Tampa Bay Area Destinations

PeteL

Active Member
Aug 2, 2010
245
Apollo Beach, FL
Boat Info
2003 280 DA
Twin 5.0
Bravo III
"Viva la Vida"
Engines
Twin 5.0, bravo 3 drives
We are moving up from a Sundeck to a Sundancer 280, and I am looking for good day trips and short overnights in the area. We are in Apollo Beach and are new to cruising. So I need to start the boss off with easy trips to get her used to going further than our normal day on the Sundeck. Thanks for taking time to reply. Should have the Sundancer by the end of April, pending the inspection.
 
we are in Sarasota and love staying out on the hook. Lots of places.. Egmont Key, Jew Fish Key, Sarasota Bay and Big Pass to name a few..
 
As far as marinas go, we have stayed the night/weekend at Tampa Marriott Waterside, the Vinoy, Harborage Marina near downtown st. Pete, and Little Harbour. We loved the Marriott and the Vinoy. You get full access to the hotel amenities, so after boating for the day, you can come back to a nice swim in the pool or visit the spa. We go to Bunces Pass on day trips, it is really protected over there, so even when the bay is rough, the water is pretty smooth, typically this water is like glass. That’s probably pretty far coming from Apollo Beach, but it is a great place to spend the night, since it is so protected. If you need to know where this is, I can upload an image from my Navionics map.
 
Where is Jew Fish Key?

at the north end of Longboat Key at the pass before Bradendon Beach/Anna Maria... nice and protected there.. also a big spot for sandbar hangout
 
Caladesi is nice, took 4 hours to get there from st pete, next time I will go to the gulf and get away from the no wake zones and the intercoastal! We stayed there last year over Memorial Day and came back on a Tuesday, that was great, basically 0 people at the park on Monday night. Very inexpensive.
HappyDayz, thanks for the location. We are going to stay at Longboat Key Club Moorings in May for 3 nights, and I was looking for some good day spots.
 
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Today cruised up to downtown Tampa, up the Hillsborough River, then on our way back stopped by Circles/Apollo Beach. Food was good, we had a good time there. Beautiful day!
 
We are going to spend Memorial Weekend at Twin Dolphins Marina. Meeting up with a few boating pals there. Have weekended there a number of times and it's fun every time.
 
Caladesi is nice, took 4 hours to get there from st pete, next time I will go to the gulf and get away from the no wake zones and the intercoastal! We stayed there last year over Memorial Day and came back on a Tuesday, that was great, basically 0 people at the park on Monday night. Very inexpensive.
HappyDayz, thanks for the location. We are going to stay at Longboat Key Club Moorings in May for 3 nights, and I was looking for some good day spots.
Seems little shallow to Caladesi, any suggestions on how to approach? Better to approach from the ICW? Or better yet follow the ferry there? :)
 
Caladesi Island for sure!!!!

I took a 410 that draws 40” in there last week. It was very shallow, but go in at high tide. Bigger boats can and do go, and it is worth it.

From the GICW there is a red marker #18 just south of the Honeymoon Island bridge. Go west along the causeway to red#14. Make a beeline for the caledesi channel marker red #2 and you will be fine. Go on a rising tide. I saw 2.7’ at one point, which is about 4-5 ft of water. Red area is some shoalining from Alberto.

Beach to yourself, great shelling, very peaceful. Top 5 boating destination for me.

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Seems little shallow to Caladesi, any suggestions on how to approach? Better to approach from the ICW? Or better yet follow the ferry there? :)
I have v-drives, 3’ draft, so I planned to enter and exit at or near high tide, turned out the times I wanted to go/leave were pretty close to high tide. Second, I followed my GPS, it plotted a course from the channels, over to the entrance channel of the island. Then just went real slow! As far as the route goes, there is the main channel, and before you go under the bridge you will turn west towards the gulf, well marked channel to the gulf. Then, on your left hand side, there is a sign “follow heading xxx degrees to enter Caledesi island”, so that is where my god had plotted the course, and I just stayed true to that, unless I saw something in the water that didn’t look right. Also, my heading matched the heading on the sign, so that was helpful as well. Once you get back to the island channel, Water is deeper. Note, in a 260 with a drive you can lift up a bit should be easy to get back there.
 
Caladesi Island for sure!!!!

I took a 410 that draws 40” in there last week. It was very shallow, but go in at high tide. Bigger boats can and do go, and it is worth it.

From the GICW there is a red marker #18 just south of the Honeymoon Island bridge. Go east along the causeway to red#14. Make a beeline for the caledesi channel marker red #2 and you will be fine. Go on a rising tide. I saw 2.7’ at one point, which is about 4-5 ft of water. Red area is some shoalining from Alberto.

Beach to yourself, great shelling, very peaceful. Top 5 boating destination for me.

View attachment 56743

Thank you, very helpful!
 
Also, call the ranger station on the island, they will have the latest intel. I think I have that number...if I can find it I’ll post

Shells from the north end of the island

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Thanks for the replies, really appreciate it!

If coming from Gulf, not to take all the ICW (as I will come from Tampa), should I enter thru 1 or 2?
 
Quickest will be Hurricane pass, but get some intel on that inlet. I have not run that channel, but recall shoaling being mentioned. The Clearwater inlet is wide and easy, just a couple no wake zones going up the ICW.

Both get you to the same place.
 

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