I am planning a two week trip to Pensacola and beyond for mid July and would like your suggestions on the best cruising guides. Also any local information about the best sailing areas from Pensacola Bay to Port St. Joe. I know it is Hurricane season and I plan to keep an ear on the weather and pray for the best. Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Florida West Coast Cruising Guide
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Port St Joe
Hi Bob. We have our boat in the Port St Joe marina. It is a great marina with full service and friendly people. St Joeseph Bay is a wonderful sailing spot, very large with deep water. St Joeseph Park is across the bay and offers wonderful anchorages and pristene beaches. Use your depth sounder because there are some shallows. Shark hole is 30 to 40 feet deep withing 20 yards of the shore. A short dingy ride gets you to the park. By the way, it's called shark hole for a reason. Swim in the shallows. If you get over to the marina, give us a jingle and we would love to hoist a few.
Hi Bob. We have our boat in the Port St Joe marina. It is a great marina with full service and friendly people. St Joeseph Bay is a wonderful sailing spot, very large with deep water. St Joeseph Park is across the bay and offers wonderful anchorages and pristene beaches. Use your depth sounder because there are some shallows. Shark hole is 30 to 40 feet deep withing 20 yards of the shore. A short dingy ride gets you to the park. By the way, it's called shark hole for a reason. Swim in the shallows. If you get over to the marina, give us a jingle and we would love to hoist a few.
In your Mac...
you could spend 2 weeks and never see all there is to see from Pensacola Bay to Choctawhatchee Bay and St. Andrew Bay, all connected by the intracoastal waterway and very safe even during hurricane season. As long as you can get under a 48 ft. bridge, no problems!!! The Claiborne book is the absolute best with only a few things changed since the last update. It WILL BE HOT with a decent sea breeze that builds every afternoon. Good luck.
you could spend 2 weeks and never see all there is to see from Pensacola Bay to Choctawhatchee Bay and St. Andrew Bay, all connected by the intracoastal waterway and very safe even during hurricane season. As long as you can get under a 48 ft. bridge, no problems!!! The Claiborne book is the absolute best with only a few things changed since the last update. It WILL BE HOT with a decent sea breeze that builds every afternoon. Good luck.
Claiborne Young's guide
The Guide by Claiborne young though tilted toward powerboats has a lot of information. The Maptech guide works well too. Most of the information is dated. There is a great hurricane hole in the ditch between Choctawhatchee bay and St Andrews bay. It is called the canyon. Watson's Bayou is another place to go in a hurricane. A great thing about the area around Pensacola is that there are protected waters that you can travel. A friend goes up the Mobile river whenever a hurricane approaches. He dodged the bullet last year when Turner Marina on Dog River was pretty much destroyed. The only down side was when he came back he had to anchor out as there was no marina slip to return to. BTW Turner has rebuilt.
The Guide by Claiborne young though tilted toward powerboats has a lot of information. The Maptech guide works well too. Most of the information is dated. There is a great hurricane hole in the ditch between Choctawhatchee bay and St Andrews bay. It is called the canyon. Watson's Bayou is another place to go in a hurricane. A great thing about the area around Pensacola is that there are protected waters that you can travel. A friend goes up the Mobile river whenever a hurricane approaches. He dodged the bullet last year when Turner Marina on Dog River was pretty much destroyed. The only down side was when he came back he had to anchor out as there was no marina slip to return to. BTW Turner has rebuilt.
Sugar Bowel
My experience cruising is limited, but the area from pensacola to port st. joe is , by a long shot, my favorite. There is a great anchorage near pensacola bay (western side)across from the naval air station. It is shown as a shoal area on charts, but when you get in there it's like being inside a huge sugar bowel!
My experience cruising is limited, but the area from pensacola to port st. joe is , by a long shot, my favorite. There is a great anchorage near pensacola bay (western side)across from the naval air station. It is shown as a shoal area on charts, but when you get in there it's like being inside a huge sugar bowel!
Port saint Joe
Port St joe is a very nice place but it is a less than ideal anchorage. If the wind is steady out of the sw then all is well but since the bay runs north and south it can get rough with a south or north wind. Last summer we believed the weather forcast and anchored on the eastern shore with a moderate east wind. The forcast was for the wind to drop. well it kept getting stronger during the night and it was a rough night. We tried to move but the wind was too strong and I was afraid of trying to pick up two anchors near shallow water at night. We held but didn't sleep well. Several times we have had the wind shift during the night and make a nice anchorage rough. Perdido bay is a nice place to sail and Ingram's bayou is nearby. With a mac you can go to the bottom of Mobile bay and up the eastern shore to a little bay that is deep inside but has a shallow entrance. I think it is Week's bay??? Sailing the ditch between Pensacola and Choctawhatchee is great...flat water and usually a good breeze. With a mac you can pretty much anchor anywhere. With only two weeks I wouldn't try to go to far. Maybe as far as St Andrews bay.
Port St joe is a very nice place but it is a less than ideal anchorage. If the wind is steady out of the sw then all is well but since the bay runs north and south it can get rough with a south or north wind. Last summer we believed the weather forcast and anchored on the eastern shore with a moderate east wind. The forcast was for the wind to drop. well it kept getting stronger during the night and it was a rough night. We tried to move but the wind was too strong and I was afraid of trying to pick up two anchors near shallow water at night. We held but didn't sleep well. Several times we have had the wind shift during the night and make a nice anchorage rough. Perdido bay is a nice place to sail and Ingram's bayou is nearby. With a mac you can go to the bottom of Mobile bay and up the eastern shore to a little bay that is deep inside but has a shallow entrance. I think it is Week's bay??? Sailing the ditch between Pensacola and Choctawhatchee is great...flat water and usually a good breeze. With a mac you can pretty much anchor anywhere. With only two weeks I wouldn't try to go to far. Maybe as far as St Andrews bay.
Thanks Again
I'd just like to say many thanks for all the great responces. I'll be putting my boat in at a friends house in Milton on the 7th and then trying some of your suggestions. Hope to see some of you on the water. May Fair winds always fill your sails. Bob
I'd just like to say many thanks for all the great responces. I'll be putting my boat in at a friends house in Milton on the 7th and then trying some of your suggestions. Hope to see some of you on the water. May Fair winds always fill your sails. Bob
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