Hi, List,

So, we're inching toward our departure. Circumstances have it that we'll
need to try to time the Gulf Stream from St. Pete so as to land at Marathon
and hop directly across, being constrained in the time we have available -
waiting a month for the "next" right window won't get it. However, we don't
have to leave on any specific schedule - other than to hightail it once we
weigh anchor.

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.

What's the local knowledge about coming from the north through the bridge
with a deep draft? When we went from Marathon to Key West, going out from
KWW to Charlotte Harbor was no problem (clearly marked, adequate depth),
being a very short ICW ride and the rest a clear shot sailing. Looking at
the charts of the Marathon area don't give me nearly the same warm fuzzy
feeling...

Thanks.

L8R

Skip, in shoulder rehab and PT, and Lydia, continuing to build the boat
kitty until departure, all else sold or given away and the remaining 4
storage buckets moved aboard

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

"Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach at gmail dotcom wrote:

Hi, List,

So, we're inching toward our departure. Circumstances have it that we'll
need to try to time the Gulf Stream from St. Pete so as to land at Marathon
and hop directly across, being constrained in the time we have available -
waiting a month for the "next" right window won't get it. However, we don't
have to leave on any specific schedule - other than to hightail it once we
weigh anchor.

I don't know how familiar you are with the Gulf Stream here, but I
wouldn't be too cavalier about it.

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.

What's the local knowledge about coming from the north through the bridge
with a deep draft? When we went from Marathon to Key West, going out from
KWW to Charlotte Harbor was no problem (clearly marked, adequate depth),
being a very short ICW ride and the rest a clear shot sailing. Looking at
the charts of the Marathon area don't give me nearly the same warm fuzzy
feeling...

Are you talking about 7 mile bridge? Moser Channel?

The real problem with this bridge is that it is not tall enough if you
have a 65' mast, and needs to be a low tide. We only draw 5' and most
of the other folks that we know are the same - not really a problem
for most people. I've not done it myself.

If you are talking about getting into Boot Key Harbor then you have
two choices - going under the Boot Key Harbor bridge, which is a
bascule bridge, but has a power line right inside the bridge. I think
if you can get under 7 mile bridge you can probably clear that. The
other entrance (Sister Creek) is sometimes a problem if you have a
draft over 4 feet, although if the tide is right and you are lucky you
can do it with as much as 6 feet (I've heard)

There are very few channels that a deep draft boat can get from the
Gulf to Hawk Channel other than Moser Channel. It might be just as
easy to go around Key West rather than trying to cut through.

Thanks.

L8R

Skip, in shoulder rehab and PT, and Lydia, continuing to build the boat
kitty until departure, all else sold or given away and the remaining 4
storage buckets moved aboard

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."



grandma Rosalie

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.

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

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.