Tampa Bay / West Central Florida destinations

TBarCYa

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
781
My wife and I took a long weekend and our original plans had to be rescheduled so we find ourselves looking for something to do this weekend. The weather isn't going to be great on Friday or Saturday but Sunday and Monday look promising.

We're leaving from the Little Manatee river and want to get out of the bay. This is the first time having the 27' Proline out of the bay (only the 4th time out since working the kinks out) so we want to do day trips, starting more local and venturing further as the weather allows. We have the ability to spend the night aboard if necessary.

Right now, I want to hit Egmont Key and walk the roads and trails to see the remains of the fort but have only ever anchored off the western side and wasn't able to venture inland. Where is the best place to anchor to access the roads?

After Egmont, we will probably head towards Cortez via the ICW. If we manage all of this on Sunday we will probably be looking for places to go on Monday and I'm thinking of heading north around St Pete. Any suggestions for places to stop / eat? I assume John's pass will be good and maybe a stop at Anclote Key? Just looking for suggestions for places where I have an opportunity to really run the boat with entertaining stops.

Thanks.
 

DouglasW

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Apr 20, 2018
Messages
269
I live in Tarpon Springs but do very little of what you are suggesting. But as for Egmont, it has been decades since I went there but as I remember the "roads" (I assume they are still there) were easily reached by walking just west of the service dock on the middle/south/east side of the island. Just in case you don't have a map or overview of the island here is one:
https://www.google.com/maps/@27.5905.../data=!3m1!1e3

The roads run north from there to the light station. I suppose you might land near the light station and reach it that way.

To give you an idea of how long ago this was for me, the south battery was still on dry land ;-) And Fort Dade was at least 200 feet inland.
 

TBarCYa

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
781
Looking at the map I think the light station is probably where we'll try to land. It looks like there's more stuff to see with less walking. Hahaha...

Thanks!!
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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if you go to eggmont....watch the tides. if your on an outgoing tide, your boat will be stranded until the tide comes back in. if you come in at low tide, you may need to swim farther. http://saltwatertides.com/

there is no pulling up on the beach on eggmont. you need to anchor and wade in. if you pull up, expect a warden on an ATV to be there shortly. the pier is for the ferry

if you go around bean point on Anna Maria, you need to go about 1/2 mile out prior to going south or you will be stranded

follow the channels. have sea tow or towboat us

Bridge Tender is a good packer bar
Cortez Kitchen and Swordfish Grill are pretty good (our go-to places)
Mar-a-vista is really good
we normally anchor off of Jew Fish in Longboat pass
Woodys River Roo is on the Manatee (about 13 miles up-stream from the ICW)
Twin Dolphin / pier 22 has good food (however a crane working on the marina collapsed, so there is a lot of accident related activity)

PM me and I can give you my digits if you want to call and discuss.
 

DeepCMark58A

Commander
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Aug 17, 2015
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2,030
Scott have you ever tried Ortygia in the Bradenton Arts district? nice little place Italian.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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Jul 23, 2011
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No, however hit all the breweries in the area. Try the Sage Biscuit for breakfast. Best crab cake Benedict you will ever have.
 

TBarCYa

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
781
I'm adding all of these to the list of places we want to visit!

Due to the weather and the water being a little rough (my wife had neck surgery so we can't get into anything more than a light chop) we didn't get to do much of what was planned but we still had a great time on the boat.

On Sunday we took the cruise down to Egmont Key and really wanted to get on the west side where the water is really clear but the seas were 2-4' and there were breakers on that side of the island so we headed east towards the pier. The water was too cold to wade in to the island but I did find out that I had two problems with the boat on this trip. We anchored off the pier for a little bit to eat lunch but my wife and son were starting to have seasickness issues being anchored so we got back underway quickly and headed back to the marina. But the boat ran great!

Monday was a good day to be on the water but we decided to stay in the bay and headed north to Rick's On The River. The weather was a little chilly but beautiful and the bay was a light chop that we could easily manage. The cruise up the Hillsborough River was beautiful and the Philly Cheesesteak at Rick's was one of the best I've had since being in Florida but having moved here from the Philly area it's far from a "Philly". Pat's or Geno's needs to open a shop down here. Regardless, we will definitely be making the trip to Rick's again.

For the two problems with the boat... My wife asked about the water temperature and the Garmin, whose transducer is in the bilge, was reading 104 degrees. Knowing that's at least 30 degrees higher than the actual water temp I figured that I have hot water getting in the bilge and the automatic float switch wasn't working. Replaced the hose going from the top of the water pump to the thermostat housing to fix the hot water issue and found that I ran two 14/2 to the bilge pump. Red and yellow for the dash switch and ground and red/yellow for the float switch BUT while I connected the red to the float switch I connected yellow to the fuse block. DUH!

All in all it we had a great time on the boat and now we have a ton of great places to check out and keep us busy until the water warms up enough to get wet. THANK YOU!
 

cptbill

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
732
Bradenton beach marina is one of our favorites,( free beach trolley). we leave out of Hudson FL and like to go to Fisherman's village in Charlotte harbor, Madeira beach is another favorite, and when your wife feels better try the FL loop, that's an interesting adventure
 

TBarCYa

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
781
FL Loop? That's definitely got my interest! I did a quick search and it looks like a fun trip. We have been talking about heading to Key West and maybe after we've conquered that trip we'll try the loop.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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Messages
47,297
can always run down to Sanibel/Captiva/Cabbage Key area on a calm day.

plenty of places in Sarasota Bay area to pull up for food

Finleys in Largo has really good "Finley" cheese steaks...

if you like Beer, you have to drive to Rapp Brewery
 

DeepCMark58A

Commander
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Aug 17, 2015
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Decided tonight to head down after Christmas for a charter fishing trip and some kayak wade fishing. Can not go down without going to Skinnys place.
 

cptbill

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Oct 6, 2012
Messages
732
80 mile run from key west to napels is really the only place the weather might play a role, every thing else can be done in protected water
 

DeepCMark58A

Commander
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Aug 17, 2015
Messages
2,030
Skinny's place on Anna Maria Island, Florida. Best place to get a burger and a beer, it is just a little dive but it is a nice dive.
 

cptbill

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
732
OH Yea, that's the little dive (more like a shack) been there docked at Bradenton beach marina, used the free trolley, great burger
 
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