Indian Pass Fl
Headed to Indian Pass for Memorial Day weekend. Will be staying at the campground there. It was the last campsite I could find. Seems that campground is short amenities, but if it has power, water, an...
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Well, we survived Indian Pass. Great fishing location. Unfortunately, we were looking for more of some day destinations with the boat and nice beaches. The no seeums, biting flies, mud and dark water really put a damper on family fun. We headed out of the pass on Friday, hit the big sand bar that curves from the WMA island way out into the pass. Got off that ok with no damage and then headed west along the peninsula. Found a decent sand bar and anchored up on it. The kids enjoyed looking for shells and running up and down the sand bar. At least until the alligator showed up. I have never heard of an American Alligator inhabiting the Gulf of Mexico, but we saw it on Friday. It was about 8-10 ft long and came out of the sea oats on the beach. Then it came down into the water and swam around for a while before heading back up the beach. Pretty wild. Needless to say, that destination was finished for the trip. We pulled the boat out on Saturday morning, figured there wasn't much around there to go see and too much chance of running aground on an oyster bar.
We headed toward Mexico Beach with the boat in tow. The bay water out from Mexico Beach seemed pretty rough from the boats that were out there. Looked like most of them were getting rocked pretty hard. We stayed on the beach for a while but then I decided to put the boat in at Port St Joe. That was the best decision of the weekend. We headed across the bay to Cape San Blas and finally got in some smooth, clear water. The kids loved it, the wife loved it, and I was happy. The trip back Saturday evening had some pretty sizeable swells for the bay. I have no idea how to judge them, but I have a 26' boat and they were tossing it pretty good. That whole following sea thing is just plain weird feeling. If I got up on top of it we could run about 26-35 without issues, any slower and it seemed the boat was surfing and pitching. Didn't have any issues going out. I actually ran about 40 for a while and the ride was pretty smooth. The old Mariner does suck down the fuel at that speed so I backed it down to a little more cruiser friendly 25.
The campsites are set up for tents or under 30' rigs. I had to pull in to the site forward, unhook and then drive down an embankment onto the beach in order to get close enough to the utilities to hook up. Without 4x4 I would have never made it.
Anyway, just wanted to add the after trip report.
We headed toward Mexico Beach with the boat in tow. The bay water out from Mexico Beach seemed pretty rough from the boats that were out there. Looked like most of them were getting rocked pretty hard. We stayed on the beach for a while but then I decided to put the boat in at Port St Joe. That was the best decision of the weekend. We headed across the bay to Cape San Blas and finally got in some smooth, clear water. The kids loved it, the wife loved it, and I was happy. The trip back Saturday evening had some pretty sizeable swells for the bay. I have no idea how to judge them, but I have a 26' boat and they were tossing it pretty good. That whole following sea thing is just plain weird feeling. If I got up on top of it we could run about 26-35 without issues, any slower and it seemed the boat was surfing and pitching. Didn't have any issues going out. I actually ran about 40 for a while and the ride was pretty smooth. The old Mariner does suck down the fuel at that speed so I backed it down to a little more cruiser friendly 25.
The campsites are set up for tents or under 30' rigs. I had to pull in to the site forward, unhook and then drive down an embankment onto the beach in order to get close enough to the utilities to hook up. Without 4x4 I would have never made it.
Anyway, just wanted to add the after trip report.
