St Pete to Panama City

[Bruce Herrington]

We're thinking of making the trip from St Pete to Panama City in 36' twin sedan F/B gasser with 350 gallon fuel capacity. How long of an open water crossing is this? Any marinas in between?

 

[L. Keith]

Approximately 250 nautical miles, sea buoy to sea buoy. If you cannot plot the distance don't make the trip.

 

[Bruce Herrington]

Thanks for nothing.

 

[boatbum]

We thought about this trip ourselves. So I plotted out what I thought might work and then we drove it scoping out some places. We are in a 1985 43 M/Y and to be honest the number of places we fit is not all that encouraging. We figured that we would have to jump from Clearwater to Carabell. Apalachicola was not a fit.
Places in between are available but you will run 8 to 10 miles each way to dock. I know it is about 75nm from Stienhatchee to Carabell. We cruise at about 8-9k/hr so to go up those diversions to an overnight kind of place was a put out.

 

[captainwjm]

The jump is from Clearwater to Carrabelle, about 180 miles, and in your vessel, an overnight is required. Figure leaving mid-afternoon to time a mid-morning arrival. Range will be an issue for a gasser, so you may want to break it up with a stop in Steinhatchie or Cedar Key. That eliminates the overnight passage. However, they are a long way from deeper water, so the effect is to nearly double the mileage, plus you will need to figure tides for those entrances. Check Active Captain or Waterways Guide for marina information. There are places in both ports to handle your boat. Especially for a gasser, the first time should be done with a buddy boat as you will be out of VHF range for at least part of the trip. Once you reach the panhandle, you'll have no problems; that is great cruising ground.

 

[PascalG]

Last time I went that way was with a 53 hatt. I went up the coast to steinhachee. From there it was just an 80nm crossing to carabelle and in the ICW which was pretty scenic. It adds a few miles but it s much safer easy route.

I docked in steinhachee (no problem with a 53) but anchored out near carabelle although I m sure there is dockage.

 

[boatbum]

We were ok with Carabelle.

 

[Bruce Herrington]

That's exacly the information I was hoping to get. Really appreciate the help.

We drove the coastline last week, spent the weekend in Cedar Key. But didn't see any "ports" that looked promising.
Agree on Appalachicola, but didn't check out Carrabelle or Steinhatchee.

Good idea on buddy boat.

 

[boatbum]

We stayed at Cedar also. Really old hotel building in town. Nothing there for marinas (or anything else).

 

[Bruce Herrington]

May have been the same one we stayed in, room 29. Was a manatee playing piano in lobby? Buffet played here back in the early 80's..

 

[boatbum]

Sounds right. Island Hotel. We were really surprised how underdeveloped the marine industry seemed up that way. I guess it's all of the shallow water that hold them back.