Cruising the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in 2008 on "Our Independence"
We traveled 1000 miles from the upper Chesapeake to St. Augustine Florida, following the waterways used by the early American settlers and traders.
You may jump to any of the following areas or continue to scroll through this adventure:
Overview - A quick look at the highlights of our trip
A new adventure begins – Kent Island, MD to Portsmouth, VA
The adventure continues – Portsmouth to Beaufort, NC
Cape Fear Storm tests us and the boat – Beaufort to Southport, NC
Pushing South – Southport to Fernandina Beach, FL
Our ports of call - A complete itinerary
This is a collection of emails (with some additions) sent to our friends during our trip.
Throughout this article, you can click on the thumbnail pictures to enlarge them.
Overview - Cruising the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway 2008
We spent a little over a month to travel 1000 miles from the northern Chesapeake to St. Augustine Florida, here are some of our thoughts and impressions.
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Before leaving the upper Chesapeake we explored Annapolis, St Michaels, Oxford, and Cambridge; all with a long and interesting history, and all with heavy ties to ships and the sea. We also spent a few days in Washington DC visiting the monuments and museums. My favorites are the Lincoln and Jefferson monuments and the Air & Space museum.
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The Intracoastal Waterway:
The Intracoastal Waterway of the east coast is a combination of rivers, streams, bays and sounds, and a few interconnecting canals. Our biggest surprise on the ICW was in the low country of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida; where the tidal marshes extend so far inland that the tributaries of one river often connect to the tributaries of next river. This allowed us, and travelers for the past hundreds of years, to travel from one town, down streams and rivers to their mouth, and then up other rivers and streams to where the flow direction changed, then down that stream to a river and so on, always working our way south. One minute you are going up stream, and a few minutes later you are going down stream. The flow in these streams is mostly tidal, but with a ten foot tide swing in these areas, that is a lot of water flowing back and forth four times a day as the tide changes.
Where the rivers and streams didn’t connect, canals have been built to link then. You may think that these canals came about much later in our nation’s history, yet many are quite old, one of these routes, the canal through the Dismal Swamp, was surveyed before the American Revolution by a young surveyor named George Washington.
These waterways provided the avenues for the early settlers and were the first trade routes. Using these same routes, we traveled from seaport to seaport and the scenery is much as it was back then. Where there is high ground and good access, the signs of modern civilization are everywhere, but much of the route bears few if any of these signs. Approaching these towns by water, as the early travelers did, is so much different than arriving by car and interstate. If you ever get a chance to see this part of the country by water, take it, it is well worth the time and effort.
The seaports of the east coast are where our country began. Many date back to the 1600s and 1700s, and many have preserved much of their heritage. Towns such as Jamestown, Portsmouth, Beaufort, Oriental, Southport, and Charleston come to mind. One seaport, Saint Augustine Florida, was founder in 1565. You can not travel through these areas and visit these towns without getting a rich history lesson.
One city in particular is worth mentioning, Charleston SC. The older portions of Charleston have been beautiful preserved and are well worth your time if you ever get a chance to visit.
Wildlife along these waterways is everywhere. We saw raccoons walking along the waters edge looking for lunch, unidentified furry creatures swimming across the streams, and alligators along the banks. Wild horses roam a number of the barrier islands, their ancestors survived ship wrecks on these shores hundreds of years earlier. We saw hundreds and hundreds of dolphins, many of which joined us for a while to race along side and to play and jump in our boat’s bow wave. The water was alive with schools of fish. Sometimes whole schools would burst from the surface as they fled some larger unseen predator lurking below. Pelicans and numerous other sea birds were everywhere, circling looking for food, diving for the catch, and then devouring their meal. The osprey is a more majestic and eagle like winged fisherman, and they have thousands of nests along these waterways and most nests had young upturned mouths waiting to be feed. Egrets of all kinds and even a few pink flamingos dotted the shores.
The Boat:
Much as we love sailing, we could not have sailed this route. Yes, the wind might have helped from time to time, but other propulsion was required. Our new (20 year old) boat performed great. It was far better than we had ever imagined, comfortable on the move and comfortable at rest. In the storm on the Cape Fear River she demonstrated her seaworthiness and stability. After this experience, we discussed at length how our previous boats would have faired in 80 mph winds and 1” hail. Our research and boat search paid off, we couldn’t be happier with our boat selection.
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Next Year:
Over New Years we spent a few weeks on the boat getting her ready for the 2009 cruise. Boats in saltwater require fresh bottom paint every year or two to discourage the growth of barnacles, etc. While there, we continued to explore St. Augustine and her beaches. St. Augustine was founded in 1565 and is the oldest lasting-settlement in North America. A unique Spanish fort, which once guarded her harbor, still stand on the shore.
For our 2009 cruise we plan to continue south from St Augustine, down the Florida coast to Marathon and Key West. We will watch the weather to see if Mother Nature will provide a weather window in which to cross to the Exuma island chain in the eastern Bahamas. Another destination of interest, just 60 miles from Marathon in the Florida Keys is the Cay Sal Banks (http://www.bootkeyharbor.com/CaySalInfo.htm), which is a beautiful and uninhabited portion of the Bahamas in the middle of the Gulf Stream, between the Keys and Cuba
Details of our cruise as seen through our Emails:
A new adventure begins, 6/8/08
Friends and fellow cruisers,
A new adventure begins, traveling south down the east coast’s bays, rivers, canals, and byways. We will be hopping between and stopping to explore many of the small seaports along the way. The new boat is ready and we are on our way. So to paraphrase Mark Twain, We throw off the bowlines; Left the safe harbor and are on our way to Explore, to Dream, and to Discover. After over a month of preparation, familiarization, and some site seeing in DC, Annapolis, and the Chesapeake, all was ready, the weather finally cooperated and with butterflies in our stomachs, we departed Kent Island or our journey south.
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The first day we traveled from Kent Island, north east of Annapolis, down the bay and up the Patuxent River to a harbor at the Solomons Island, which is just north of the mouth of the Potomac River. The second day we traveled past the mouth of the Potomac, a notorious area for steep and treacherous waves when the Potomac’s outgoing tidal flow meets incoming waves driven by a southeast wind. This day the winds were from the southeast, but light and the waves weren’t bad, so we traveled on down the bay, past the Potomac and the Rappahannock Rivers and up the Piankatank River to a harbor at Deltaville. (Where did they come up with these river names?) The four-mile trip up the Piankatank River was full of twists and turn around large shallows and sandbars, but with the GPS chartplotter and spotting the channel markers we made it into the harbor without a problem. The next morning was a different story, as we departed the dock in misty conditions, the fog rolled in and visibility went down to about a hundred feet. We had two things going for us, first the fact that the GPS leaves a Crumb Trail or track as we travel, so like Hansel and Gretel, we could follow our Crumb Trail back down the river, around the same twists and turns that we traveled on the way in. But we also needed our radar to find and avoid the other boats in the harbor and along the channel. With teamwork, we carefully twisted our way down the river and into the bay. Always an adventure! As the fog lifted at the mouth of the river, we were greeted by a good omen, a pair of dolphins playing off our bow. The visibility didn’t get better than a mile until about noon. Finally we left the Chesapeake and entered the huge harbor at Hampton Roads.
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Chesapeake lighthouses.
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Norfolk Navy Shipyards and the Elizabeth River
Actually this harbor just inside the mouth of the Chesapeake lies between the cities of Norfolk, Hampton, Portsmouth, and Chesapeake, Virginia. This port is a major Navy shipyard and commercial port, and is the largest and busiest port we have ever traveled through. To make things more interesting, we arrived in the middle of Harbor Fest, “The Party on the Water”. Large ships, small boats and everything in between were going everywhere. One interesting encounter was when we notice a tug towing a 50’ floating platform across the channel in front of us. No problem, we will just pass behind the platform. Wait, what is that moving bump in the water about a hundred feet behind the platform? And there is another bump, and another. Three hundred yards and a lot of bumps back is another tug tied to another floating platform. A submerged pipeline, used for dredging, connected the two platforms. The bumps were the connections between the sections of the submerged pipe. We encountered two of these pipe lines being moved across the channel.
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Finally we arrived at our destination for the day, Tidewater Yacht Marina, Portsmouth VA, on the west bank of the Elizabeth River across from Norfolk and in the heart of Harbor Fest. What a show, boats anchored and parked everywhere. Ferries run back and forth across the river so we viewed the attractions on both side of the river. Activities included tugboats having a tug-of-war, and the Coast Guard brought in a helicopter and demonstrated a water rescue. Saturday night included dock parties, bands, and was caped of by the biggest twin fireworks displays we have ever seen. What a great stop and we aren’t through exploring Norfolk and Portsmouth yet.
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A recap for those who ask “What new boat?” here is what has happened since last year. At the end of last year’s cruise we put our catamaran, Tropic Daze, up for sale and started a search for a suitable trawler (economical motor cruiser). Yes sailors, we are trying life on the dark side. We collected our thoughts and reasons for the move from sail to power in an article titled “Captured by Aliens” on this website. After eight years of cruising 3 to 5 months each year on sailboats, we wanted to try something new. Without a 65’ mast, trawlers can travel into areas that sailboats can’t. We love sailing and will continue to sail, but we are ready to try motor cruising and some new adventures.
What boat to chose? After doing a lot of research, talking to many cruisers, and looking at a lot of boat types and manufacturers, we decided that an Independence 45 by Hans Christian was the boat we wanted. Hans Christian has long been a builder of high quality sailing yachts and in 1988 they ventured into the design and building of a motor cruiser. Cruising trawlers are based on the classic fishing trawler hull design, but with a lot of great living space. Like a fishing trawler, she cruises at sailboat speeds and is economical on fuel. We found an Independence 45 in the Chesapeake, we flew up, inspected her and negotiated a price. A month later we returned, had her surveyed, went on a sea trial, and closed the deal. We finally had our Independence, and that is what we named her “Our Independence”. See her on our website.
Our plan this year was to get the boat and ourselves ready, which we have done, then to head south along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and finally to Florida. We are not sure how far we will actually get, as it will all depend on weather conditions and how long we spend in all the neat coastal towns along the way. We will be hopping from one coastal town to the next, stopping for a day or two here and there. It is a totally different year in that the only plan is to travel down the ICW until we run out of time. Next year, we plan to finish the move south and cruise the Florida Keys and possibly the Bahamas. After next year’s cruise, we hope to keep the boat in Bradenton, Florida, just off of Tampa Bay, in the same marina that we kept Tropic Daze.
The adventure continues, 6/18/06
The adventure continues; when last we left our intrepid cruisers, they were exploring and enjoying Portsmouth Virginia.
Portsmouth, not too far from the early settlement at Jamestown, is a very old community by US standards. The historic district has many homes built in the 1700 and 1800s. It was a great town to bike round and admire the old homes and buildings. Norfolk, across the river, was all modern chrome and steel high-rises. We explored them both.
We spent a little more time in Portsmouth than planned due to a railroad bridge with mechanical problems which was blocking our way south. We heard the news about the bridge from some northbound cruisers who were trapped south of the bridge for four hours. We left Portsmouth two days later with the promise that the bridge would open briefly to let the ICW (Intra-Coastal Waterway) traffic pass and it did.
Our departure from the Portsmouth marina was not as smooth as most. A missed set fuel valve on one engine caused it to die from lack of fuel as we cleared the entrance of the marina, and while resolving that problem we ran aground in a shallow area of the river. Well, we all make mistakes. The valve was corrected, engine was restarted, and with both props pushing water and mud, we worked our way back into deep water. We were off and heading south.
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Cruising the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW) isn’t like cruising down the interstate. Cruising the ICW is a real juggling act to balance time, distance, and multiple schedules. Naturally the height, opening schedules, and restricted hours of over a hundred bridges has to be factored into the cruising schedule. Then there are the tides and currents, which make passing through some areas impossible at times. The government specifies a regulated depth for the ICW to be at least 12’ at mean low water. Specifying 12’ is easy, finding the money to maintain 12’ is the problem. Many areas haven’t been dredged in twenty or thirty years. Other areas have been dredged to between 6’ and 8’, but these are very few. Other areas silt in to the point that they are not passable by most boats at low tide. Some boats require high tide to get through certain areas.
So, we work with time, distance, and speed to get to bridges when they will open, and to pass through reported skinny water when the tide is high enough to clear our keel. Note, I said reported skinny water. The cruisers on the ICW are always passing condition information to other cruisers via VHF radio, the Internet, and an HF single-sideband Cruisers Net. So we monitor all the information that we can, sort the wheat from the chaff, and work the information into our plan. Yes, planning and schedules are a real juggling act. Bumping bottom is not uncommon, and neither is going aground.
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Numerous highway and RR bridges cross this area of the river. The bridges are on schedules, such as two openings an hour, on the hour and half hour. Some don’t open for two hours during rush hour in the morning and evening. So we attempt to adjust our speed to arrive at each of the 15 bridges and one lock without having to hold a position in a moving river while waiting for the scheduled bridge opening.
We were finally approaching the last bridge, convinced that we would just miss the next scheduled opening, but as we rounded the last bend we noted that the bridge hadn’t opened yet, we were in luck, or so we thought. The horn on the bridge sounded, the traffic lights flashed, the gates came down, and the bridge tender announced on the VHF radio that he was opening the bridge. He then amended that statement to the effect that he was trying to open the bridge. When the bridge tender left his control room and walked to the middle of the bridge, looked at the mechanisms, and returned to the control room, we knew we were in trouble.
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The bridge tender announced that the bridge was broken and that maintenance was on the way. All we could do was to kept backing the boat away from the bridge and shore, then let it drift back again towards them again. Maintenance arrived a half-hour after the breakdown, they gathered at the middle of the bridge and assessed the situation. After an extended conference we were informed that maintenance was going for a new shaft, the old one had failed. We waited for a day for a bridge to get fixed in Venice Florida two years ago, so we weren’t convinced that this would be a quick fix. Well two hours and a lot of pounding later, the bridge opened and we headed south.
In areas of the ICW we travel in canals that have been in use since the country was young. The Dismal Swamp canal is one such canal, which was surveyed by a young surveyor before the United States was born. This young surveyor went on to become our first president and the Father of our Country. History abounds in this area.
Our stop for the night after Portsmouth was the marina at Coinjock, North Carolina. The next day we trekked down the canal and river, across Albemarle Sound, up the Alligator River, through the Alligator-Pongo canal and down the Pongo River to Belhaven, NC.
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We spent the next day exploring Belhaven before continuing down the Pongo river, up another river and canal, down the Pamlico River into Pamlico Sound, then up the Neuse River to Oriental, NC. Again, we spent a day exploring Oriental, a town of 876 people with over 2,700 sailboats in slips and on moorings. They consider themselves the sailing center for North Carolina.
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The next day was a short cruise across the Neuse River, up a creek to another canal, then down another river to Beaufort, NC (pronounced Boe-fort), which is not to be confused with Beaufort, SC (pronounced Beaufort). We docked at the Beaufort Waterfront, which dates back to 1723. The town itself was founded in 1709 and has a rich history as a seaport and pirate haven. Blackbeard lived here and the remains of his ship, the Queen Ann’s Revenge, were discovered not too far from here just a few years age.
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We have explored Beaufort for a couple of days now and tomorrow we head south again. The tentative plan is to cruise to Wrightsville Beach, NC, spend a day, then to:
North Myrtle Beach, SC
Georgetown, SC
Charleston, SC
Beaufort, SC
?? Georgia
?? Florida
If all goes well, that should run us out of time and we will put the boat up for hurricane season and the winter, and return to Texas.
Is it still an adventure after nine years of cruising? 6/21/08
Today, Saturday, we left Wrightsville Beach after two nights in a marina. We had light rain on Friday and the forecast for Saturday was a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, then rain and thunderstorms likely on Sunday. Also fog was possible Saturday morning. Fog on the narrow winding channel of the ICW would mean we would stay in our slip at the marina. There are too many docks, markers and other structures in the tight confines of the ICW to navigate blind using radar and GPS.
Saturday morning finds no fog and the forecast remained a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. You can’t sit in a marina and wait till there is zero chance of a little adverse weather, so at 6:45AM we cast off and headed south. We checked the NEXRAD radar, which we get as part of our weather information via satellite, and there was a little light rain inland, but nothing to worry about.
We made our way down the ICW towards Cape Fear. We kept checking the NEXRAD radar as we entered the Cape Fear River, and by 7:30AM the “possible afternoon thunderstorms” were already building inland and headed for the coast. They looked like they would pass behind us and hit Wrightsville Beach. We monitored their progress, but by 8:30AM we knew we were going to get wet, but still the worst should go behind us. Well they didn’t.
By 9:00 we were in the storm, with wind and blinding rain. The wind and waves were so strong that the gusts were turning our 21 ton boat. Like an airplane in the clouds flying IFR (Instrument Flight Conditions), we navigated by GPS and radar. The wind and rain continued to build and at times we couldn’t see the bow of the boat. Waves were crashing into the bow and the spray was flying over the top of the boat. Later we learned that the wind reached 80 MPH. The wind and waves were pushing us toward large steel channel markers that were visible on radar but couldn’t be seen out of the windows. We fought the seas to make safe passage around the channel markers and monitored the radar for other boats that we knew were in the area. Then the hail began, and it rained and hailed, and hailed.
While all of this is going on, the VHF radio is alive with distress calls from other boats to the Coast Guard. People are in the water, no telling what happened to their boat. Other boats are in peril for different reasons, all requesting help. At least one person drowned and a number of boats were blown ashore.
We made it down the Cape Fear River to where the ICW channel exits to the west, and for a few moments we could see land. The current was against us and we had large waves pushing us from astern. Then the rain increased and we lost all sight of land and the channel markers marking the entrance to the ICW. I elected to abort my approach to the ICW and turned back up the Cape Fear River. I didn’t know how much longer the storm would continue, but we felt safer in the deep wide river with room to maneuver.
Once we turned around with our stern to the storm, we could make out a number of other boats waiting in the area for conditions to improve. Within about 15 minutes visibility improved and we headed back for the entrance to the ICW. Two boats were already aground south of the entrance. We checked the NEXRAD radar again and it showed a solid line of thunderstorms directly over us. The question was, do we remain out in the river or do we take our chances in the narrow ICW. We know that there are a couple of marinas at Southport, just inside the entrance of the ICW. Maybe we can make it into a marina and tie up before the next storm get to us.
When the storm let up enough for us to see land, we headed back south towards the ICW entrance. NEXRAD showed another storm approaching from the west. We decided to go for it and headed into the ICW. Carefully we picked our way around storm debris as we entered the ICW and made it into Southport Marina in driving rain. Two dockhands met us and caught the lines as Sue tossed them. Soon, we were safe and sound. That is when the dockhands told us that during the storm, they had seen gusts to 80 MPH. No wonder the sea was a sheet of white at times.
Cape Fear, which is famous for its hundreds upon hundreds of shipwrecks, has left a lasting impression on us. As for Our Independence, she handled the weather like a champ. We have chosen all of our boats for strength and seaworthiness so that they would safely carry us through stuff that was worse than anything we wanted to be in. We couldn’t have asked for more from her, she is a great seaworthy boat.
Here is a shot of the NEXRAD radar on the GPS screen after we were tied up at the dock and the storms had passed us.
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The forecast says that tomorrow will be worse, so we think we will ride it out here in the slip.
Yes, it is still an adventure after nine years.
Cheers,
Sue and Bob Mimlitch
A quick update to yesterdays email, 2/22/08
Here is what we have learned about the storm from the locals:
We talked to a Cape Fear River Pilot who has lived here 40+ years and guides the big freighters up and down the river from the Atlantic to the ports up stream. He stated that those were the strongest winds that he had ever see here, including the hurricanes.
The reported size of the hail was almost one inch.
The storm was six miles wide and lingered off shore all night long
The only damage we sustained was the wind ripped the cover off the dingy and moved the dingy even though it was strapped down
A little information about the NEXRAD screen shot that was attached. Our boat is located in the middle of the screen and the shot was taken about an hour after the height of the storm, so the storms have moves to the southeast. The cones drawn in front of the storms indicate their estimated path and the rings indicate where it will be in 15 minute increments. You can also see our planed route from Wrightsville Beach to Myrtle Beach with ICW mile markers as waypoints. Needless to say we didn’t make Myrtle Beach yet.
We are enjoying Southport, another beautiful old Atlantic seaport and fishing village with an interesting history. We are doing a few things to the boat here before we move on to Myrtle Beach.
Cheers,
Sue and Bob
So far we have traveled 920 miles down the east coast and have put Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia behind us. Today we arrived at Fernandina Beach on the northeast tip of Florida and tomorrow we should be in Saint Augustine, Florida. Saint Augustine’s Camachee Cove Marina will be the new home for Our Independence. We will take about a week to get her ready for hurricane season, and then we will run back up to the Chesapeake, pick up the van and drive back to Texas. If all goes well, we will be back in Texas in a couple of weeks. Here is a recap of where we have been since our last email.
Our last update was from Southport, NC, just after we did battle with Mother Nature on the Cape Fear River. Cape Fear is our new bench mark for “What’s the worst conditions that we have been caught in”.
After the Cape Fear storm, we spent three days in Southport, letting a front and some accompanying bad weather get by us, as well as doing a little work on the boat. Southport is a neat old town with a rich history, as are many of these little old seaports along the Atlantic coast.
We left Southport and finished our storm-delayed trip to North Myrtle Beach, SC, where we spent two days. We spent time on the beach both days and had a great time.
We left North Myrtle Beach, cruising south for Georgetown and immediately entered the infamous “Rock Pile”, which is an area of the Intracoastal Waterway where the Corp of Engineers had to blast the channel out of solid rock. Many of the remaining rocks and rock edges of the channel are under the surface at high tide, so we went through at low tide so we could see and avoid the rock ledges. The channel is not wide enough to pass an on-coming tug or barge, so we had to call on channel 13 and 16 to insure that there was no north bound commercial traffic before we entered the worst three-mile stretch. Dozens of boats each year stray too close to the edge of the channel, especially when passing an oncoming vessel, and damage their hull and/or props and have to be pulled out of the water for some expensive repairs. We came through unscathed.
We made it to Georgetown, explored the city and spent the night in the Georgetown City Dock. The ICW in this area follows streams and rivers surrounded by cypress trees and thick forests.
The next morning we were up well before sunrise and got an early start on the day, as we had to get through some areas of skinny water before the tide hit bottom. We hate to travel into these areas on a falling tide, but to wait for a rising tide would mean a six-hour delay and thus we wouldn’t arrive in Charleston till after dark, and traveling on the ICW after dark is way too risky. We made it through the thin spots where the bottom was inches below our keel, if not touching it on occasion, and traveled by streams, rivers and canals, twisting and turning our way through the low country to Charleston Harbor.
Along the way we met a number of pods of dolphins that loved to swim up through, and jump out the front of our bow wave. They are almost impossible to catch in a photograph as all of a sudden they explode out of the wake. Our best attempts are attached, one dolphin is coming out and the second is just under the surface. The second picture is typical dolphin behavior; they come up and roll on their side looking up to see if you are watching them perform. The third picture is another pair on another day. The dolphins are great to watch.
We arrived at the Charleston City Marina’s and tied up to their 1500 foot Megadock. The city of Charleston is much more than we had expected, we really enjoyed the town. It was easy to get around town by bike, and there was so much to see. It reminds us of Key West with its diversity of architecture, plants, trees, food, shopping, and people. Beautiful homes built in the early and mid 1800s, with great gardens and huge trees. So much interesting history and a well preserved city, no skyscrapers, no buildings higher than the old church steeple.
We spent 4 days in Charleston. Every day we would spend about 3 hours biking in different areas of the city. We were very impressed with the preservation of the homes.
We didn't leave Charleston until Tuesday due to severe thunderstorms and small craft warnings. Next we moved south to Beaufort, SC, where we stayed at the city dock and explored the city. Beaufort is another of the old Atlantic seacoast ports with a rich history. The town is in a major rice producing area, with many old rice plantations.
We left Beaufort for Isle of Hope, Georgia, early the next morning. Georgia has the most notorious portion of the ICW on entire east coast. Georgia’s coastal population and development is in the extreme north and south portions of the coast, it consists of Savannah in the north corner and Brunswick in the south corner, without much in between. The central Georgia coast is a 100 miles of rivers and creeks with no roads, no bridges, no beaches, and no towns. Due to the lack of people and commerce along this stretch of the ICW, it gets little if any attention. Areas like the Little Mud River and Hell’s Gate, to name a few, are waiting to trap passing cruisers on their shifting shoals and narrow channels. Once stuck on a shoal, you are on your own, out of the reach of SeaTow and TowBoat US, your only ally is the huge ten-foot tides, which will eventually lift you off the shoal. The next tide may lift you off the shoal well after dark, and you are left to navigate the ICW in the dark until you can find a stream or wide spot in which to anchor and wait for daylight.
Because this stretch of the ICW is 100 miles long with no marinas, it takes over ten hours to get from last marina in the north, Isle of Hope to the first marina in the south, St. Simons Island. Because the tides switch approximately every six hours and the trip is ten hours, part of our trip will be at low tide. We left Isle of Hope at first light and made it through Hells Gate at high tide, but the tide kept falling as we worked out way south toward the worst of them all, the Little Mud River. When we finally reached the Little Mud River the tide was only one foot above Mean Low Water, which by some accounts is calling it close for our 4’ 8” draft. We entered the Little Mud at idle speed and a minute later the bottom went from 8’ to about 4’ feet within a second. Are keel was moving through the mud, but with the boat’s 21 tons of momentum and the soft mud bottom, we slid through the shoal to deeper water, about 6’, but we were floating again, not sledding on the keel. We continued on, in searching of water at least 5’ deep. We felt our way through the Little Mud River, which was our last obstacle before St. Simons Island.
After a number of long, hard days back to back, we spent three nights at St. Simons Island, including the 4th of July. We discovered St. Simons Island about 12 years ago when we came here to look at “Windancer”, a Caliber 33’ sailboat. We bought her there and she was our first cruising boat. St. Simons and the neighboring Jekyll and Cumberland Islands are some of the most beautiful barrier islands on the east coast.
Today we delayed our departure from St. Simons Island, to wait for a rising tide. The ICW’s last major obstacle, Jekyll Creek, is an hour south of St. Simons. One area of Jekyll Creek only 3.5’ deep at mean low water, and today’s low tide was a -1’, meaning the creek would be only 2.5’ deep at low tide. We departed at 8:00AM and arrived at Jekyll Creek with the tide at a +3’, giving us 6.5’ of water. We made it through our last major obstacle and on to Fernandina Beach.
See you’ll soon,
Sue and Bob
After a nice night at Fernandina Beach, we cruised south past Jacksonville and on to our destination of Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor, Saint Augustine.
http://www.camacheeisland.com/directions/directions.htm
We put Our Independence to bed for the winter, drove back north to the Chesapeake in a rental car, picked up our van and drove back to Texas.
Hope to see you in April 09 when our adventure will continue.
5 June 2008 Departed Piney Narrows Yacht Haven, Kent Island, MD
Arrived Zahniser’s Yacht Center, Solomons Islands, MD
6 June 2008 Departed Zahniser’s Yacht Center, Solomons Islands, MD
Arrived Fishing Bay Harbor Marina, Deltaville, VA
7 June 2008 Departed Fishing Bay Harbor Marina, Deltaville, VA
Arrived Tidewater Yacht Marina, Portsmouth, VA
11 June 2008 Departed Tidewater Yacht Marina, Portsmouth, VA
Arrived Coinjock Marina, Coinjock, VA
12 June 2008 Departed Coinjock Marina, Coinjock, VA
Arrived River Forest Marina, Belhaven, NC
14 June 2008 Departed River Forest Marina, Belhaven, NC
Arrived Oriental Harbor Marina, Oriental, NC
16 June 2008 Departed Oriental Harbor Marina, Oriental, NC
Arrived Beaufort Docks, Beaufort, NC
19 June 2008 Departed Beaufort Docks, Beaufort, NC
Arrived Wrightsville Beach Marina, Wrightsville Beach, NC
21 June 2008 Departed Wrightsville Beach Marina, Wrightsville Beach, NC
Arrived Southport Marina, Southport, NC
24 June 2008 Departed Southport Marina, Southport, NC
Arrived Dock Holiday, North Myrtle Beach, SC
26 June 2008 Departed Dock Holiday, North Myrtle Beach, SC
Arrived Harbor Walk Marina, Georgetown, SC
27 June 2008 Departed Harbor Walk Marina, Georgetown, SC
Arrived Charleston City Marina, Charleston, SC
1 July 2008 Departed Charleston City Marina, Charleston, SC
Arrived Beaufort Downtown Marina, Beaufort, SC
2 July 2008 Departed Beaufort Downtown Marina, Beaufort, SC
Arrived Isle of Hope Marina, Isle of Hope, GA
3 July 2008 Departed Isle of Hope Marina, Isle of Hope, GA
Arrived Golden Isles Marina, St. Simons Islands, GA
6 July 2008 Departed Golden Isles Marina, St. Simons Islands, GA
Arrived Fernandina Harbor Marina, Fernandina Beach, FL
7 July 2008 Departed Fernandina Harbor Marina, Fernandina Beach, FL
Arrived Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor, St Augustine, FL
