Dry Tortugas

A-Div

Member
Oct 22, 2017
46
Sarasota, FL
Boat Info
320 Sundancer 2006
Engines
Twin Merc 6.2 III I/O
Planning to make the Key West to Dry Tortugas run this year. Could really use advice from some first-hand experience boaters in terms of communications (sat phone?), fuel consumption (have a 320 Dancer, twin 6.2 I/O), anything for which I should be particularly aware? Anchoring/mooring nuances? Thanks.
 
Just being in open water I believe you should carry an epirb. Can’t help with your fuel numbers but watch the weather closely. The hardest part is deciding not to go. Set your parameters ahead of time for what is acceptable and what is not. For example, I won’t travel with 4+ ft wave heights or 20+knots of wind. Doing this ahead keeps you from making an emotional decision at the time.
 
Are you sure you have the range with reserve for a "rough seas" return if necessary? its 140 miles round trip plus any generator usage....My 300DA holds 170 gallons and generally gets 1mpg (can get as high as 1.2 with a lighter load and the right conditions) and I'm not sure I'd make the trip....I believe you carry 200 gallons, but I'm not sure of your fuel burn/cruising speed in a heavier 320 with 6.2s and I/Os......as noted above, get a PLB at the very least.......they can be had for about $200 - out of curiosity, when are you planning to make the trip?
 
There is a member here, I think it was @Hampton who did a long post a few years ago about making the trip with a 340 Dancer if I remember correctly.

Did a quick search, didn't run onto it.

That post had a tremendous amount of information about the trip in a similar boat. If I remember correctly they took extra fuel in 5 Gallon cans on the swim platform.

Maybe someone can help us find that thread, would be worth reviewing.

Mark
 
I did the trip a few years ago and found it interesting. The weather kicked up while we were there so we elected to stay a little longer than originally planned. Make sure you take plenty of extra food and drinks since there is nothing to be purchased except off the ferry boats. Great snorkeling in the area! We had huge grouper under our hull every day. Wish I could go back...
 
Just being in open water I believe you should carry an epirb. Can’t help with your fuel numbers but watch the weather closely. The hardest part is deciding not to go. Set your parameters ahead of time for what is acceptable and what is not. For example, I won’t travel with 4+ ft wave heights or 20+knots of wind. Doing this ahead keeps you from making an emotional decision at the time.

Thanks for the info on the epirb - will do that. I think its good advice on the weather. Definitely not into taking unnecessary risk and will ensure I have an excellent weather window or otherwise just stay in Key West. Plenty to do there to occupy the time. :)
 
Are you sure you have the range with reserve for a "rough seas" return if necessary? its 140 miles round trip plus any generator usage....My 300DA holds 170 gallons and generally gets 1mpg (can get as high as 1.2 with a lighter load and the right conditions) and I'm not sure I'd make the trip....I believe you carry 200 gallons, but I'm not sure of your fuel burn/cruising speed in a heavier 320 with 6.2s and I/Os......as noted above, get a PLB at the very least.......they can be had for about $200 - out of curiosity, when are you planning to make the trip?

Thank you for that fuel information. It definitely helps. It sounds like I am on the margin, then, regarding fuel. I want to have a high probability of returning with 40 gallons MINIMUM for safety margin, so may have to look into a fuel bladder or a few 5 gallon cans.

I want to go the second half of this year - I have flexibility so it will be on the basis of the seasonality of the area.
 
I did the trip a few years ago and found it interesting. The weather kicked up while we were there so we elected to stay a little longer than originally planned. Make sure you take plenty of extra food and drinks since there is nothing to be purchased except off the ferry boats. Great snorkeling in the area! We had huge grouper under our hull every day. Wish I could go back...

Doug - thanks for this. I wasn't sure about the snorkeling so its great to hear its good. My wife will in the water a lot, then. Weather continues to be a factor with what I am hearing, so am going to spend a lot of time on that.
 
I've done this run several times in out 420AC.

My suggestion would be to run to Key West first and overnight there. Head out the next morning with a full tank of fuel. With my 17 knot cruise speed it was less than 4 hours.

Reverse the course coming back.

We had great weather coming down but going back we got into some nasty summer storms. Thankfully we were able to duck into the ICW off Sanibel.

13892198_10205016964264123_1753455551906402368_n.jpg
 
Yes, was planning to embark Key West direct to DT and back. I don't see how I could do it any other way with a 320, even with an extra 30 gallons fuel stored someplace/somehow.

After these post replies, I am definitely going to do a dry run up and down the lower gulf coast to mimic the DT run and ensure I have my shit together on fuel requirement/optimization. Wasn't going to do that, but shame on me if I otherwise run out of fuel and weather goes to heck.
 
Also make sure you have seatow/boatus membership as a backup.
 
Yes, was planning to embark Key West direct to DT and back. I don't see how I could do it any other way with a 320, even with an extra 30 gallons fuel stored someplace/somehow.

After these post replies, I am definitely going to do a dry run up and down the lower gulf coast to mimic the DT run and ensure I have my shit together on fuel requirement/optimization. Wasn't going to do that, but shame on me if I otherwise run out of fuel and weather goes to heck.
Just a reminder for trip planning ....while your fuel tanks total 200 galllons, only 190 gallons are usable. This should be shown in your Operators Manual.
 
Just a reminder for trip planning ....while your fuel tanks total 200 galllons, only 190 gallons are usable. This should be shown in your Operators Manual.

Thanks for the reminder - I remember reading that but may have forgotten by the time I got to the into the final calculations.
 

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