Marinas within a few hours of Orlando ?

[SVlagniappe]

Looks like we're moving from South Texas to the Orlando area. We'll be wanting to move the boat to a marina (probably on the gulf coast) that is within a few hour drive of the orlando area. I'm thinking gulf coast now, maybe the atlantic coast in a year or two for a change.

Any marinas that any of you would recommend? Storm protection is important, but I'd like to be able to get out in the gulf fairly quickly. It's a 5 hour sail/motor for us here, so we rarely do it...

Thanks in advance...

[billangiep]

Steve, you might try Sterling Marina?
Located in Hernando county on the gulf, about 30 min. motor to open water.
Sterling Marina - Google Maps

[MarioG]

Hey Steve you want the St Petersburg area, the inlet at John's Pass would be a great place to start (Maderia beach area is where I want to be so save me a spot when you get there. Its easy to jump on interstate 4 and be in Orlando in an hour or less. sorry I don't know the name of the Marina at Grundy beach, but its a very nice and protected and the people are great.

Hope this helps

[imagine2frolic]

Depends on the kind of sailing you will be doing. If you will be doing weeks at a time? You might want to consider the east coast? The reason being the Bahamas, and how close they are.

If it were me, and I was still doing the 9-5. I would keep the boat on the west coast. Although I have never sailed the gulf. To me the east coast is much more pleasant to the eye........i2f

[svHyLyte]

You might want to look at The Harborage Marina We have visited this marina several times and have been impressed with the facilities. The slip holders we have spoken with speak well of the management. And, the location is excellant for sailing Tampa Bay and points south.

FWIW...

[SVlagniappe]

One of the things we want is to be able to spend weekends on the hook regularly. Just from looking at maps and ActiveCaptain - The Interactive Cruising Guidebook - Marina Reviews, Fuel Prices, Anchorages, it looks like there's more of that available on the gulf coast. Am I right about that? St. Augustine looks really nice, but are there places within a couple hours of there to anchor?

Cape Canaveral looks promising too, and it seems I do remember hearing of anchorages near there (to watch shuttle launches).

We're headed down next week, and will take one day to look on the atlantic coast, and another to look at the gulf coast.

Any more recommendations would be welcome!

[xort]

what is your draft?

[SVlagniappe]

5' 7"...

[sailingdog]

Try Regatta Pointe Marina

My friends live there and love it. About 13 nm from open gulf of mexico, but distance to tampa bay is half that

[night0wl]

Its a Beneteau 423, so its either a 5'7" normal (shoal) draft...or 6'11" performance deep draft. More than likely its the 5'7" because very few of the Beneteau series go with the performance keel...most buyers will go for the First series at that point.

Even with the shoal draft, 5'7" is tough on the Gulf Coast.