GL: FL Panhandle to FL West Coast

[veiner@juno.com]

There may be a tad of exaggeration in the statement that the ports on
the rim route are only 50 miles apart. That may be true as the crow
flies, but a trawler drawing 4' cannot go where the crow goes, so let
me tell you the rest of the story.

I heartily agree that if you want to travel leisurely, and have the
time to cross the gulf by taking the longer (and safer) route, than by
all means do so. The majority of cruisers tend to go straight across
from Apalachicola to Tarpon Springs, which involves an overnight crossing.

Instead, I suggest this. Stop and visit Apalachicola. Make sure you
sample the food at Boss Oysters. Cruise next to Carabelle, and walk the
town. Also has a couple of good restaurants, as well as the smallest
police station in the US.

Next port in St. Marks. You can anchor out near the yacht club, or stop
 and tie up at Shields Marina. This will be a 60 mile leg, but the
channel into St. Marks is 9 miles long, so you will be adding an
additional 18 miles to your trip.

>From St. Marks, head for the Yankeetown/Crystal River channel. Suggest
you skip Cedar Key because of low water depths and the channels along
the west side of the FL peninsula all head SW/NE, requiring a lot of
extra travel to get to them. Anchor near the power plant. It's a long
ride into the secondary Yankeetown channel, but it is a beautiful ride.
 However, the approach to Crystal River is nearly due west, so you
aren't going miles out of your way. If it is calm, you can anchor for
the evening around marker 19, and get an early start for Tarpon Springs.

>From there, it is an easy, safe sail to Anclote Key, or inside to the
Tarpon River. You can anchor by the power plant canal if it is too
rough outside. Beware of this location on a weekend. You will have
hundreds of small boats rocking you constantly. Suggest this anchorage
during the week only. Take time to go into Tarpon and sample some of
the excellent Greek food. I particular recommend Plaka Restaurant for
the best souvlaki and Greek salad you will ever have (about$25 for
two!). You can tell I have been reading Claiborne Young's guides when I
start waxing eloquent over a places restaurants!

Right outside of Anclote, you pick up the GICW again and are
essentially in protected waters. That's how I would do it. Martin Veiner
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