Looking for a place to take my family to Florida to enjoy the white beaches & clear water of the gulf and hit a few snags!
It seems in March 2010 Navarre Beach has passed a new law called Leave No Trace this means you cannot leave items on the beach overnight beacause it could prevent sea turtles from laying thier eggs so everything must be removed from the beach by 7:00 pm.

I am will be seeking a new location the key for me is my family enjoying a nice beach and I could do some sailing but in Navarre it seems they only want you sailing the sound and I do not want to leave my family behind on our vacation so anyone have a suggestion of a place where my family & boat can share the same beach and I can leave my boat on the beach overnight?
Thanks,
Floyd

Dunedin is perfect.
we have over a dozen miles of protected bay area, access to the gulf, dozens of spoil island for lunch or camping (wear shoes on them).

We passed a law last year that with permit you can park for 2 nights (cat and trailer, not car or tent or people). The permits are not yet being issued (or asked for, please don't call them and ask.. we dont want to stir this pot, nor want to have to pay the $100 if we don't have to)

there have been no warnings or tickets issued.. and they promised warnings before tickets.


parking is tight on fri-sun so come early or plan to wait for a spot.

feel free to contact me for more info
also see
http://www.sailhoneymoon.com/

Andrew, Thanks for the reply but I am coming from Houston, TX so thats pretty far for me. I found out today that South Walton has ammended this rule and boats can be left overnight there so its only 30 miles east of Navare Beach so I think that might work for me. Anyone familiar with South Walton?

Hi Floyd,
S. Walton is a fine place to go. So is (PCB)Panama City Beach. It's been a while for me but they have camp grounds where you can keep a cat on the beach in PCB. At least they did 10 years ago. Dunedin is VERY shallow so if you have daggerboards and don't know where the oyster beds are, youre gonna be sorry.
Wesley

Quote

Dunedin is VERY shallow so if you have daggerboards and don't know where the oyster beds are, youre gonna be sorry.

I disagree. i have sailed here for over 10 years and NEVER hit an oyster or oyster-bed

At high tide you can sail just about anywhere. There are shallows at low tide that restrict you to the gulf or near the channel (almost no boat traffic during the week) if you dont know the area, but its not a big deal.

Don't get me wrong, Dunedin is a great place to sail and you can't beat Caladesi island. I have sailed there a number of times and youre right, at high tide you can point and shoot. However, Once while sailing my old G-Cat, a boat wake lifted me up and sat me down on my rudders breaking them off! I guess I sailed passed the high tide time limit.

ouch... well yes if you hit shallows hard... you break stuff..

i have lost rudders and castings to hard "landings" and i have peter-panned / capsized a few times when i hit bottom with my H-18 dagger-boards... but these were all operator errors (like sailing up to an island with the boards down, thinking i could fly a hull over the shallows)

I ended up booking Pensacola Beach at Regency Cabanas its right next to a road that beach patrol uses to drive onto the beach so I can just roll it onto the beach with my beach wheels and at night I can put my cat on the other side of the dunes hopefully I will not be ticketed. Also there are beach houses right next to that road so I may ask/pay someone to put my N5.5sl next to or in front of there beach house. I was also told that many of those gulf front beach houses are gone now so maybe I can just pull it up on one of the empty lots at night. I have to drive 45 minutes each way now so even if I have to break it down everynight to comply with the rules then I will still be 1 minute to the beach so it will be ok. Thanks guys!!!

I've sailed santa rosa sound for a few years, between pensacola and gulf breeze. if the wind is blowing hard, the sound has less brutal waves. there are several free launches, but what come to mind is a rental place located next to the Hooters and Bamboo Willie's daiquiri shop on Pensacola beach. that was my typical destination. They are on the water, and wet sailor friendly. Granted I have not been out there in 3 years blew a back stay and de-masted on a hella-windy day), but my relatives that live out there say things have been good.

lots of shallows to play around in, with minimal sea grass.

Wc
nacra5.7

I typically sail the gulf down near Galveston, Tx and really enjoy the rollers ocean sailing offers and you can run a beam reach forever in the open ocean! Thanks for the info WillSail!

10 mile going strong!

+1 10 Mile is my home port! I am hoping some of you guys can make it to Pensacola with me this year!