Panama city to Ft Lauderdale

lostviking said:

I want to take the short route and do it really slow.
If it saves time and fuel, it is great.

I figure i got the most scenic run from The Bahamas to The VI`s anyway.
At least with my white beach and palm trees fetish, hehe!

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If not a US citizen, then why cross over Florida at all...may be shorter to just head down the west side and jump over to Cuba and head East from there....unless you just gotta see the Bahamas...many agree that Cuba is far more interesting than the Bahamas.

I've done that trip numerous times.

Panama City to Clearwater about 3 days
Clearwater to Ft. Myers about 3 days
Ft. Myers to Stuart across Lake - 2 days
Stuart to Ft. Lauderdale about 2 days

many of that era chinezze boat have blisters not great but your boat will not fall apart in the next 50 years

motion30 said:

many of that era chinezze boat have blisters not great but your boat will not fall apart in the next 50 years

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Maybe...maybe not..depends on a few things...

Man you guys make me feel like one lucky sob. Back in 2000 4 of us went to Marco Island FL and picked up an old steel trawler. We arrived in the afternoon and left 0500 the next morning. All we knew was the boat had a tank of fuel and a running engine. After crossing the lake route to Stuart Fl 13 days later we arrived in Richmond Va. Beat up old trawler with rust running down the sides and 4 big smiles on our faces. Larry

Greetings,
Mr. LWW. Yup, have had similar experiences in past years. I'm assuming that "old steel trawler" ran on alcohol. Ah, those would have been the days if I could only remember...I'm happy for your memories.

We firgured right at about 500 gallons of fuel and 600 gallons of beer. Only two of the four drink.

lostviking said:

Yeah, I`ll do that

I did not realize it was a channel there. I read about one channel going across florida, but somehow i figured it was not finished because of environmental reasons. Glad to hear I was wrong.

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I think you might be referring to the "Cross Florida Barge Canal".....it ran from just above Crystal River on the Gulf side and crossed over just below Ocala and continue over to around Palatka and hook to the St. John's River....which was never finished....and it was pretty much halted for environmental reasons...aside from the fact that it was pretty much a pork barrel project that was a waste of money because its economic value was over estimated.

Today's remnant of the canal attached to the Gulf...just above the Nuke plant at Red Level...is a marginal anchorage at best. The canal was dredged to the bedrock..lime...and an anchor has a hard time doing much more than sliding across the bottom. On a couple transits of the area...we ended up tying up at an FWC state dock for the night and leaving early in the morning....it is calm up in there...and make sure you don't go up the canal to the nuke plant...security is "touchy".

I would recommend the Skipper Bob guides for that area, they are not expensive and have good information. Also check out the Activecaptain.com site, it has charts and lots of information on marinas and anchorages along the way.
You will be passing through some very good cruising waters along the way if you have thet ime go a bit slower and enjoy it.
Your first leg, out of Carabelle will be the only offshore part of the trip 20-30 hours, make sure you have tested well and are comfortable with all systems before jumping off.
Let us know how it goes
Have a great trip!
Steve W.