We just love dropping the hook in the Gasparilla Island/Boca Grande Basin anchorage. It’s a easy dinghy trip ashore to the county docks, and all the DELIGHTS (and there are MANY) of Boca Grand are only a two block walk away.
There are caveats to consider, however, First, there is a growing tongue of shoals on the outer entrance channel to be concerned with (though that is more a problem for those cruisers visiting otherwise wonderful Boca Grande Marina), and a number of resident craft take up quite a bit of the available space in the basin anchorage.
However, if you can get through the entrance cut, and can find space to drop the hook, it doesn’t get much better than this!

One of the nicest anchroages in SW Florida, or maybe anywhere, is Boca Grande. You enter from the bayside off of Charlotte Harbor. Then turn right into a sort of bayou. The water is thin at the turn but opens out to a nice anchorage. Drop your anchor in the middle and then back down and tie your stern to the mangroves.
There is a public dinghy dock opposite the mangroves. An easy 1/2 mile walk takes you to the cutsy town of Boca Grande with a few restaurants, a tiny grocery and a decent HW store.
David

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s Western Florida Anchorage Directory Listing For Boca Grande/Gasparilla Island Basin Anchorage