When thinking about a waterfront home purchase most mariners think of the water first and the home second. Our wives sometimes reverse that priority but to be happy both priorities have to be met, of course.
The majority of my customers that consider southwest Florida for a home purchase often think about Cape Coral as an option in addition to Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte and perhaps points north. Cost wise once you get outside of Cape Coral to the south and Port Charlotte to the north your price typically doubles, triples or more for a similar waterfront home. Big cities with the bigger names go with much bigger price tags. Their only plus is they have closer proximity to the beach. However, with the beach thing comes a lot of traffic, more crime and overall congestion.
For the sailor there are many considerations for the water aspect of buying a home. Navigation depths, bridge heights and channel widths are a few considerations in addition to canal depths and depths dockside at your home.
Cape Coral has many special considerations that should be examined. Let’s start with the easiest one to think about. 1) Bridge heights there may limit the larger sailboats with mast heights exceeding 60 feet. The longest bridge is the Sanibel Bridge connecting mainland with Sanibel. Water depths will have to evaluated on a case by case basis as canal depths vary greatly with some shoaling in spots that might make it less sailboat accessible. Open water navigation means staying between the markers as there are plenty of shallow water spots to be aware of.
The next consideration for the sail boater for Cape Coral is what’s known as the “Miserable Mile”. Owning a home in the cape means traveling the Caloosahatchee River. This term was coined back in the 70’s because a long stretch of the water has a very narrow channel with strong cross currents. Basically, from an area just west of a small island, “Picnic Island” past Shell Point at Marker 101. What makes this an especially difficult area to navigate is there is no room for error. Go on the outside of any channel marker and you can expect to instantly run aground. Sailboats or power boats go aground this way all the time and Tow Boat U.S. is always nearby to lend a hand at a hefty price!
In conjunction with the Miserable Mile is another stretch heading further into the Calooshatchee River. For the sailor this is not much of an issue because it is a Slow Zone with no wake and is actively enforced by marine police. For the power boater it makes them miserable because they have more than a mile to put-put along with many other boaters. This general area has one of the highest incidents of boating accidents in the state largely because of boating traffic is quite heavy. So, there are TWO Miserable Mile stretches in the Caloosahatchee River area depending on who you talk to. Sail boater versus power boater.
Punta Gorda: Quite a different story with navigation here. Sailors will find Charlotte Harbor (or better to think of it as Charlotte Bay as harbor implies a marina perhaps which there are none on the open waters or shores of Charlotte Harbor), a piece of cake to navigate. The harbor is a wide open space with no navigation features to be concerned about with only one exception. Nightime navigation. There are some piling areas on the harbor that are not lit which makes no sense. However, they are well marked on any chart and easy to spot on your chart plotter. Daytime navigation is easy! Only one significant underwater sandbar located off of green day maker 5, with 3 second flasher which marks the end of the sand bar off of Cape Haze Point.
Water depths are also not a problem in Charlotte Harbor. Most depths exceed 10 feet. The harbor with its exit into the Gulf of Mexico through Boca Grande Pass is well marked with no concerns for cross currents or narrow passages.
Charlotte Harbor also has the luxury of the harbor itself because it is a sailing destination. You do not need to go into the gulf to sail with ease. Just leave your home and enter the harbor and put your sails up!
