Thinking about trying to make a day trip to the salty water.
My starting point will be just North of San Antonio. So driving from SA, what is the best ramp to use that will put you on the water the fastest?
If it's not a good ramp or if it's in a sketchy area I don't want to launch there.

Not sure where you want to fish, but Cove Harbor south of Rock Port and Conn Brown in Aransas Pass are very good ramps. If you want to fish more north, then the State Park ramp at Goose Island is good also, just hav to pay the fee or have a park pass.

Charlies is halfway between Seadrift and Port O Connor, great ramp, good access to a lot of good water.

Like said above, it depends on where you want to fish. I have used Cove Harbor and Conn Brown, both good ramps. I usually go out of Conn Brown, good bait shops on the way there, and you can access Lydia Channel, Redfish Bay, run straight out to the Port Aransas Jetties if you like, a lot a choices on where to fish from there.

I've been on the salty water @ 3 times. 2 of those 3 I went with others that insisted that we jump out of the boat so that we can wade in water deep enough for my boat to drift away so I had to throw anchor.
I'm not interested in doing that.

So where do I want to fish, I don't know. I don't even know any of the areas mentioned above.
What I do know is that my boat has an 80 gal fuel cell. So as long as I can hit the channel, I can probably scoot up or down the coast line as needed. Do I want to do that, I don't know.

Step 1 I guess is find where I want to drive to / launch at.
I'll look at those places mentioned on google maps. Thanks for the input.

Here use this to take a look around, it helps.

Navionics ChartViewer

If you are coming this weekend, you might want to check the weather forecast. San Antonio Bay doesn't hold much good water past about a 15mph wind, and it needs to lay down at night in order to clean up for the next day. Seadrift has a good ramp, but sits on the head of SA bay, so with a stiff ESE or SE wind it can be a rough 8-10 mile run to calmer fishing waters. I would say for this weekend and the forecast, save some runtime and launch out of Charlie's. If you would like to discuss a little further, feel free to call. Be safe, and release when possible, please.

Thank you for those tips.
I wasn't going to come this weekend. I don't have a date set in stone, but most likely, it will be once the weather is consistent at least for 7 - 10 days.
Part 2 of the trip will be getting use to navigation. And I don't want to do that in choppy water.

What boat are you running?
If you have a flats ready rig your choices are much larger.
If you’ve got a deep draft hull your choices are limited.

If your interested I run navigational trips out of Seadrift/POC. We take your boat, mark any hazards on the GPS, show you how to navigate safely to and from fishing areas. As well as discuss fishing strategies in these areas. If you would like more info, just give me a call. thanks

24ft Skeeter Bay
It is a bay boat but it's also a little heavy (like it's owner). Handles the deeper water really well.

I'll keep that in mind.
Thank you

You might seriously consider Nathans offer. One day of navigating training is 10X cheaper than fiberglass repair. Every productive area for fishing is also surrounded by a lot of trouble. Especially with a V hulled big boat.

Knowing how to get into and especially OUT of these places usually takes month/years of mistakes.

Aransas and Corpus Christi bays are deep and very accessible with your boat. Lots of place to anchor or drift fish. Much of the area north of Aransas to Port O’Connor is pretty treacherous, with lots of shallow water and reefs. Never launched out of Seadrift, but I have heard that is risky without experience and a shallow draft boat.