What to expect on the Two Day Charlotte Harbor Cruise
When I first came to Southwest Florida, I put my boat, Magic Wind, at Burnt Store Marina in Charlotte Harbor. I sailed that harbor several times a week that season and fell in love with it. I'd love to take you there.
Sailing to Charlotte Harbor from Fort Myers Beach is truly a fun sail. It takes about 10 hours to sail to Burnt Store Marina and we get some pretty good sailing in.
We will leave pretty early in the morning and head out Matanzas Pass out into the Gulf of Mexico. Since there is a shoal that heads south from Sanibel Island so we will head south for a while, round the shoal and then head west. Once past Sanibel, we will head north north west up to the Boca Grand Pass. When we enter the pass we will sail past the Gasparilla Lighthouse on our port side. At that point we have another 10 miles to go due east, across Charlotte Harbor to Burnt Store Marina.
Once we enter the luxury marina, we will put into a slip for the night. You will have the option of letting me cook dinner, which is a pretty good idea since I'm a heck of a cook, or you can have dinner at Portabello's Restaurant right at the marina.
After dinner you can walk the docks and see some incredible boats, sit on deck and enjoy the night or play some boat games and just kick back. I'll check the weather and tides for our sail the next day.
In the morning, we will head out about 0800 and sail across Charlotte Harbor to the Intracoastal Waterway and head south. If time and weather permits, we can stop off at Cabbage Key for a quick lunch and walk on their nature path. After lunch we will continue south to pass several islands to pass through the Sanibel Causeway Bridge back into the Gulf of Mexico for our last leg to Salty Sam's Marina to finish our voyage.
This cruise packs a lot of sea time and you get to see the "outside" as well as the "inside" passage to this great cruising ground. All this will do is wet your whistle to book more time in Charlotte Harbor for your next cruise.