I posted this on the flkeys sailnet group, but figure there's more people
here than there :{)) We've already heard about the routing in this group,
but the wind and marina stuff is still unknown...


We'll be coming through in our M461, 63' air draft, 6-6 water draft, from
St. Pete. We'll be headed to some point in the Bahamas where we can buy
fuel and find a post office, in order to satisfy our tax shelter from sales
tax.

We'll need to do that quickly - not hang out on the hook for the best
weather, which will mean trying to guage the weather before we leave from
St. Pete.

We expect to sail it straight through; the main portion of the trip is
pretty straightforward, but getting through the shoals around the west side
are enough to make us wonder if it can really be done.

Our target is to get there in plenty of light, even if it means just heaving
to somewhere off shore for the rest of the night - and then leave by lunch,
preferably the following day, with an overnight anchor to rest up.

So, there's a couple of questions.

1) What recommended route (with waypoints, if available - but we've got both
paper and electronic charts so should be able to figure out stuff if not)
through the shoals and bridge from the west? And, the only other time we
were there, we tied up outside, as, at the time, there wasn't a reverse in
our tranny and we didn't want to risk going into the harbor. (We then went
on to Key West, not under the bridge/West.) Is it worth the time to go
anchor in the harbor, or is out front better to avoid having to get up early
to leave before lunch?

2) We expect this to be either late winter or early spring
(March-April-May). Is there any online resource for a track of how winds
behave in this time frame (or any other, for that matter)? That is, what
sort of wind tracking can we expect, in order to make our best arrival? It
would be very useful if we could have some assurance that we'd find the wind
as expected (which would mean extrapolation to that point from at least a
couple of days out) when we got there. Our tax issues don't allow us the
luxury of hanging on the hook until a suitable window arrives - we have to
get there when it does, if at all possible.

And, perhaps, a 3rd, as a backup plan, without going into all the vagaries
of the tax law:

What marinas there have haul-out facilities? We'd actually not haul out,
but that ability is one of the main qualifiers for a tax-sheltered layover,
and we'd be in water storage, so that we could leave on a moment's notice.

Thanks for any direction and experience...

L8R

Skip and Lydia, preparing to cut the cord

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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."