[Rhodes22-list] Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte

[Robert Quinn]

Dave:  We made the same observation that it is taking a seemingly long time 
to get things cleaned up and going in the Punta Gorda area.  Also note that 
although you drove the 15 or so miles to the Burnt Store Marina, the sailing 
starts at the highway 41 (I think) bridge and goes all the way out to the 
cut at Boca Grande on Charlotte Harbor.  With an R22 you can even sail to 
the east of the bridge.

Burnt Store has become a big dollar enclave and only promises to get more 
so.

I was surprised to hear about a boat grounding going out the canal but with 
the storm anything is possible.  We were well tucked in in PGI and motored 
out through the canal system on the north side many times with no problems. 
Our current Tartan draws 4.3 with the board up.

As to the marina at the end of Punta Gorda, as you noted it has been closed 
for several years.  The area there is a big tourist area with restaurants 
and shops.  I believe a few tour boats still ply out of there but the winter 
tie up boats have not been there is a couple of years.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: <DCLewis1 at aol.com>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 05, 2006 2:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte



Julie, Bob, and Ed,

Thanks for your responses re the PG/PC sailing area.

Julie: I think we’re in agreement.  The area down by Burnt Stores  Marina
seems to be an active sailing area.  My focus was PG/PC per se and  we didn’t 
see
anything there.  Also, fwiw, as we drove down Burnt Store  Road, to get to
Burnt Store Marina, we saw a huge amount of land clearing.   I gather the 
plan
is to widen that road substantially ( I think the CoC lady  said 4 lanes) 
and
build hotels, resorts, and condos on each side of the  road.  It’s going to 
get
very crowded.

Bob: We did visit Punta Gorda Isle, that’s where we saw the one boat motor
out of a canal, appear to run aground, and return to the canal.  Like you, 
we
saw bunches of sailboats, and power boats, behind a the houses on  canals -
but we didn’t see any on the water.  And we know the marina  was closed.  It
could be that the bigger boats are locked in until the  harbor is dredged.
Clearly, we might have just hit a bad time - although I  can’t imagine why 
late Fri
morning and Fri aft in Feb would be a bad time in  PG/PC, but it could be. 
I’
m just curious, if that were a Fri aft on the  Chesapeake in high summer
there would have been a small fleet out there.  I  may touch base with Tim 
Gower,
as you suggested, but clearly, the PG marina is  closed, and if the PG CoC
lady is vectoring visitors out of town there’s a  problem.

Ed: I caught your drift.  We plan to swing through the lakes.   One problem
with the inland lake environment is that temperature is much more  variable.
It can get cold.  Also, some lake areas are sort of  isolated, we'd like to
have easy access to Class A health care facilities,  etc.  But lakes are on 
our
list.

Incidentally, you suggested Amelia Island in an earlier post.  We  checked
that out.  My impression is that area is pretty much a delta.   Often VERY
shallow water except for canals that boats use for  ingress/egress.  There 
is
likely good sailing off-shore, but it may take a  couple miles passage 
through
canals to get there.  Also, there is the  Nassau river (I think that was the 
name)
that looked pretty good, but it’s a  commercial shipping venue.  Finally,
there is a smallish (~ 6mi) area up  around Brunswick that’s open water, but
again there are those narrow dredged  sailing canals to deal with.  My sense 
is
there is better sailing  elsewhere.

Our trip was interesting.  I think our bottom line with PG/PC was  there is
good sailing, but it’s about 10 to 15 mi south of PG/PC around the  Burnt 
Store
Marina area, not immediately adjacent to PG/PC.  Also, there is  a lot of
development going into the area - even as older buildings damaged in  the 
last
hurricane haven't been refurbished or torn down.

Dave
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