For those who have never ventured north of Clearwater and Anclote Key on the Western Florida shoreline, be advised there is NO protected intracoastal waterway that serves this section of the Florida coastline. So, to cross this section, a basic choice must be made. You can either cut the corner and head straight for Carrabelle and Dog Island (or Apalachicola, or Panama City), or you can follow the Big Bend coastline around, staying SEVERAL miles offshore to avoid the huge shelf of shallows that extend out into the Gulf’s waters in this region. The former route puts you well out to sea (or “Gulf” in this case), and is often undertaken at night by southbounders to avoid arriving at the crab pot infested waters near Anclote Key after dark. If bad weather threatens, you may be out of luck.
The nearer shore, or, as it’s often called, “Big Bend Route” has the advantage of allowing mariners to duck in to the various rivers which penetrate this section of the Sunshine State’s coastline, but all of these have long, sometimes tortuous entrance channels, and none are what could accurately be described as “deep.”
Get four experienced cruisers together to talk about crossing the Big Bend, and you will get at least five opinions, maybe six. So, in that vein, below is an exchange which originally appeared on the GL (Great Loop) mail list.

You have to run out a few miles off shore before running up and down thecoast but otherwise, no special navigation issues are present. Back in the days before GPS and depth sounders, the long low coast was probably much more difficult to deal with. But with a chart plotter and keeping track of where you are on the charts, there is nothing particularly difficult. Cedar Key was the most complicated area and as long as you took your time and stayed in the channel, it wasn’t too difficult.
St Marks Channel is unlikely to be much help as a bail out point. It’s so far off the route, that it’s almost always closer to turn back or forge ahead. Unless the wind and waves left that as the only reasonable direction to travel, but with it being a daytime crossing, wait for a good weather window and it shouldn’t be a problem. Yes, the weather report isn’t always right, but waiting can minimize the chance of problems and it’s not a sin to turn back if it’s worse than expected.
Lose power off just about any coast and you may be in trouble. Assuming you are running in 6-8 ft of water, and conditions aren’t bad, it should be relatively simple to drop the hook and sort things out without running aground.
Unless you want to do an overnight run (or are fast enough to run to Tarpon Springs during daylight), I highly recommend the coastal route [Big Bend Route] for a nice look at what Florida used to look like before it got overbuilt.
Mike & Tammy
Valhalla II

I agree with you Mike. My boat only drafts three feet but it would not have been difficult with a deeper drafted boat. And, the rivers of the big bend should not be missed in my humble opinion. Steinhatchee (rhymes with bean) and St Marks were beautiful!! If I had to do it again I think I’d pass on Carrabelle and stay in Apalachicola. Something had taken the life/hope out of the people I met in Carrabelle (could have just been an off day for the locals).
Besides that it’s not hard navigating and since I was solo and on a slow boat it made sleeping easier!
Ken