stay away from populated areas (civilization), and are
comfortable with managing on your own, you may do OK. No one
occupying expensive real estate is going to be thrilled with you
camping out on their door step, one small step up from homless. That
includes marinas, town docks and quite a few parks.

Other than "people" problems, the next biggest issue is the inherent
unseaworthiness of your chosen craft. You WILL be capsized and
swamped at various times, it just goes with the territory.