FL West Coast: Safe Depth to Run Offshore?

[wahoo33417]

Will be making an annual boat trip in a few weeks, this year putting in at Hudson, FL and making our way south. A question for those familiar with the Gulf from Hudson down to the start of ICW or Tampa Bay - how far offshore should we be to safely run on plane?

Charts make it look like 10' to 15' water depth should avoid any encounters with shoals or obstructions. But I'd prefer to hear from those familiar with the area.

Thanks in advance.

Rob

 

[Doc Stressor]

You have it right. Just keep 10' - 15' of water under you once you clear the outer Hudson channel marker and you'll be fine all the way down to the mouth of Tampa Bay. Navigate to the west of the outer channel markers coming out of each pass to keep your trip as short as possible.

Once you're past the north end of Anclote, the near shore bottom is all sand. It's a different matter going north from Hudson. Once you're past Marker #10, which is the south end of St. Martin's Reef, there are limestone outcrops that stick up from 10 ft of water that can take off your lower unit.

If you run inside the ICW starting at Anclote, traffic and no wake zones will slow you down. Running offshore is the better choice unless it gets rough. The seas aren't usually too bad in 10 ft of water even when it's blowing.

 

[Blackbird]

I run my boat out of Palm Harbor and agree with Doc. The scallop beds from Hudson to New Port Richey can be shallow at low tides. If you plan to take the Intercoastal south, just stay within the markers. If you go outside of the barrier islands, you should not have any problems as long as you stay a few hundred yards off shore. The sand bars are generally less than a hundred yards out. Be careful of all the passes and corners of the islands Give them a wide berth. The sand is constantly shifting and shallow areas can extend well out. The water is usually clear and you can easily see the shallow areas. Be careful of the low tides. Have a great trip.

 

[alfa1023]

Wahoo,

Besides what the others have said, be careful as you get to the ship channel off south St Pete, just north of Egmont. The edges of the channel are pretty shallow a fair ways offshore. I usually look at a chart beforehand and plug in an appropriate channel marker as a waypoint to make sure we are ok. Always gets your attention when you go from 20' to 5' in seconds, only to then see 60' seconds later.

Assuming you are headed further south still, you are good just a mile or so offshore all the way to Captiva/Sanibel. South of the Ft Myers area, you will need to be more aware of depths that close in.

In our trips to the Tortugas and the Keys, I just make up a route of a bunch of waypoints along the way using my papercharts and plug them into the GPS as a route - takes all the navigation stress away.

 

[wahoo33417]

Wow. Thanks a bunch for the timely and helpful replies. Hope to run outside to Tampa Bay and I'll be sure not to cut corners. South of that, looks a little more scenic inside. Not going all the way south. Will cut across Lake O to see something different.

St. Martins Reef sounds familiar from looking at the charts. I'll be sure I know where that is.

Thanks again for the help.

Rob

 

[alfa1023]

Rob,

Be sure to call ahead to check the lock schedules before running the river to Lake O and then to the east coast. Its been a couple of years since we did that, but last summer (it may have been 2011?) when we were thinking about crossing, I checked and they had really limited the opening schedules due to both low water in Lake O as well as some scheduled maintenance on some of the locks. I don't remember which lock it was, but one of them was only opening twice each day.

Great trip to make.

Jim

 

[wahoo33417]

One last question for the west-coast folks. If we do run inside south of Anclote, about how much time needed to reach Sarasota? I'm trying to gauge how desperate I should be to run outside. My 77 year-old dad will be with me. If it does get a lttle bumpy, I plan to remind him of the time he wouldn't let let me get a mini-bike ...

Also, good advice on the Lake O lock schedule. Doing this trip this year because the rain from TS Isaac has the Lake pretty full. Locks are 'on-demand' at the moment.

Last years' trip began in New Bern, NC. I noticed that the Grady truck goes back to the factory empty. In January when things are slower, they kindly (and for a fee) gave me a ride that way and I ran the boat home. Highly recommended for anyone looking for different scenery.

Thanks, Rob

 

[alfa1023]

Rob,

Lots of no-wake zones along the way. Not too bad from Anclote thru Clearwater, but then a long ways at slow speed through Indian Rocks (an area called the narrows) that stays mostly no-wake almost the whole way to Johns Pass. A frustratingly long ride unless its a day trip on a nice day. Not real sure south of there to the Skyway as I haven't hit that area in quite a while.

South of the Skyway, where you tuck back in east of Anna Maria, all the way to Sanibel/Captiva, there are also numerous no-wake zones, but none that I recall as being as bad as the Narrows.

On one of our trips south, we ran outside into a 3' quartering head sea all the way from Anclote to Venice Inlet, finally crying uncle and tucking in there on our way to Lake O. A big lesson learned that day was avoid Venice Inlet except on a calm day.

Last year on a trip to Longboat Key, we stayed outside until south of Egmont, at which point my wife suggested we run the intercoastal the rest of the way. An easy and not too long of a ride, but clearly not as quick as running outside.

I have a chartbook on the boat (don't recall the exact brand at the moment) that shows page by page the entire west coast of Florida, including all passes, bridges (with clearances), marinas, resturants, etc. and it also shows the speed limits/no-wake zones of the entire intercoastal. If you can find something like that, it would be worth the $$.

Be sure to let us know how the trip went when you get back.

Jim

 

[wahoo33417]

Thanks Jim. Very helpful. Long speed zones are more tolerable when you know what's coming.

Rob