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Photo: Fernandina on the ICW
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The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) of theUnited states is truly as interesting as it is beautiful. And it is very, very long, about one thousand nautical miles long, and to a small sailing vessel, it seemed to take forever to traverse its length. The ICW , both affectionately and disparagingly known as"The Ditch" is a series of interconnected rivers, lakes, estuaries, sounds and canals running down the eastern seaboard essentially from New York City to the southern tip of Florida. It was built and is maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers, parts of it in the 1800’s, as the inside, "safe" route for commercial and pleasure craft. It is quite shallow in many areas , and that factor combined with its length and many bridges can make it both a nerve-wracking and tediously long journey for slower, deeper-keeled vessels such as ours. Most frustrating, to a sailor there are very few sections of the ICW that can actually be sailed, so, motoring at 5-6 knots – less when the tidal currents are contrary – took much of the enjoyment out of the trip for us. It can become at times, just plain wearing.
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We spent four days at Moorehead City after entering the ICW at Norfolk.
At Beaufort – two miles south - we caught up with friends from our home sailing club (Niagara-on-the-Lake) Will and Lottie Urquhart (Stonefire) with whom we walked around the picturesque town, had a fish and chip lunch, and met Chris from Tall Tales (Port Dalhousie St. Catharines). At Moorehead we also met up again with Avalon (Dave and Deanna) who were waiting for their crew and a weather window to make their passage to Bermuda and the Caribbean. A fast ferry took us to Shackleton Island where we spent a few hours not-so-stealthily tracking down the small herd of wild horses on the island and were rewarded with several photos nervously snapped from about fifty metres. We were the nervous ones, not the horses!
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Photo: Wild horses on Shackleton Island
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Our boat insurance policy did not allow us to remain north of Beaufort after October 31, so it was southbound down the "ditch" again, anchoring in little side creeks and harbours and still very much amused by the numerous visiting dolphins.
Photo: Wild horses on Shackleton Island.
Our boat insurance policy did not allow us to remain north of Beaufort after October 31, so it was southbound down the "ditch" again, anchoring in little side creeks and harbours and still very much amused by the numerous visiting dolphins.
The next section to Barefoot landing near the popular Myrtle Beach was not without incident. We grounded yet again coming into Wrightsville Beach and used our TowBoatUS insurance for the first time (and last time as it turned out). The section of the ICW passing by Camp Le Jeune is often closed for hours because of US military training, and although it was open when we went by we were "treated" to a series of low flying manoevres by two helicopters which tantmounted to us being "buzzed" by them. About a hundred young people were surfing at Wrightsville on the ocean beach just near the laundromat where we did a much needed wash.
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Barefoot Landing was a free tie-up, rafting with 20 other boats three-deep near the seventy five or more outlet mall shops – they really had us captives. Of course at places like this you meet up again with people met earlier along the ICW, and those reunions are a great deal of fun with much relating of useful information and interesting stories.
As we traveled down the Carolinas, the starboard side of the ICW became one long golf course, and the port side an endless parade of Better Homes and Gardens houses. The "cuts" were long and straight, the days becoming cooler, and the nights chillier.
Southport, an attractive little village at Cape Fear reminded Brian of New Zealand’s Coromandel with the vegetation and coastline. We anchored in the tight little harbour for two nights meeting again Just Ducky (Joe and Carole Digel) who had rafted alongside us in the Dismal Swamp. While relaxing on the verandah of the tourist office/museum (the town was once called Smithville), a car with Ontario licence plates pulled up and asked us directions. The four golfing buddies inside were from Grimsby, Beamsville and Niagara Falls. Proving again what a small world it is.
We anchored at Georgetown, spent a couple of days sightseeing, and two days later anchored off the city marina at Charleston, a town with a great trolleybus service which enabled us to see much of the history, markets and boutiques.
OVERNIGHT "OUTSIDE" TO CHARLESTON AND HILTON HEAD
The ten days at Hilton Head passed quickly as turned out to be (surprisingly) a very pleasant place. Although we anchored off a marina on Broad Creek, we had the use of their showers, rented bikes, saw much of the island, rented a car and spent a day in Savannah. Another compelling reason to spend time there was the reunion with our close friends John and Debbie Gilmore (Muskoka Rose) who had taken a marina for a month to visit with their daughter, Donna. Hilton Head, is a very expensive resort/retirement island, but we found people to be quite pleasant and helpful.
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History-steeped Savannah, a one hour drive south by rental car we found to be extremely interesting. We walked for hours around the old town district with its park "squares", and learned much about the 1800’s U.S. cotton industry. We had breakfast with other good friends, Barry and Diane Bemrose from home, who dropped in to see us on their way back from a Florida golfing trip.
Leaving Hilton Head, we prepared for another overnight "outside" passage, but on exiting the harbour found the seas very rough; the memory of the last overnighter all still too-fresh in our minds urged us to turn back and motor some more down the ICW.
Leaving Hilton Head, we prepared for another overnight "outside" passage, but on exiting the harbour found the seas very rough; the memory of the last overnighter all still too-fresh in our minds urged us to turn back and motor some more down the ICW.
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Photo: Charleston Harbour .
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FLORIDA REACHED
The next hundred mile section of the ICW seemed to be a little more interesting and actually go a
little faster, possibly because the weather was warmer and the skies blue all day. Many turkey vultures and egrets, with the ubiquitous pelicans, were observed, and when the anchor went down for three days at Fernandina Harbour.in Florida it seemed that a large part of the ICW had been "conquered". The historic town of St.Augustine boasting the oldest fort in the USA was the next stop, and we actually got out on the town at night to listen to some live music in several of the town’s drinking establishments. Fernandina also has a large "Sailors Exchange", and we lost some hours there hunting for potentially-useful boat junk.
little faster, possibly because the weather was warmer and the skies blue all day. Many turkey vultures and egrets, with the ubiquitous pelicans, were observed, and when the anchor went down for three days at Fernandina Harbour.in Florida it seemed that a large part of the ICW had been "conquered". The historic town of St.Augustine boasting the oldest fort in the USA was the next stop, and we actually got out on the town at night to listen to some live music in several of the town’s drinking establishments. Fernandina also has a large "Sailors Exchange", and we lost some hours there hunting for potentially-useful boat junk.
The next overnight "outside" leg was from St. Augustine to Cape Canaveral. The anchor was up at 9:00 a.m. for this 80 n.m. passage, and the daylight section was tolerated well by our queasy stomachs. But as the night came, so did the higher winds and seas. Sailing under the main alone we were on a run at six and a half knots with large rolling seas. Again, Brian was quite seasick – his short memory of the last overnighter had failed him. Sunrise had us entering the Cape Canaveral Inlet, under a bascule (lifting) bridge, through a lock, and at 9:00 a.m. we had anchored in the Indian River.
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Pelicans hoping for fish scraps
Pelicans hoping for fish scraps.
We slept the sleep of the exhausted from 9:30 until 2:00 p.m. then awaited a 5:45 p.m. scheduled space shuttle launch, which, unfortunately was postponed for 24 hours due to local rain showers. We had prime seats, the launchpad an unobstructed view less than two miles away. Crowds had lined the causeway to watch. The flocks of pelicans diving for their supper near our boatafter dark was to be our only entertainment that evening.
The following day we motored the two hours to Cocoa, where we were to stay for a month. Whitley Marina gave us a good monthly rate, and we wanted to work on the boat a little as well as head back to Ontario to see our families for Christmas. Cocoa turned out to be an excellent choice The town had much to offer, the local library was incredible, the people were very friendly, and Cocoa was famous for the largest hardware store on the US east coast – a boater’s heaven. Of course we made needy purchases.
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We bid on a couple of bicycles (the "red rocket" and the "blue streak") at the local auction, enabling Debby to bike herself back into filtness (while Brian jogged) along the reknown Indian River"s shores where many citrus groves are situated . From there we saw the postponed space shuttle launch – four miles away, an awesome sight.
We bid on a couple of bicycles (the "red rocket" and the "blue streak") at the local auction, enabling Debby to bike herself back into filtness (while Brian jogged) along the reknown Indian River"s shores where many citrus groves are situated . From there we saw the postponed space shuttle launch – four miles away, an awesome sight.
John and Debbie Gilmore (Muskoka Rose) caught up with us at this point, stayed the month at the same marina, and we shared a rental car for the trip back from Ontario. Our 40 hour trip home on "The Dog" (Greyhound Bus) is another story in itself, and the car rental journey back to Florida was a consequence of a huge snowstorm that shut down Buffalo City’s highways for several days. On a sad note, we learned that Scott Wilkinson, the very helpful dockmaster at Whitley Marina, died suddenly the following February. Scotty had spent many cocktail hours with us, and was an inveterate and experienced sailor who will be missed by Whitley Marina and those who met him.
COCOA TO MIAMAI
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The Red Rocket and the Blue Streak
The Red Rocket and the Blue Streak.
In early January along with Muskoka Rose we set off on the last few legs of the ICW towards Miami; two more outside trips – during the day this time – from Fort Pierce to Lake Worth, then Lake Worth to Miami. The water of the ocean became clearer as we sailed south, we could see the bottom under 45 feet of water, small schools of flying fish skittered away from our bow, but the forty large fishing boats roaring out of the Fort Pierce Inlet at 8:00 am. – passing us with their huge wakes was the "black" highlight Here we met Eric and Natalie on Malulani, a young French Canadian couple whom we were to see again several times over the next month. When we got into Miami at 10 p.m. the inlet was lit up like an airport runway and we had no trouble finding our way in then anchoring in a side channel beside Muskoka Rose.
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The ICW was a necessary part of our trip south, but a section we did not really enjoy because of the long stretches of motoringwe had to do. Parts of it were interesting; we did stay in some fascinating cities, and certainly, one sees the better side of the state from the water. After all, we shared the same million-dollar views as the million-dollar homes along its length.
At this point we had to wait for a "weather window" for the crossing of the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas as well as reprovision and top up with fuel. We anchored for a total of seven days at Miami Beach waiting for the north winds to switch to the south; north winds can create daunting twelve foot waves in the Gulf Stream which would make for a very uncomfortable, if not dangerous trip. We did not venture into downtown Miami but spent the waiting time in a relatively nicer and quiet section of the harbour, exploring the area, buying ship’s stores, and enjoying the diverse mix of Hispanic, Mexican and Black cultures.
The ICW was a necessary part of our trip south, but a section we did not really enjoy because of the long stretches of motoringwe had to do. Parts of it were interesting; we did stay in some fascinating cities, and certainly, one sees the better side of the state from the water. After all, we shared the same million-dollar views as the million-dollar homes along its length.
At this point we had to wait for a "weather window" for the crossing of the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas as well as reprovision and top up with fuel. We anchored for a total of seven days at Miami Beach waiting for the north winds to switch to the south; north winds can create daunting twelve foot waves in the Gulf Stream which would make for a very uncomfortable, if not dangerous trip. We did not venture into downtown Miami but spent the waiting time in a relatively nicer and quiet section of the harbour, exploring the area, buying ship’s stores, and enjoying the diverse mix of Hispanic, Mexican and Black cultures.
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posted by Chinook of Canada at 7:12 AM
