Re: Taking my boat on vacation?
I grew up on the Southern side of Tampa Bay (Anna Maria Island) and a 15' boat will be fine on most days. Being a boater you know to use good judgement. I will say the open waters of Tampa Bay is no place for a small boat when the wind blows. The chop on the bay is often far worse than it is in the Gulf. I have seen days when we opted to go out in the Gulf because the bay was just too rough, it all depends on the wind and wind direction.
A couple of things to watch for that have not been brought up by others. Even in a small boat stay in the channels, due to the tides there are a lot of shoals and shallow flats that can stop your boat like a brick wall. Also if you are going to dock your boat and leave it in the water for a week you will spend the next few days when you get home scraping barnicles. It only takes about a week for them to start growing on your hull. After a week they won't be much larger than grains of sand but you will not like what you see.
Enough of the negatives, you'll have a great time. Just on the south side of the bay there are so many different bodies of water. Within 10 minutes of each other you have Tampa Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, Terra Ciea Bay, The Manatee river, Sarasota Bay, Palma Sola Bay and many others. The fishing is awesome, snook, trout, redfish, sharks and tarpon are probably the most common species targeted. Just be aware of the regulations, especially on snook and redfish. The regulations change from season to season, even the locals are sometimes confused over what is a legal fish. If you have time you will want to take a day trip out to Egmont Key. There is a bunch of old forts and military bunkers out there from the late 1800s to early 1900s. The gulf has swallowed up a lot of it but it is still a pretty neat place.
