Anchoring East Coast USA

[Drift Woods]

Originally Posted by jcdexter

If you have an iPad download the Garmin charts and add the Active Captain option and you'll see the anchorages everywhere with reviews and information added by your fellow cruisers. Worth it's weight in gold!

Jc,

I bought MX mariner and had the Active Captain on my phone for backup, loved it.

This year I'm staying close to home, Ft Lauderdale to Key West mostly. But next fall we will be cruising over to the Bahamas. I have Raymarine so I'll need to buy Explorer paper charts and a iPad. Do you have any experience with your Garmin iPad over there?

Woody

[Chas.7]

Hello,
I would get a copy of the US Coast Pilot for the areas you intend to sail.
Good luck

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by ourlog

My wife and I are new to cruising and will be liveaboards. We will be leaving in April from Miami, sailing to New England then back to the Gulf States. No rush in time. Here is the question: is there plenty of places, especially heading Miami to Maine, to anchor off shore each night and not be in the way of anything. The other is how about anchoring and going ashore from time to time for provisions. Trying to save money and not have to pay slip charges when possible

Maine is one big slab of granite mixed with iron. Most coastal towns have abundance of public moorings. Just contact the harbormasters. If you do drop the hook, get real close to shore where there may be mud and sand to hook into. Otherwise you will find rocky bottoms, lots of lobsta traps, and grumpy lobstas(and real mean fishermen).

[ourlog]

I am getting more info than I ever imagined. Thanks all this is a great help.

[bruce v]

A lot of great info here (probably no need to add my 2 cent but here it is anyway). You can find a tremendous amount of other info about the intracoastal and find more contacts for immediate and updated info (daily) by using the AGLA (America's Great Loop Association). They not only give all achorage sites anda number of marinas to boot for use when needed (unexpected, unwanted weather, gas,supplies, etc.etc.), they also have a large regularly traveling membership that will be on the waterways to assist you with other current and sometimes immediate needs.
My wife and I are just returning to living aboard full time from full time RVing. We (I should say she) suggested we try the Great Loop as life's next adventure so we have been reading about it online, watching utube videos and preping for our first run on it. Guess it seemed natural to join the loopers association. Mind you, I check my cruiser's forum daily and delight in the info here but it is just one of the many forums that can provide you assistance in planning a great life aboard (especially if you are concerned about being frugal). Might I also be so bold as to suggest Pintrest for seeking boating thoughts to help plan (if going there, you can use the looking glass icon at the top of the page to be more specific, but I have found numerous cross over idea while just browsing). Hope some or all of this help. Blessings and fair winds, Bruce V

[hamburking]

I live on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario, and find the American side to be very inviting. The small towns realize that boats are money...we go ashore to eat, buy provisions, and generally spend, spend, spend. Places like Clayton and Cape Vincent have lots of free dockage.

Sometimes they'll even take my colourful money at par!

[FollowingCs]

I'll be doing a trip soon enough, from FL to Chesapeake probably. But outside the ICW with mast too high for it. Should be a little more challenging, but I hope to have an experienced USCG Captain on the trip with me.

~ Following Cs ~

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Drift Woods

Really good anchoring spots along the ICW can be a challenge if you don't plan way a head . Last summer I came down from Norfolk and found it difficult because I was on a tight schedule. .......

I have heard it said that the most dangerous thing you can have on your boat is a schedule.

You can have a goal of being someplace on a certain day or making so many miles a day but you really need to be flexible enough to account for weather and possible equipment failures. A fixed schedule can make you take chances when good sense would tell you not to.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by rwidman

I have heard it said that the most dangerous thing you can have on your boat is a schedule.

The clock and calendar are no friend to the sailor.

A dangerous thing to have on your boat is a non-refundable plane ticket.

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by hamburking

The clock and calendar are no friend to the sailor.

A dangerous thing to have on your boat is a non-refundable plane ticket.

But that is why they invented engines.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by reed1v

Maine is one big slab of granite mixed with iron. Most coastal towns have abundance of public moorings. Just contact the harbormasters. If you do drop the hook, get real close to shore where there may be mud and sand to hook into. Otherwise you will find rocky bottoms, lots of lobsta traps, and grumpy lobstas(and real mean fishermen).

Maine is about the easiest place in the world to anchor out. I can think of only one harbor (Matinicus) where you can't anchor. Almost all harbor bottoms are a thick, sticky mud that is easy to set your anchor in and holds incredibly well. By looking around above the water I can see where someone might get the idea that it's all rock and would be difficult to set an anchor, but I'm a scuba diver and have been anchoring in Maine for almost 30 years and I can tell you that what you see below the water is nothing like what you see above. Also, with Maine's irregularly shaped coastline and hundreds of islands, it's easy to find a lee to anchor in. But if you can't, the wind almost always dies here when the sun goes down anyway. To be prepared for anchoring in Maine, one of the most important things to have is a good washdown system to get all that sticky mud off your anchor and chain!

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by reed1v

But that is why they invented engines.

Is that why its called "sailing"?

On longer passages, engines have a very limited range...especially if you have an atomic 4.

An engine does not turn a sailboat into a car. Motoring into a big headwind and a big sea can be futile, unpleasant, and even dangerous.

IMHO, the engine is for windless days, and getting in/out of marinas.

[AnchorageGuy]

ourlog, We have published several article in boating publications and on our blog on anchorages along the ICW based on approximately 50 mile days. You can also choose to do 10 miles or 70 miles, depending on your schedule and time frame. Our anchorage guides offer you hundreds of choices for anchorages and free docks from the Chesapeake Bay to Key West and the Gulf Coast. These are anchorage guides only and designed to be companions to your favorite cruising guide. Without details on your boat as far as draft, air clearance, etc. it's hard to give you specifics. In the New England area, anchorages are hard to come by and most secure harbors will only offer moorings. Along the Atlantic coast from New York Harbor to the Delaware Bay, you will need to duck in and out from offshore, again based on your draft. The Delaware Bay does not offer much in the way of protected anchorages, although there are options depending on weather. The Chesapeake Bay offers unlimited options. Our blog covers many of the areas you plan to cruise. Here are some of the many posts on our travels. Although they are on our trawler, we have covered all of these coastlines on our 40 foot sailboat with a 6 foot draft. If you have any questions, drop us a line here or on the blog. Chuck.

The Trawler Beach House: Intracoastal Waterway
The Trawler Beach House: Chesapeake Bay
The Trawler Beach House: Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by reed1v

But that is why they invented engines.

Engines or not, you have to deal with weather and equipment breakdowns. Even bridges can cause delays. A broken bridge could delay you a couple days, engine or not.

[Dauntlessny]

Originally Posted by jcdexter

If you have an iPad download the Garmin charts and add the Active Captain option and you'll see the anchorages everywhere with reviews and information added by your fellow cruisers. Worth it's weight in gold!

Agree. Forget about all the guides and pilot books.

Active Captain solves all of those issues.

I've done this trip three times and I wish someone would have told me about AC the first time.

Consider going direct Cape May to Block Island, unless you much see NYC.

NJ coast is difficult and not fun. There is virtually no ICW north of Cape May.

Active Captain integrates with your Nav program.