Hi LG,

I guess it will depend on the weather, but you should typically have no trouble anywhere in this area in a 21ft boat. I drive a 21ft boat and travel all over Tampa Bay without any problems. The calmest sides of Shell Key are the north and south ends of the island. The Gulf Side (west) is a little rougher and shallower with more sandbars.

Hope this helps!

I’m a new member of Carefree boat club and boat out of Tarpon Springs where I’ve been boating around Anclote Key for 20 years.

But I’ll be in St-Pete Beach for a day and I’d like to try the club’s Maximo marina location and go to Shell Key from there. Unless there a sanbar closer to anchor down safely???

So I’ll be heading out south through Boca Ciega Bay and make my way to Pass-a-grill channel and follow that to the north side of Shell Key.

Are the waters calm in this area to get to the sandbar up close with a 21 ft Stingray bowrider?

Thanks.

Hi Mishelle,

Apollo beach is about 16-18 miles away as the crow flies – so timing would depend on your speed. At 16 knots, it would take about an hour to get to Shell Key. There are no docks on Shell Key. You should be prepared to anchor your boat off the beach (best spot is along the south side of the island at Bunces Pass) and wade to shore. If you have a very small boat you can beach it, but keep an eye on the tides.

Hope this helps!

Hi Julie,

Absolutely – you can fish anywhere in the preserve waters with a paddleboard.

Have fun!

Is it legal to fish from a paddle board also? Interested in taking my son for overnight stay and fishing.

Hi Philip,

Yep – Since the Bunces Pass channel is so close to the south shore of the island, that area remains consistently deep – right up close to the shore. With a 2.5ft draft, you should be fine just about anywhere along that shore. The current Google Satellite view is a pretty good representation of the current conditions – with lighter areas being potentially shallow. The concave shoreline in this area seems to be the sweet spot – since it’s plenty deep – and also somewhat protected from wind and waves coming from the Gulf. The Bunces Pass channel itself is well marked. The makers on the north side might be a bit close to the shallow preserve waters, but you should have no problem staying out of trouble because the channel is very wide. The only place to be careful is on the gulf side of the pass. If you are coming into the pass from the gulf, there are sandbars to the north and south of the the pass which are not thoroughly marked (see the images above on this page marked with red exclamations). Just be carefull to spot the markers in the gulf and keep them in sight on your way in. Once you get near the island everything is clear and well marked.

I definitely recommend a bow and stern anchor for shoreline camping. I like to be at a slight angle to the shore (not perfectly perpendicular) to accommodate incoming and outgoing tides – which can be strong in that area. I drop my bow anchor on the way in and then back up toward shore and bring my stern anchor to the beach.

Hope this helps!

Philip

Interesting. I checked historic aerials from 2017 and you can see the research station and dock on “Panama Island” in Shell Key. I believe a fire destroyed it a few years ago.

Hi Tarie,

It is true that it’s possible to wade or even walk onto the island from the mainland. However, it is technically forbidden to get to the island this way. The fact that the island has recently connected to the mainland is a highly contentious issue with some people blaming mismanagement of the tidal areas and channels. There is currently an argument being made that the landbridge must be dredged out in order for the county to be in compliance with the state lease of the land. Here is a very detailed analysis of the situation.