Florida Boaters - How do you Boat??

[jawsf16]

Okay Florida Jetboaters, I am curious how y'all use your boats on the ocean. There is still a small chance of us relocating to the Tampa or Fort Meyers or Destin or Panama City area after I retire from the military. It seems there really aren't any inland lakes that I could find in those areas. We currently boat on Lake Texoma most of the time which has deep water and beaches and islands and marinas with decent food choices. All in one location. What it doesn't have is super clear water, white beaches, and warm weather year round. These three things keep drawing us to Florida. Obviously the panhandle areas can get pretty cold in the winter at times.... also we like wake surfing and towable sports.

So how do you use your jet boats there? Always in the ICW, always on the gulf open water, can you dock up on any public type beaches you want, are there sandbars to hang out on, etc, etc? Is wake surfing reasonable or is the wind always blowing? Also where do you keep your boats? It seems a marina would be ideal but obviously the cleaning is more significant for salt water. Any thoughts you have would be great for this salt water/Florida clueless guy.

Thanks!

 

[ToddW850]

We have the best of all the worlds here in the Panhandle of Florida.

Let's see if I can answer all your questions. I keep my boat at my house in my driveway unfortunately. But that helps with me being able to keep it so clean.

We boat in the bay, bayous, ICW, and Gulf. Wakeboarding in the bayous mainly but you can in the bay when it's not rough. Look up Poquito Bayou and Rocky Bayou. We tube in all the locations except ICW. But there's nothing like cruising around in the Gulf and snorkeling and see all the marine life. We see dolphins every time we go out.

As far as sandbars to hang out, we have Crab Island here in Destin. Guys over in Panama City have Shell Island. @Wayloncle and @Big Shasta can comment on those. We also have an area called Okaloosa Island and you have about 5-6 miles of beaches to pull up to. Usually no one near you for hundreds of yards.

As far as the winters, yes it gets cold here. Below freezing if you can believe it. We had snow and freezing rain last year. But it warms up quick.

I could go on and on about the benefits here.

Here is Crab Island. It's knee to waste deep throughout.





Let me know if I can answer any other questions.

 

[ToddW850]

Also, here is a thread I started this past November 2014. It has more pics.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/benefits-of-living-in-florida-destin.4008/page-2

 

[Wayloncle]

This beach is available from the pass to How ever far you want to boat, park anywhere you want. Not always quite that smooth though.
These are a few reasons I'd rather stay here for a few more years instead of moving to San Antonio in a couple months:-/

 

[txav8r]

Are you going to commute @jawsf16 ? You guys have an Orlando base? I get the desire, I just can't deal with the commute...just too much time away from home. Glad you asked the questions, because the answers are worth reading!

 

[jawsf16]

Are you going to commute @jawsf16 ? You guys have an Orlando base? I get the desire, I just can't deal with the commute...just too much time away from home. Glad you asked the questions, because the answers are worth reading!

Just gathering data. Still have a couple of years and we are 97% sure we will move to way North Dallas, i.e. Prosper/Celina area and keep boating at Texoma. I am constantly intrigued by year round, clear water boating though. We went to Tampa last year at spring break and Disney in May and really loved the area. Orlando is pretty senior, probably looking at Gulf Coast side and a commute to work if we did it.

Hard to argue with pictures of dolphins in clear water!!

Please keep the info/advice coming fellas.

 

[ToddW850]

@Wayloncle one upped me haha. Here are a few screenshots off my GoPro video. I got some great video last year and still need to put my summer video together.

My favorite one is of the Dolphin going by our boat and stops to look at my GoPro.











Headed toward the East Pass to get into the Gulf




Just got done snorkeling in the Gulf. Guess you could call this a selfie....

 

[Wayloncle]

@Wayloncle one upped me haha. Here are a few screenshots off my GoPro video. I got some great video last year and still need to put my summer video together.

My favorite one is of the Dolphin going by our boat and stops to look at my GoPro.


View attachment 20518


View attachment 20519


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Headed toward the East Pass to get into the Gulf

View attachment 20521


Just got done snorkeling in the Gulf. Guess you could call this a selfie....


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I can't beat that! The one looking at the camera is hilarious...should be some Meme!

 

[ToddW850]

I can't beat that! The one looking at the camera is hilarious...should be some Meme!

Haha, that's a good idea. Will have to come up with something.

 

[smthng]

Going to resurrect this thread because I'm bored and waiting for stuff to finish at the office...

I have the luxury of both fresh and salt water where I am.

Our "fresh" is the St. Johns River. It's black... can't see more than a foot deep. Fortunately, it's usually calm and has lots of little coves and tributaries up near us. If I only have a couple hours, or the weather isn't great, I'll hit the river (it's close). If I have a full day and don't feel like trailering to the intracoastal, I'll end up tooling around in the morning, finding a sandbar or cove we can anchor and swim in, then finding a riverside restaurant, then back to the ramp for cleanup.

Our salt is far more interesting, IMO... We generally run the intracoastal far enough to get away from people, then anchor for food, swimming, beachcombing, exploring, whatever. We can almost always find a beach, sandbar, historic park or somewhere interesting to chill out. We'll probably tackle some form of boat camping in a few months when we've worked all the kinks out of the new boat.

 

[cane.mba]

 

[RiverRat]

 

[jfkraus]

View attachment 20519

Dude, you got photo-bombed by a dolphin!