On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 14:56:57 -0500, "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach at
gmail dotcom wrote:

So, we need to go as directly as possible from St. Pete to Marathon. We
draw over 6' and looking at the detail charts of the Marathon area, it seems
that it's going to be very challenging coming directly from the gulf to the
bridge. The channels we see marked aren't reliably deep.

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We can carry 5 1/2 feet of draft down the west coast into Marathon
with plenty of room to spare, shallowest water in the 9 to 10 foot
range.

Coming south, aim for an imaginary way point at roughly 24-55 by 81-09
in about 11 to 12 feet of water, and yes, that IS deep water in SWFL
:-)

From there proceed due south about 6.7 nautical miles leaving Bullard
Bank to starboard. Next, run a course of 213 magnetic for a distance
of 3.7 NM leaving Red Bay Bank to port. Continuing on, go south again
towards Moser Channel and the bridge, taking a small westward jog
around the 7 foot spot just north of the bridge.

All of this comes with the usual caveats of course but it works for
us.