View Single Post
Old 06-11-2017, 07:20 PM   #5
Seevee
Guru
 
Seevee's Avatar
 
City: st pete
Vessel Model: 430 Mainship
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 3,502
lgbert,

I'm in Maderia Beach and been in this location for 18 years and in this general area for over 40 years and have done mostly "local" boating up and down the west coast from Tarpon to Marco Island. Most of the info below is really close to Madeira Beach.

I like it, but will make a few comments....
I've patronized the Harborage and Vinoy and the muni marina there. There's not a huge difference in the exposure there, perhaps a little.

If you're looking for exposure protection, there's a few that are tucked back a bit but most are on Tampa Bay or the Intercoastal.

The west coast is shallow, so paying attention to depths as well as local knowledge is important.

If you're doing a lot of day trips to restaurants, or hanging out at an island, big boats have a disadvantage. There will be a lot of restaurants or places to hang out will be very restricted or impossible to get into. Of the hand full that I patronize, getting my 40 ft Mainship in is either impossible or difficult with about half of them.... but there's lots of them. Caladesi State park, and great overnight spot I believe only has 2 or 3 "over 40 foot docks".

However, with a bit of local knowledge which you'll get, there's still a LOT of places to go and a lot of water to float in.

For the bulk of my restaurant runs or shallow water hang outs, I use my smaller boat. However, a great place to be... and still somewhat reasonable.
__________________
Seevee
Seevee is offline   Reply With Quote