Cruising North

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piconroy

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exMember
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Jan 9, 2007
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24804
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Hi to all

I am planning 2 cruises this fall to the St Petersburg area. One cruise with the wife the other with some buddies. We will be cruising from either Stump Pass or Gasparilla in a Grady White 208 Adventure (cuddy) If the water is nice we will mix cruising on the outside and in the ICW

At this point it looks like we will transient for a couple of nights at the Municipal Marina at St Pete and stay at the Ponce de Leon or my wife & I may stay on board. Does any one have any experience here and what suggestions or reccomendations would you make. This is my first time to St Pete and so any other suggestions on what to see & do or to avoid would be apreciated.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks
PAT
 
depending on when you are coming i would check out the vinnoy, i believe they are not to far from being open.

also a real nice place to go once it cools down is caldessi state park...they only want a few bucks a night for the slip and in your boat, from st pete it would be a short easy run.

if you need any info about the run from stump pass up to st pete let me know i run that all of the time. just went to boca a few weeks ago.
 
..joe

Is the ICW mostly open for running to the Park or are there a lot of no wakes in between ?

At a reasonable speed what is your travel time estimate from St Pete to the Park

Thanks for the good info
PAT
 
gosh i have never run the icw all of the way up. i would bet from st pete not more then 1 hr probably less in your boat as you run way faster then the 18kt cruise i have. i make it from my marina to caladessi in 2.5 hours (includes tieing and untieing) i would have to quickly quess st.pete is somewhere around halfway.

i know there are a few no wake zones around boca ciega bay...there are a few bridges...and i reasonably confident none are as long as the venice no wake zone.

if it were me i would get out side and run up the coast, it some of the most beautiful water front around. there is a nice channel on the south side of honeymoon island to come in from the gulf.

i am also going to send you a PM.
 
You will have a long No Wake zone around the Stickney point bridge. ABout 3 miles. THere is a small one at the Cortez Bridge.
There are several long zones up thru St Pete and Largo.

THe Vinoy marina is spendy. The Municipal is nice but an east wind may cause some rocking. The Harborage is a well protected marina but is just south of the USF campus making for a longer walk to downtown, but it is a nice walk.
 
The run from St. Pete to Caladesi on the ICW will take you close to 3 hrs. There are several fairly long no wake areas from just north of Madeira Beach on up thru Bellair. It takes me over an hr. to go from Gulfport Municipal Marina to The Pub in Indian Rocks-a great place to stop for lunch or dinner and they have live entertainment several evenings during the week. Just south of The Pub is Salt Rock Grill- a pricey but excellent restaurant with dockage and an outdoor area. Gulfport Marina just built new transient docks with power and water-very protected basin. You may want to check with them for an overnight stay.
 
3hrs...wow remind me to never do that run!

actually now that you mention it i did that run a about a year ago...i was bring home a new regal out of of clearwater and forgot about the long no wake behing indian rocks
 
tcijoe,

how do you open a PM. I have gone to it clicked on it but it just brings me back to the front page for all forums ????

Pat
 
Shadow.. CMariner32

Thanks for the info. I guess I have a new itinerary. Trip 1 the wife and I will set for Gulfport, stay on board, do some local things & perhaps head up to Marker 27 for the Pub. Trip 2 again Gulfport,and then explore St Pete from there

Really appreciate the advice
PAT
 
do people with out anchors get access to PM's?

any route....my email is joe "at" homeloanmanatee "dot" com

i will email you what was in the pm.
 
I second Gulfport marina... That's where we always overnighted when we lived down there. They usually put us at a T-dock. Very protected and quiet. Great service too, usually I went in there for fuel and pumpouts.
 
Okay I paid for my anchor this morning but while the computer was awake to take my $$ it apparently is not awake to let me sign in as a "subscribed" RO.

No link from the subscription page to set me up and when I go to the Subscribers section ir won't let me either. I assume there will be more to follow.

Did you know that Gulfport's marina offers
Wi-Fi?

Watch for my anchor
PAT
 
Your anchor will take several days as the moderator known as Grumpy gets one of those Round Tuits activates your subscription. Let me be the first to welcome you to a unique group of RO's AKA Registered Offenders. Gulfport Marina does have WiFi but no cable. Water and shorepower at each slip as well as free pump-out fitting at each slip or at the fuel dock. They also have live bait, dead bait, a small ships store with good selection of necessities, showers and toilets. All the dock staff and city employees and very friendly and helpful. You are within 3/4 or so miles of downtown Gulfport with an eclectic array of businesses and stores, and beach and park.
 
I will wait to hear from Grumpy! Knew I was joing "good company" Guess I did not realize that there was a paid subscription available.

I came across B-ed last spring when I was boat shopping and found it very helpful to talk with others during that process. I just picked it up again as I am now starting on my boating plans for this winter. Just the advice from a few has gone a lnog way and I intend to use it -- so keep it coming.

Gulport could be oue home away from home when in the Bay area. I have talked to the marina and already like the people I have talked with. It is great of them offer up info vs. some places where you have to pull it out of thers

As a side, I am leveing MD in 1 1/2 weeks headed to the Northern Neck of VA to boat the lower Potomac. Then on to Camp Lejeuene to hook up with my son and a few of his other Marine buddies on the New River and then head south to Venice. I may check into temporary storage around Gulfport-St Pete to drop the boat and then return in a few days to head into the water. Having boated most of the ICW south of Sarasota Bay why burn the gas to get North from Venice? Why not use the gas for the Bay area??

Once again thanks for the help
 
there are two "no frills" high and drys right on the manatee river cuts edge and rivertown.

they both have the fork truck to pick the boat up.

cuts edge has a launching ramp if you want to store it on the trailer.
 
Joe

Can you give me a better idea of where Cuts Edge and River Town can be located?

Would you know the names of the marinas

Thanks
PAT
 
We just moved our boat to St. Pete. Getting to know the area by car fairly good but haven't been out in the boat much. Salt Rock and The Pub are two great place to hang out. I'm going to try to make the trip up the ICW end of the month and enter the places from the back door.
 
toy...

Just finished our trip last week and had a great time. Made it to The Pub but not your other destination.

Would highly recommend the Municipal Marina at Gulfport and a walk to dowtown (15 minutes)for the bars and or eateries. Nice little eclectic place. Try O'Maddys or Pegs Pizza palce. Good menu, fair prices, good friendly people. Forget the B&B across the streetfrom Peg's. Lousy service, $7 pints and a bar tender who obviously felt that we were there for him vs. the other way around.

Anyway it's in your own backyard so it would be an easy drive or short cruise.

Later
PAT
 
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