Tampa Bay to Crystal River
 

Have plotted a course from Tampa Bay north to Crystal River and was considering make the run up in a 23 Sceptre instead of trailering for this years scallop season. Anyone make the run? I would be interested in hearing about it. Only seems to be a bit over 80 miles.

sounds like it would be a fun ride!

A couple years ago Island Trader and I made a run from Ft. Desoto up as far as Anclote, about 60-65 miles, to the gathering there. Ran outside on the way up and in the ICW on the way back. We had good weather and it was a pretty easy trip. Per Terry England and my own experience, the water gets pretty thin up that way, so I think you'll need to stay about 5 miles offshore unless you know the area well. There is no ICW to Crystal River from a little south of Anclote, so you'll have to keep an eye on the weather and watch for winds from the SW thru NW. Offshore winds could make that part of trip a little rough, but a 23 should be able to handle it if it's not blowing a gale!

thanks Bushwacker! Yes safest route on the chart plotter keeps me several miles of the beach. Looks like a fun journey though. Hopefully can pick one of those dead calm early morning August days before the sea breeeze to push it up there!

I did my FL. Circumnavigation trip a few years ago in the Spring, so we were still having cold fronts blow thru about once a week, and I was real concerned about the offshore stretch from Sanibel to Cape Sable, as there aren't many places to find shelter from west winds along there! Delayed the trip till mid-April and had almost perfect weather, but the bugs kept us out of the Shark river/Whitewater Bay area in the Everglades that I wanted to check out. I think exploring that area would have to be a strictly wintertime trip!

August should be good for your trip, provided there aren't any tropical systems brewing in the Gulf!

Crystal
 

What the heck are you doing with a Longboat/Scandinavian/Viking name like "ERIC" and asking questions about a little boat ride in a mill pond like the Gulf of Mexico?
That's kinda' like an "Amelia" being afraid to throw a paper airplane or a "Kmoose" being scared to gig a mango snapper, fer gosh sakes.
You got nuttin' to worry about, son. First it would help if you gave us a point "A" to navigate from but like most junior members you'er afraid if you tell us where you live, 'cause we'll want to come over and borrow an angle grinder, tuxedo, bottle of rum or worse yet your pick up truck - and I don't blame you! We'er a bunch of Scallawags and we'er particularly fond of "nice bottoms" - VDH that is!
So just say fer instance you filled out everything on your members form (and we actually knew where point "A" was) so you were running from O'Neals at the north end of the Skyway. You could go through about 40 miles of idle zone with an intermittent 30 MPH zone every once in a while in the ICW or you could run the Gulfside and make sure the Bikini's were secured and in proper alignment in St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island, Mad Beach, the Redingtons, the Rock, stuffy Bellaire and Sand Key. You could slip into Clearwater Marina and top off the fuel and then either run the inside up through St. Joseph's Sound off of Dunedin or outside but the Bikinis' thin out bad north of Clearwater, as Donny Vickers has pointed out many times to me, except for that stretch at Honeymoon Island. When you get up towards Anclote if you haven't topped off you might want to go into Tarpon Springs at fill up. Fuel begins to get a little scarce north of Tarpon. From Anclote Key point North and you'll be fine since the coast dives in drastically to the east. Pointing due north from Anclote will put you in 20' of water off of Crystal River and west of most of the Outdrive and Lower Unit eating stuff up that way. I've made them run a zillion times because I hate US-19 and I don't exaggerate - much!
If you decide to take a easy trip up there, run up to and stay behind Anclote over night then go into Port Tarpon Marina for breakfast and top off your fuel, then run to the area of Jim Champion Reef off of the Chaz. River and watch your bottom machine be ready to jump in and see what kind of stuff is squirting around on all those rock piles. Then go into the Homosassa River up to the Freezer and get some shrimp and a beer, then you can cruise on into Crystal River, like you owned the place. The dorks in Hurricanes and Bayliners don't know the difference but the Guides always give me the "Thumbs Up" with my old boat. They'll like your Scepter.
I can send my wife over to navigate for you, but your ears would be bleeding by the time you got there and she gets mad if you roll your eyes while she's telling you some absolutely fascinating story! So you have to stay focused!
(It might be easier to just run aground a couple of times)
Funny, people never ask me what time it is.

Lol terry!

Well Terry you are a funny guy thanks for the response although you do seem to need a lot of fuel!!?? I have 100 gallons of fuel and a 4 stroke so I better not burn 33 gallons over a three hour run but I will take your advice and top off before I leave anclote! I am running out of Gulfport marina and of course you can use my angle grinder and my truck anytime! I too appreciate the offer of your wife but I have my own GF and take enough BP medicine thank you very much! Sounds like your from around TB so look for a factory red 78 Sceptre with a second tower station called "Dreaming Tree" I would love to chat with you and share my rum!

Eric B!

B-I-L Dougie is leaving out of Goofport on Friday night and I'm hooking up with him on Saturday morning down at Ft. Desoto to go scouting for those 24" Gags. In the meantime we'll gather up some 'Gos and hogs down there off of Anna Maria. He has a white hull / white deck SeaFari with a blue 115 E-Tec. I'll P.M. you with my phone number because Don V., Snookerd or Conner might be listening in on our secret plans to steal their fish!

Big brother is watching!