ICW

[ewosbor]

Looking for some feedback on cruising the ICW. My wife and I are planning to take our CP27 to Florida next fall.  Our boat is currently on the Middle River on the Chesapeake. This gives us just over a year to plan.

[breeze]

St. Augustine is a grate place to spend some time.
You can stay on a mooring or dock in front of the town and in site of the fort.
There are many restaurants and shops to go to in easy walking distance.
It is one of my favorite places to go to for a long weekend, I live in Daytona Beach.
To the south is Mosquito Lagoon grate fishing, shrimping and clamming.
The channel is deep and well marked but it can get shallow outside the markers.
Titusville and Canaveral is nice also, I don't think there is a bad place to stop at any place on the East cost.
David

[InertBert]

I went from Tampa to Cape Hatteras in a trawler a few years back.  Navigation was a breeze, there were plenty of ancorages and marinas.  We never felt like we had a day that really stretched our range and we made a pretty slow pace.  Although, I have been caught outside of the ICW near Ft. Lauderdale/Boca Raton and found myself cursing the endless beach.

Savannah, Charleston, and Jacksonville are also cool old cities to stop in along the way.  The Bahamas are a long day's sail off of Jupiter if you are interested in that.  I can say that the whole trip was very safe and comfortable, with enough ports to get out of the storms, and friendly and accommodating people along the way.

[Craig]

Ditto St. Augie! Great place! Also Charleston & Savannah.

[Steady1]

Ahoy on Middle River!  Your plan to head south next fall is one we share.  We're thinking we'll be in Norfolk no later than Halloween.  Right now, our CP27/2 is on the hard in Deltaville, at the mouth of the Rappahannock, as we get her ready for the spring-summer.  In June of '12, I took her up the coast to Maine, mostly on my own.  This year, my wife wants to go, too!  We hope to shove off as the weather warms, maybe mid-May; take our time to make some new-to-us harbors going up the Bay; then head for New England.  We'll time our return trip to be back here first of October, do a quick haul and engine service, then get going.

We've never been farther south on the ICW than Alligator River, NC.  It'll be interesting.  The way it's been here this winter, we're thinking Florida's the place to be come next December.  Hope to see you along the way!

Fair winds!

Bill
Steadfast

[BruceW]

The cruises sound cool. I have my CP 23 in New Bern, and a great sail for me is to go to Oriental, which yawl will pass on your route. I think it would be cool for some of us locals to meet up when you come through, so I hope you will post your progress somewhere.

I've never really taken a cruise further than an overnight trip to Cape Lookout; by the way, when you get to Beaufort, NC,  that would be a cool side trip.

Bruce

[Steady1]

Thanks, Bruce.  We know a couple in Oriental and have in mind stopping there, for sure.  I'm trying to build a website as a place to post regular up-dates.  Once we're reasonably confident that it's up and running--I am not facile with this stuff--I'll post something in here and anyone interested can check in.

Be well!

Bill

[atrometer]

Went from Lake Champlain, NY on our new Catalina 34 (a number of years ago) to Marathon, FL; then up the FL west coast to Fort Myers, FL.  FANTASTIC time, great restaurants, VERY nice helpful people, good marinas, good anchorages (see Cap'n Bobs) well marked route, trip of a lifetime!!!  You'll love it.

[ewosbor]

We've set a date, Sept 1, 2014 to start down to Norfolk and then down the ICW to North Palm Beach.  We are planning on 6 weeks.  Two questions for the experts, 1) is that too early and 2) is six weeks enough time. 

In preparation of the trip we have been sailing all around the upper Chesapeake (Sassafras, Susquehanna and Worton Creek) and last week we spent two night at Inner Harbor East Marina in downtown Baltimore.

[atrometer]

We've set a date, Sept 1, 2014 to start down to Norfolk and then down the ICW to North Palm Beach.  We are planning on 6 weeks.  Two questions for the experts, 1) is that too early and 2) is six weeks enough time. 

In preparation of the trip we have been sailing all around the upper Chesapeake (Sassafras, Susquehanna and Worton Creek) and last week we spent two night at Inner Harbor East Marina in downtown Baltimore.

Yes and Yes! We made the same trip from Lake Champlain to Marathon.  We took 8 weeks and some people said we were leaving the Chesapeake.  When we saw them later they were talking about wearing coats, gloves, etc. - not my idea of fun.

[ChuckO]

Ahoy !  I can't speak for all passages in the ICW, But I live in Charleston, SC and the ICW continues to become more shallow as it fills with silt from the many tidal creeks that feed into it.  Talk continues about deepening the water way, but funding never seems to be there AND environmental concerns are more prevalent.

The channel in the areas North of Charleston and South of Georgetown, SC is often quite narrow and shallow at low tide and during "snowbird" times seeing a sailboat on a sandbar awaiting the next high tide is not unusual.  So ... don't wonder outside the channel markers and pay very close attention to the helm during low tide.  Tha

In my WWP-15, which has a 3 ft draft with the swing keel down, I recently found myself grounded in the sand and glad I wasn't in a fixed keel boat at the time.

Chuck O'Morrow
CP-16 Carpe Diem
Charleston, SC

[PalmettoSailor]

Good places to stop for a bite (restaurants with docking) Southport (just past Wilmington, NC), Inlet View at the mouth of Shallotte River a little farther south; then Little River, North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach.

Surely you'll be hungry somewhere along that stretch. Just sayin'.

Enjoy!