We are taking off friday and the wind looks good to sail to Port Saint Joe. Winds out of the northeast at 10-15kts. But on Friday night and Saturday they are supposed to be 15-20 knots. We have always anchored on the eastern side of the pennisula(west side of bay) because the winds are usually out of the southwest. Anyone have a good anchorage??? I've thought about motoring up the canal and anchoring in the swamp but it might be too late on Friday. It looks like it might be OK just northwest of the canal entrance. Help!!! Sunday looks good for the return trip. NE at 15 kts. How is the ditch from St Joe to Panama City??? Lots of Gators??? Tom
Good Place to Anchor St Joe Bay
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A couple of Ideas
Hi Tom, We just recently moved our 306 from a marina in Apalachicola to the St Joe Marina. We have sailed in and through St. Joe bay several times in the past. As you mentioned we to try to anchor near the peninsula (usually in Eagle Harbor). With the predicted winds out of the NE, this is defiantly not an option. We have anchored once in the area you mentioned just north of the canal entrance. This gives you fair protection from winds from the NW or E. It is shallow close to shore so you have to anchor quite a ways out. Also we drug anchor the first time I set the hook, but I was able to get it set on the second try. You also have a great view of highway 98 and all the cars; and they of you. There is absolutely no place to anchor in the canal until you get to the ICW and then no really good places until you get close to Lake Wimico going east. There are several loop streams that I would recommend just NW of the lake. Another option would be to stay at PSJ marina. It is a great facility with a good restaurant (good food, so so service, live music on the weekends). I would give them a call to find out if they have any open transient slips this weekend. If you make it to the marina, I have a 306 in slip N26. I will probably be around some this weekend. Feel free to drop by. For the trip back, the ditch isn’t bad but you have to clear the Dupont Bridge which has just 50’ of vertical clearance. Randy
Hi Tom, We just recently moved our 306 from a marina in Apalachicola to the St Joe Marina. We have sailed in and through St. Joe bay several times in the past. As you mentioned we to try to anchor near the peninsula (usually in Eagle Harbor). With the predicted winds out of the NE, this is defiantly not an option. We have anchored once in the area you mentioned just north of the canal entrance. This gives you fair protection from winds from the NW or E. It is shallow close to shore so you have to anchor quite a ways out. Also we drug anchor the first time I set the hook, but I was able to get it set on the second try. You also have a great view of highway 98 and all the cars; and they of you. There is absolutely no place to anchor in the canal until you get to the ICW and then no really good places until you get close to Lake Wimico going east. There are several loop streams that I would recommend just NW of the lake. Another option would be to stay at PSJ marina. It is a great facility with a good restaurant (good food, so so service, live music on the weekends). I would give them a call to find out if they have any open transient slips this weekend. If you make it to the marina, I have a 306 in slip N26. I will probably be around some this weekend. Feel free to drop by. For the trip back, the ditch isn’t bad but you have to clear the Dupont Bridge which has just 50’ of vertical clearance. Randy
Good sail to St Joe
We sailed down to St Joe on friday. Good winds and stayed about 4 kts. A very cool thing happened as we were approaching the entrance. We started seeing rays in groups and then sharks. The sharks were only 3 1/2 ' long but we counted about 30. One was white. It was the first time that we had seen so many sharks in one place. We counted over a hundred rays and a turtle. High point of the day. They looked like a typical reef shark. I think that the rays were cow nosed rays. We anchored just northwest of the canal entrance. Good sticky mud in about 15' of water. It was noisey early on from traffic on the road but settled down and we slept well. The trees on shore offered some protection. the wind settled down later and it was flat and calm towards morning. No bugs!!!! The sail back was even better. The wind came back up about 8 am and though a little gusty stayed strong all day. The rail was frequently in the water and we averaged about 5 kts. Going over 6kts in the gust and then slowing to aout 3kts. repeat all day. Tom
We sailed down to St Joe on friday. Good winds and stayed about 4 kts. A very cool thing happened as we were approaching the entrance. We started seeing rays in groups and then sharks. The sharks were only 3 1/2 ' long but we counted about 30. One was white. It was the first time that we had seen so many sharks in one place. We counted over a hundred rays and a turtle. High point of the day. They looked like a typical reef shark. I think that the rays were cow nosed rays. We anchored just northwest of the canal entrance. Good sticky mud in about 15' of water. It was noisey early on from traffic on the road but settled down and we slept well. The trees on shore offered some protection. the wind settled down later and it was flat and calm towards morning. No bugs!!!! The sail back was even better. The wind came back up about 8 am and though a little gusty stayed strong all day. The rail was frequently in the water and we averaged about 5 kts. Going over 6kts in the gust and then slowing to aout 3kts. repeat all day. Tom
Hi all.
I agree with Randy on almost everything. The anchoring north of the ditch is a bit worrisome to me. There is alot of traffic, especially early morning (3 AMish) that can really rock you around. Another option is Shark Hole at the paninsula. You can see the area as you get close to it because there is a large white sand dune that marks the area. As you follow the bouys in from the west, it is just past the green bouy marking the second tip of the paninsula. The first time we took our larger boat in there I got a little nervous as we got withing thirty feet of shore so I dropped the hook. Well, we were in 38' of water!. This is the area that we went to last year and spent a good hour following around a whale shark. What a great beautiful fish it was. We too are in the PSJ Marina. We are the yawl at the "T" of the north dock. Look us up.
I agree with Randy on almost everything. The anchoring north of the ditch is a bit worrisome to me. There is alot of traffic, especially early morning (3 AMish) that can really rock you around. Another option is Shark Hole at the paninsula. You can see the area as you get close to it because there is a large white sand dune that marks the area. As you follow the bouys in from the west, it is just past the green bouy marking the second tip of the paninsula. The first time we took our larger boat in there I got a little nervous as we got withing thirty feet of shore so I dropped the hook. Well, we were in 38' of water!. This is the area that we went to last year and spent a good hour following around a whale shark. What a great beautiful fish it was. We too are in the PSJ Marina. We are the yawl at the "T" of the north dock. Look us up.
Glad to hear that you had a good weekend.
Tom, I was out on Saturday and the gusts were impressive. I hit 6.2 knots on the GPS several times on a reach heading back to the marina.
Tom, I was out on Saturday and the gusts were impressive. I hit 6.2 knots on the GPS several times on a reach heading back to the marina.
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