Jay Chan wrote:

We are primarily interested in diving the reefs but on calm days I have been
offshore a ways (with other boats) looking for dolphin or whatever other blue
water fish might show up. I have chased a few bonefish around in the Contents
but I am not interested in just fishing to toss them back.
A pontoon is a very stable dive platform.

I am surprised to hear that you used your pontoon boat in the ocean
side of the Keys. The reef must be very near shore in that part of the
Keys, and the water got to be very calm at that day.

Jay Chan


Depends on where you are on the "ocean side" of the Keys. In some
places, the reefs are almost within range of a frisbee toss.



--
* * *
email sent to will *never* get to me.

Depends on where you are on the "ocean side" of the Keys. In some
places, the reefs are almost within range of a frisbee toss.

In the Big Pine area we like, the reefs are a tad over 3 miles out. The blue
water is more like 7-8. You see ski boats tied up to the buoys at Looe Key

In the Big Pine area we like, the reefs are a tad over 3 miles out. The blue
water is more like 7-8. You see ski boats tied up to the buoys at Looe Key

Is 3 miles away from shore considered as "very close"? I don't go
near-shore or off-shore that often. Therefore, I don't have a point of
reference as of how far is considered as too far to be safe for small
boats.

Jay Chan

"Jay Chan" wrote ...
Is 3 miles away from shore considered as "very close"? I don't go
near-shore or off-shore that often. Therefore, I don't have a point of
reference as of how far is considered as too far to be safe for small
boats.

Depends upon where you're at, I guess... If you're in an area where the reef
provides a lot of protection from the seas / surf, then it's acceptable for
a small boat... If there is no reef, that 3 miles can be a rough trip in
even light to moderate seas... I have a 16 ft jet boat (actually probably 14
ft since the swim platform really shouldn't have been counted by the
manufacturer) and with 2 ft seas, I can keep up a pretty good speed... Once
it gets to 3 ft or more, I have to slow down to hull speed or it will beat
me to death on those drops when the troughs are not evenly spaced... A 4 ft
following sea can be kind of fun if you can get the speed matched right so
that you can basically surf it into shore... A head sea will slow you down
to a crawl unless you can go fast enough to be able to just skip over the
tops of the waves (but this can be a painful ride when you encounter a rogue
wave/trough)...

Depends upon where you're at, I guess... If you're in an area where the reef
provides a lot of protection from the seas / surf, then it's acceptable for
a small boat...

I would like to know how deep the water in the reef that you have
mentioned. Is it like 10-ft? If this is so, I can understand why the
reef can provide a great deal of protection to a small boat. Thanks.

Jay Chan

I would like to know how deep the water in the reef

It ranges from 25 feet or so to just under water at low tide. You still have
calm days where the ocean is like a pond outside the reef.
The average day on the ocean in the keys is not as rough as the Chesapeake bay.

Gfretwell wrote:

I would like to know how deep the water in the reef

It ranges from 25 feet or so to just under water at low tide. You still have
calm days where the ocean is like a pond outside the reef.
The average day on the ocean in the keys is not as rough as the Chesapeake bay.


Depends on which reef off the Keys...some of them even at high tide are
only a few feet below the surface.

And your observation about Chesapeake Bay is spot-on. There almost
always seems to be a hard chop and rough water...



--
* * *
email sent to will *never* get to me.

It ranges from 25 feet or so to just under water at low tide. You still have
calm days where the ocean is like a pond outside the reef.
The average day on the ocean in the keys is not as rough as the Chesapeake
bay.

Thanks. This explains the reason why the water inside the reef in Keys
is likely to be calm. This means that there are days that we can use a
pontoon boat inside the protected water within the reef in the occean
side of the Keys. This also means that the use of pontoon boat is not
as restrictive as what I had originally thought.

Jay Chan