Houseboating in the Captiva/Sanibel area
 

We are considering renting a 41 foot twin diesel houseboat in the
Captiva/Sanibel/Cape Coral area for a spring vacation. Not a bad
deal.....around $2,300 for a full week, 41 foot (14 foot beam) with twin
diesels, 2 staterooms, 2 full baths, genny, AC, full kitchen, gas grill,
dual helms, linens.....etc.. Some rental places even throw in a full tank
of diesel. We figure we can pull an inflatable.

We vacationed in Sanibel several years back and love the area.

Has anyone done this before? If so, what advice can you offer?

What sort of protected transient dockage does the area offer in the event of
bad weather?

-snip-
We figure we can pull an inflatable.


barely ... just barely ;)

Sorry. have no actual advice :(

Matt

wrote in message
ups.com...
-snip-
We figure we can pull an inflatable.


barely ... just barely ;)

Sorry. have no actual advice :(

Matt


I would not expect it to be a go fast boat.....it is a houseboat after all.
I would expect twin diesels to be able to push the boat at a fair rate of
speed though, and while pulling an inflatable.

Why do you say otherwise Matt?

I was jokeing, thus the smilley ... the 40 foot houseboot with twin
diesels will pull most pleasure craft/inflatables available ...

"*JimH*" wrote in message
...
We are considering renting a 41 foot twin diesel houseboat in the
Captiva/Sanibel/Cape Coral area for a spring vacation. Not a bad
deal.....around $2,300 for a full week, 41 foot (14 foot beam) with twin
diesels, 2 staterooms, 2 full baths, genny, AC, full kitchen, gas grill,
dual helms, linens.....etc.. Some rental places even throw in a full tank
of diesel. We figure we can pull an inflatable.

We vacationed in Sanibel several years back and love the area.

Has anyone done this before? If so, what advice can you offer?

What sort of protected transient dockage does the area offer in the event
of bad weather?


You need to be careful in the waters around here with a twin diesel boat.
There are lots of shallow areas. Stick to the channels in Pine Island
Sound. There are several marinas along Captiva with protected harborage,
but a couple of them might still not be open from Hurricane Charley last
year. Up on the bay side of Cayo Costa, there's some deeper, protected
anchorage. I'm sure that the boat has a generator and A/C, so you could
hang there overnight. Make sure you stop into Cabbage Key for lunch. Also,
you can cruise up to Boca Grande.

Since you said a "spring vacation" I assume you're planning it for April/May
of next year? If so, you'll be fine. Late April through all of May is the
best weather and fishing all year round. If you're planning it this summer,
just remember that we're in our hurricane season...and it's predicted to be
a busy one (5 named storms already in the middle of July! A new record.)

"NOYB" wrote in message
...

"*JimH*" wrote in message
...
We are considering renting a 41 foot twin diesel houseboat in the
Captiva/Sanibel/Cape Coral area for a spring vacation. Not a bad
deal.....around $2,300 for a full week, 41 foot (14 foot beam) with twin
diesels, 2 staterooms, 2 full baths, genny, AC, full kitchen, gas grill,
dual helms, linens.....etc.. Some rental places even throw in a full
tank of diesel. We figure we can pull an inflatable.

We vacationed in Sanibel several years back and love the area.

Has anyone done this before? If so, what advice can you offer?

What sort of protected transient dockage does the area offer in the event
of bad weather?


You need to be careful in the waters around here with a twin diesel boat.
There are lots of shallow areas. Stick to the channels in Pine Island
Sound. There are several marinas along Captiva with protected harborage,
but a couple of them might still not be open from Hurricane Charley last
year. Up on the bay side of Cayo Costa, there's some deeper, protected
anchorage. I'm sure that the boat has a generator and A/C, so you could
hang there overnight. Make sure you stop into Cabbage Key for lunch.
Also, you can cruise up to Boca Grande.

Since you said a "spring vacation" I assume you're planning it for
April/May of next year? If so, you'll be fine. Late April through all of
May is the best weather and fishing all year round. If you're planning it
this summer, just remember that we're in our hurricane season...and it's
predicted to be a busy one (5 named storms already in the middle of July!
A new record.)




Thanks for the feedback. We are actually planning for spring 2007.

These boats apparently have a shallow draft and hopefully come with depth
sounders. I assume we will be without the luxury of a chart plotter so I
would plan to purchase and study a nautical chart of the area well before
this (possible) vacation.

We will most likely plan to explore the western shores during the day and
spend evenings docked at available transient docks in the Sanibel and
Captiva areas. In the event of strong storms I just wanted to make sure we
could make our way into a protected area on the Caloosahatchee River and
find protected transient dockage.

Can you (or others) provide any other personal comments on houseboating in
the area?

"*JimH*" wrote in message
...

"NOYB" wrote in message
...

"*JimH*" wrote in message
...
We are considering renting a 41 foot twin diesel houseboat in the
Captiva/Sanibel/Cape Coral area for a spring vacation. Not a bad
deal.....around $2,300 for a full week, 41 foot (14 foot beam) with twin
diesels, 2 staterooms, 2 full baths, genny, AC, full kitchen, gas grill,
dual helms, linens.....etc.. Some rental places even throw in a full
tank of diesel. We figure we can pull an inflatable.

We vacationed in Sanibel several years back and love the area.

Has anyone done this before? If so, what advice can you offer?

What sort of protected transient dockage does the area offer in the
event of bad weather?


You need to be careful in the waters around here with a twin diesel boat.
There are lots of shallow areas. Stick to the channels in Pine Island
Sound. There are several marinas along Captiva with protected
harborage, but a couple of them might still not be open from Hurricane
Charley last year. Up on the bay side of Cayo Costa, there's some
deeper, protected anchorage. I'm sure that the boat has a generator and
A/C, so you could hang there overnight. Make sure you stop into Cabbage
Key for lunch. Also, you can cruise up to Boca Grande.

Since you said a "spring vacation" I assume you're planning it for
April/May of next year? If so, you'll be fine. Late April through all
of May is the best weather and fishing all year round. If you're
planning it this summer, just remember that we're in our hurricane
season...and it's predicted to be a busy one (5 named storms already in
the middle of July! A new record.)




Thanks for the feedback. We are actually planning for spring 2007.

These boats apparently have a shallow draft and hopefully come with depth
sounders. I assume we will be without the luxury of a chart plotter so I
would plan to purchase and study a nautical chart of the area well before
this (possible) vacation.

We will most likely plan to explore the western shores during the day and
spend evenings docked at available transient docks in the Sanibel and
Captiva areas. In the event of strong storms I just wanted to make sure
we could make our way into a protected area on the Caloosahatchee River
and find protected transient dockage.

Can you (or others) provide any other personal comments on houseboating in
the area?

No. No personal experience in a houseboat. I've only been up that way a
half dozen times by boat for day trips to fish or eat on Captiva. See if
you can send a ping to Wayne B. He travels these waters in a trawler and
can be of better help to you.

*JimH* wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
-snip-
We figure we can pull an inflatable.


barely ... just barely ;)

Sorry. have no actual advice :(

Matt


I would not expect it to be a go fast boat.....it is a houseboat after all.
I would expect twin diesels to be able to push the boat at a fair rate of
speed though, and while pulling an inflatable.

Why do you say otherwise Matt?

Heck, on Lake Cumberland we rent an 80 footer, it has twin 90hp
outboards!!!! It's slow, but then again, that's nice sometimes.

"*JimH*" wrote in message
...
We are considering renting a 41 foot twin diesel houseboat in the
Captiva/Sanibel/Cape Coral area for a spring vacation. Not a bad
deal.....around $2,300 for a full week, 41 foot (14 foot beam) with twin
diesels, 2 staterooms, 2 full baths, genny, AC, full kitchen, gas grill,
dual helms, linens.....etc.. Some rental places even throw in a full tank
of diesel. We figure we can pull an inflatable.

We vacationed in Sanibel several years back and love the area.

Has anyone done this before? If so, what advice can you offer?

What sort of protected transient dockage does the area offer in the event
of bad weather?




Thanks to all for the advice so far. ;-)

I live in Cape Coral in the winter time and do quite a lot of boating
when we are there. South West Florida is a wonderful cruising area for
houseboats since there is protected water both behind the islands in
the intercoastal waterway/Pine Island sound area, and also in the
Caloosahatchie River. Virtually all of the marinas on the river offer
protection from rough weather and there are numerous anchorages
available as well.

Some of or favorites are Tween Waters Inn and Marina on the bay side of
Captiva, the anchorage at Useppa Island across from Cabbage Key, and
Pelican Bay at the north end of Cayo Costa.

You need to get some of the better SWFL cuising guides such as
Clairborne Young's and do some studying since the possibilities are too
vast to cover in a quick note here.

Towing a dinghy should not be a problem. Best weather is usually
March, April and early May.