ICW info

[Daleguy]

Good afternoon everyone, will be heading down the ICW in November and someone sent me a link to their blog where they detailed their trip but I can't seem to find it!!! Wondering if anyone has a detailed discussion on their ICW trip that wouldn't mind sharing with me. I will be departing from Annapolis on a HR -31. Or, if they have any resources you wouldn't mind sharing. Thank you!

[hscrugby]

Tons of them all over. Are you going ICW the whole way? or kicking out to ocean for portions? Watch sonar, don't necessarily trust charts and a lot of the "anchorage" advices in Active Captain are drunk.
If you're going out and back in some, even if you ask locals don't use the cut by Isle of Palms. Fishermen lie, and charts are completely wrong. https://goo.gl/maps/MSvyGNKny79jeVj57 just don't do it unless you draft less than 3' and it's still a bad idea.
(Yes, I found that out the hard way a few weeks ago)
I'm currently going backwards up towards NC real slowly and in Georgetown, SC.
Watch out for foreign container ships in Savannah, they're idiots. (Came in flying, missed the channel, had asked for pilot at the wrong port, and were even HEADING to the wrong port. They didn't mean to be going to Savannah.)

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Daleguy

Good afternoon everyone, will be heading down the ICW in November and someone sent me a link to their blog where they detailed their trip but I can't seem to find it!!! Wondering if anyone has a detailed discussion on their ICW trip that wouldn't mind sharing with me. I will be departing from Annapolis on a HR -31. Or, if they have any resources you wouldn't mind sharing. Thank you!

Have a look at "Cruising the ICW with Bob423" here. Bob's site has extensive coverage of the ICW from NY to Key West...

FWIW...

[dougweibel]

I've made the trip 5 times including twice this spring. I have probably seen the blog you mention but don't know its whereabouts. Get one of the guidebooks (Embassy Guides, Waterway Guide, Maptech, etc.) I've used all three mentioned and any one will be enough. I like the Maptech the best. A guidebook and a phone with internet connection is enough, though if you are like me you can go whole hog and get several guidebooks, paper charts and multiple electronic charts. But a single guidebook, a chart plotter with current charts and a phone is certainly enough.

There are spots that shoal and they move around. Pay attention and respect the navigation aids. Where there are no nav-aids stick to the center of the channel. I like to run outside from Beaufort, NC to FL. You can make that in a single jump or two or three smaller jumps. Running inside from Annapolis to Beaufort and from the FL-GA line to West Palm Beach is easy. Between Beaufort and FL there are more areas with thin water. Beyond West Palm the number of bridges gets crazy.

Of course you have to take Active Captain reviews with a grain of salt but I find it to be invaluable for choosing an anchorage for the night. Don't wait till too late in the day to plan where you will anchor as there are some longish stretches where there is simply nowhere good to anchor.

If you want to buddy boat and are flexible (i.e. want to match my schedule) we will be leaving Hampton between the first and tenth of November (we haven't planned that far yet), then PM me.

[GordMay]

Intracoastal Waterway Notes
Sources For ICW Information
➥ Intracoastal Waterway Notes

[carstenb]

We went both up and down a couple of years ago in a boat with a 7 foot draft. you can read about it on our website:

https://svcapri.com/

There are a number of posts about sailing it.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by hscrugby

Tons of them all over. Are you going ICW the whole way? or kicking out to ocean for portions? Watch sonar, don't necessarily trust charts and a lot of the "anchorage" advices in Active Captain are drunk.
If you're going out and back in some, even if you ask locals don't use the cut by Isle of Palms. Fishermen lie, and charts are completely wrong. https://goo.gl/maps/MSvyGNKny79jeVj57 just don't do it unless you draft less than 3' and it's still a bad idea.
(Yes, I found that out the hard way a few weeks ago)
I'm currently going backwards up towards NC real slowly and in Georgetown, SC.
Watch out for foreign container ships in Savannah, they're idiots. (Came in flying, missed the channel, had asked for pilot at the wrong port, and were even HEADING to the wrong port. They didn't mean to be going to Savannah.)

Where did they mean to be heading? There's nothing else around that an ocean going cargo ship could even get into and I find it impossible to believe a cargo ship with professional mariners would end up nearly 100 miles away from the nearest next port of Charleston or even further Jacksonville?

[hscrugby]

They requested a pilot in Jacksonville.
I have no idea where they actually wanted to go. They were quite a bit outside of the channel markers and yelling on the radio about the sailboat and all the other boats in the channel. They changed channels to talk to coastie and I didn't follow. I was too busy trying to see how far out of the way I could get plus their English was really bad.
I'm GUESSING they just requested the wrong pilot and meant to go to Savannah but it was definitely a wtf moment.