Time to open water from Palm City to Pt. St. Lucie inlet? (Stuart: to rent)

[SJNE17]

For those in the know: about how far is it and what's the average amount of time (at, say, 20 knots) from Palm City's Bessie Creek/Hidden River area to the Port Saint Lucie inlet?

Thank you.

[City Guy997S]

It's called the St Lucie Inlet (no Port). You will have a delay at the Dixie Hwy/train bridge if you have anything bigger than a small center console so that might slow you down. Some of that distance you travel is no wake/slow wake areas also.

I'd be shocked if you could be in the ocean in less than 30 minutes from Bessey Creek area.

[SJNE17]

Thanks very much.

Wife and I are looking in the area and boating is a part of the lifestyle equation. I'm not worried about 30 min. to Atlantic, as depending on weather and water conditions I'd probably spent most of time around the St. Lucie River and up/down the intracoastal cruising & fishing.

Will be visiting this winter and look to rent a boat to explore the river and intracoastal. I'd appreciate any tips on the area. I presume from Sewall's Point up to Ft. Pierce inlet you can run wide open for the most part on intracoastal?

[Cryinsham30]

IF you are familiar with the navigation markers here is a link to the web navionics app. may help you determine what areas are low/no wake etc.

Navionics Webapp

[SJNE17]

very cool app!

i'll tinker with this.

thanks for the link.

Originally Posted by Cryinsham30

IF you are familiar with the navigation markers here is a link to the web navionics app. may help you determine what areas are low/no wake etc.

Navionics Webapp

[Cryinsham30]

Originally Posted by SJNE17

very cool app!

i'll tinker with this.

thanks for the link.

Yup, keeps me busy for hours and I am still in Oklahoma for 10 more days

[SJNE17]

no kidding.

i looked up a couple of areas i'm sorta familiar with, and that gave me some reference as to how to interpret it.

am very much a novice when it comes to charts.

Originally Posted by Cryinsham30

Yup, keeps me busy for hours and I am still in Oklahoma for 10 more days

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by SJNE17

Thanks very much.

Wife and I are looking in the area and boating is a part of the lifestyle equation. I'm not worried about 30 min. to Atlantic, as depending on weather and water conditions I'd probably spent most of time around the St. Lucie River and up/down the intracoastal cruising & fishing.

Will be visiting this winter and look to rent a boat to explore the river and intracoastal. I'd appreciate any tips on the area. I presume from Sewall's Point up to Ft. Pierce inlet you can run wide open for the most part on intracoastal?

Keep the "all aboard Florida" issue in mind. They are looking to run extra trains on the east coast, this affects boaters in Stuart area because of the railroad bridge at Dixie Highway. It is a very low bridge and if the trains start service it will close the rail road bridge for 40 minutes every hour creating a huge bottleneck of boaters going east/west under the bridge. On a busy day you might have to endure a long wait to go back/forth.

Also with the wake zones, keep the manatees in mind. Winters = manatees in the area due to warmer water so some zones slow down in the winter months.

[SJNE17]

Duly noted. Thanks a bunch.

It's details like that that are very helpful.

It would, in a word, suck, to come down there & rent a boat for an afternoon, and end up waiting a combined 2 hours at a bridge (back & forth) to pass.

As for wake zones, I always follow the appropriate signage, that's never an issue.

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

Keep the "all aboard Florida" issue in mind. They are looking to run extra trains on the east coast, this affects boaters in Stuart area because of the railroad bridge at Dixie Highway. It is a very low bridge and if the trains start service it will close the rail road bridge for 40 minutes every hour creating a huge bottleneck of boaters going east/west under the bridge. On a busy day you might have to endure a long wait to go back/forth.

Also with the wake zones, keep the manatees in mind. Winters = manatees in the area due to warmer water so some zones slow down in the winter months.