Poll: Cato Costa or Ft Desoto
 

What date and location for our Fall Gathering is best for you?

Cayo Costa...spell check wants to bring back OJ Simpsons prize witness "Cato" Catlin!

spell check speaks English, not anglicized antique Spanish.

Preference for CC, but I'm good with either place or dates.

not having a trailer I picked cayo ft Desoto is a long way in a 20sf id choose sept being its the slowest time of the year and my best time off.

CC looks like a fine plein air option.

The ramps at Desoto were jaw dropping. My thought was this is how govt. could work if and when it did work.

Any date is fine wit lil ole me.

No real preference since I can get to both, and time right now is not a factor for us.

Fort Desoto, November 7th?
 

Danny, I seems like Fort Desoto pulled out in the lead and has just hung there from the "get go". Additionally, it appears that the weekend of Nov 7th is the most popular. The Poll says it doesn't close until July 7th. which may be too late to get the decent water sites of 163-183. The sites are OK up to about 200, but you have oysters to wade through to get to your bbboat, at low tide there.

In an effort to secure a couple of sites early (since my Internation headquarters are here in Pinellas County) and establish and beachhead for the Ghetto Yacht Club, please confirm this at your earliest convienience. I think Doodlebug can get a site early too, because he "knows people who know people".

Long Point was an Epic Hydrodynamic Adventure, especially when I saw Denny, Jimbo and Terry (T-2) red-lining up plans for a "VDH Noah's Arc", in case it didn't stop raining - I needed at Rule 1500 in my tent!

Terrible Teas'in Ter (T-3)

I like the backcountry feel of CC. -- old Florida, pirates treasure coves and lots of rum. Pulling snook, reds, schnappahs and gags out of mangroves sounds like a blast.

Most recent look at the poll, and its dead even between CC and Ft Desoto.

If you want a convienent place for a get together, Ft Desoto is great, but if you want to do something on the water, CC is hard to beat, oysters, trout, reds, snook, got to be some divng offshore, one of my favorite areas.

Guess we need to make the call shortly... I'm looking forward to having mine ready and hope to drag it down !!!! new tires waiting on me at the house to install tom... and be changing the bearings this week as well...

I voted Desoto but like the idea of Cayo Costa. We won't be camping but will be near by at either.

So much for forging ahead!
 

Oh great Snookerd - a tie.
We'll have to call Florida Secretary of State, Katherine Harris to get this straightened out again!

Ji-many Cricket, Floridians are so indecisive!
Gillie's going to start making fun of us once more.
T-Bucket "3"

Smart Moose?

CC is more adventurous. Would we get a decent crowd from both coasts?

Patti and I have officially retired the "tent"...:eek::D
There are some things in life where comfort out weighs ruggedness..:rolleyes:

If it is Cayo Costa, we will be at the Marriott on Punta Rassa!

If it is Ft. Desoto, I will be coming in a Motorhome!

Can you say NO MORE TENTING.....:cool:

I love the comradery, just not adverse elements!! ;)

After counting the hanging chads with Terry we, especially in Deb's opinion, agree with both Kens on the nicer accommodations. My call is to find a place with the option of "roughing it" or for us old farts a hotel room with dockage.

I'm sure we can find a decent place with dockage at either location. Camping is fun but so much goes into prepping for the boating aspect that I can't juggle both with the focus I am happy with and keep it a "vacation" and not a project.

Fort Desoto Hotel options
 

Attention: Camper Challenged,
I think the closest place to Ft. Desoto campground (that would put up with us scallawags) would be the Magnuson Hotel Marina Cove. It's at the north end of the Skyway on the east side of US -19 (www.marinacoveresort.com) It ain't quite "fabulous' but it's better than "OK". A good boat ramp (Maximo Park) is close by. Plenty of parking for boat trailers and tow rigs.
There are not many Mom and Pop places left on St. Pete Beach with dockage anymore. Tierra Verde and Isla del Sol are pretty much all townhouses and condos. You better be ready to "jump up off your wallet" if you stay on the Beaches.

"You better be ready to "jump up off your wallet""

Rest assured in my case it will NOT be a very far jump down to the ground. :)

We have stayed with our boat at the bayside inn and marina in Terra Verde and it was fine. Good dockage and kitchenette rooms. About $130 a night and no need for bilge pumps and bug spray.

Cayo Costa option
 

Snookerd, My Post #18 was what I know about a reasonably priced hotel within a few minutes of Fort Desoto. There are other reasonable priced hotels in the St. Pete/Clearwater area, just not many nearby Fort Desoto - if that is the chosen location. I think the one Ken stayed at before is in Treasure Island which is probably 15 miles north of Ft. Desoto.

As we all know, Fort Desoto is a great campground with an epic boat ramp, but in some recent posts I get a feeling that some of our SeaCraft He-men, after taming the oceans all day, want to find a mint under their pillow at night and not a palmetto bug! (woosies). Plus Don wants a bar that serves drinks with umbrellas in 'em. They'd look funny stick'in out of a Masons Jar.

Danny, I think there are many more Mom and Pop places down in the Charlotte Harbor/Pine Island area to investigate for a gathering that would be relatively near Cayo Costa State Park, for those die-hard campers who like to sleep on picnic tables in tropical storms - just for practice!

If you haven't voted yet, don't mash the button on your keyboard 'till we get back with 'ya. It's sooooo close!

Ken,

You already HAVE the ultimate motorhome for these gatherings, that 27' SeaMaster! Just finish it up and you'll have plenty of comfort!

Seriously, I'm amazed that more folks besides Dave, Connor, Capt. Lloyd and Gillie haven't figured out that sleeping aboard a Seafari or even a Sceptre has many advantages compared to a tent! I had a dry, bug-free comfortable bunk, head and a full galley all close at hand that required minimal effort to prepare for the trip. All I had to do was load a sleeping bag plus a couple of coolers with ice and groceries and we were good to go! All you need besides that is a pair of Daisy Dukes shorts to facilitate trips ashore to join the gang without getting your britches wet!

I don't care either way.....the main point is to try to be centralized as much as possible. I think the more we stay together the better the trip. How else can I get samples of the motley crew's plunder and share mine? I may just convert my Sceptre Into a tent! Great comments Denny!

Hotel near Fort Desoto
 

It looks like 6.5 miles from Fort Desoto to the Magnuson Hotel Marina Cove (www.marinacoveresort.com) at the north end of the Sunshine Skyway. Check it out. A little No Wake Zone on each end, but other than that, "Spool 'em up" (http://tinyurl.com/med973u).

I didn't vote, nov 7th Ill be chasing whitetail in Ontario, yall have fun, I make one of these some day

The Seafari Hilton will be quite comfortable at either location! We've been to Ft. Desoto several times and it's nice, but I'd sorta like the adventure of trying a new place so I voted for CC. It's also a bit closer, and I'd like to check out Terry's digs there! Got to explore some of the beach and Pelican Bay anchorage when Harry and I met Connor over there on our S. Fl. Circumnavigation trip http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...avigation+trip a few years ago, so would be neat to see more of the island! If ol' buddy Harry can join me, we might come over by water across the Okeechobee Waterway!

Staying centralized is probably a toss up. Desoto has the considerable advantage that you can drive to the site. CC, if you are not going to camp, has closer places to stay. Terry's channel is a little less than a mile(mostly slow if you don't know it) after that, its less than 2 miles to Cabbage Key and not more than 6 to Bokeelia or Pineland. Camping in the official site on CC is about 7 miles or walking distance if you want to bend the rules. There are probably some places to stay on North Captiva, less than a mile. Nice thing about Terry's channel, after you have been in and out a couple of times, its easy to get out in black dark, so its no problem staying late. Terry, of course, has a bunch of room at his place. Don't expect mints under your pillow.

Dang Conner, Don't use science, math, geography AND logic all in the same paragraph - you confuse us Democrats.

It seems that Cayo Costa is now tied with Fort Desoto for the lead! Who would not go because it's too far south??

Not me! I would book a room though.

Too far south for me...I would rather throw my boat on the trailer and tow it up to FT.Desoto ...rather than just boat down the ICW 10 miles and enjoy the ride.


JOKE....JOKE :eek::D;)

I got a trailer to replace mine but it has some repairs to be done , my problem is getting time away from work in November. so CC would be able to make a day trip at least but hey.

Careful Terry.

First rule of comedy. Never explain anything.

17

That`s better.

hahaha. Life is tough down there!!:D

The "Coast of Cato"
 

Trader Ter (T-1) per GFS:
The "Coast Of Cato"
See - youtube.com/watch?FbUD7FRStbY

Snookerd: You ain't even got to be a Pratt and Whitney thermodynamic engineer the figger out that if half (9) voted for CC (52.94%) and half (9) voted for FD (52.94%) than that totals 105.86%, which rounded off to the nearest 1000th is approximately the amount of times the right wing thinks the Obama Administration lies! What the heck kind of shooting gallery are you running? You got people from Brevard County count'in the chads? Gilliy's and Strick are going to think we need therapy - and they're in California!

:D:D:eek::eek:

Ugh, Marshbrain....

That would be Palm Beach County with the dangler's....:rolleyes:

You know, where Ole Pappy, Slacker & Rush reside....:eek:

Yep, I screwed up. I meant to say Broward, or was it Palm Beach. With 67 it's had to keep them all straight. We don't ever get any trouble out of Levy or Taylor do we?