Hal: As we headed South from Savannah last fall, we thought Jacksonville would be warm enough -- wrong! The butter didn't really melt for us until we got to Ft. Lauderdale. Yes, Marathon is a great place wilth a great cruiser community and it's plenty warm. It's all moorings and very few, if any, anchorages are left in Boot Key Harbor. There are lots of stores, restaurants and bars within walking or dinghy distance of the harbor. Besides, it's a short day trip (or a $1.00 bus trip) from there to Key West if you are so inclined. We haven't found Florida to be very cruiser friendly, but Marathon seems to be an exception to this. I don't think your draft will be a problem at Boot Key, but you'll want to check on this. As you know, the ICW has lots of shoaling and shallow spots, so you may want to go outside for most of the trip. Also, as you get closer to Miami, the bascule bridges on the ICW get closer and closer together and they can be a real nuisance and make it difficult to make even 50 miles per day. The week-enders (jet skis, Sea Rays, and you name its) keep things interesting as well.
Of course, the weather is also great in da Bahamas, mon, but it's gonna cost ya and your draft will limit you in getting good anchorages. Anything over 6' will be a PITA. We felt very luck to only draw 3' and were always able to anchor where the big guys couldn't go. As far as the cost is concerned, aside from the cruising permit fee ($300 for us) and whatever your insuance company decides to charge you for travelling there ($500 in our case), nearly everything over there costs about twice as much as it does in the US -- if you can find it. This includes food, drinks, boat parts, fuel and, drinking water ($0.40 per gallon in some places. Just take a BIG wad of cash, spares for everything and a ton of food and you should be fine. We liked the Abacos more than the Exumas and didn't care much for George Town (a/k/a The Summer Camp For Adults) at all. The Abacos are more developed and the Exumas are more picturesque and a little warmer. Most of the cays in the Exumas are totally uninhabited and the settlements you do find there only have a few hundered people at most. YMMV, of course. I can't speak to PR or BVI but you are talking about a much longer trip for those places. If this is your trip down the coast, I'd suggest the Keys first and maybe on around to the West coast of Florida. I'd probably save the Bahamas, or PR or BVI until the next season. Whatever you do, have a great trip! Phil McGovern s/v Sunshine On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 2:58 PM, Hal Craft <[email protected]> wrote: > It looks like I'll be able to join the snowbirds and go south for > this coming winter. Like most everyone's, my intention would be to > get far enough south so that the weather is likely to be comfortably > warm most of the time. My thoughts have long been that the Keys, > Bahamas, or PR/VI, listed in increasing degrees of difficulty (and > inverse degree of desirability), would be the best bets. I > originally contemplated St. Augustine till I noted the temperature at > one point got into the 20's - I can do that here in upstate NY. > > Judging from the comments on this list, Florida is not particularly > cruiser-friendly - except, perhaps, for Marathon. Any > thoughts/advice on Marathon as a place to hang out for several months > in the winter? I would expect to be anchored out, or on a mooring. > I'm also carrying 6'6" of draft, and it's not clear from what I've > seen that that will work comfortably in Marathon (or lots of the Keys > either). > > So any advice would be much appreciated. Perhaps there's a better > place in Florida than Marathon. Hal > > > -- > Hal Craft (AA2JQ) > Sailing Vessel "Talisman" > Currently Asleep Robinhood, ME > > _______________________________________________ > Liveaboard mailing list > [email protected] > To adjust your membership settings over the web > http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard > To subscribe send an email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ > > To search the archives > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > The Mailman Users Guide can be found here > http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html >
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