Bahia 46: US East Coast newbies - Bahia46 mast height vs bridges

[tpoffen]

We are enjoying our new-to-us 2001 Bahia46 in the Caribbean and intend to spend the 2012 hurricane season exploring the US East Coast (with two teens onboard). Currently waiting for a weather window to make our next passage from Puerto Rico to Turks/Caicos. Starting to look at Florida and Chesapeake charts to plan our June-Nov adventures.

Can anyone please share local knowledge on best places (anchorages, mooring fields, or marinas) since we can't pass under the typical 65-ft bridge height of the ICW? For instance, if we are planning to cross the gulfstream from Abacos to Florida, where can we park ourselves for a while within easy driving to Orlando? My guess is that most marinas and mooring fields are not within our reach due to our 67-ft mast height.

And as we make our way further north, what's the best resource to use? We have signed up for Active Captain and are using MapTech ChartKits. There's got to be a way to cross reference marinas, mooring fields and anchorages with bridge clearance (I hope). I hear that Baltimore's inner harbor is a great place with easy access to trains into Washington DC. Any suggestions of where to stay since we can't get into the inner harbor?

In fact, if you've got any favorite not-to-be-missed spots between Florida and Massachusetts, please throw them our way...

Thanks,
Tom and Gail
s/v Compass Rose

[Cotemar]

The favorite not-to-be-missed spots in Long Island Sound.

Block Island, RI
Mystic, CT
Montauk, NY
Sag Harbor, NY
Greenport, NY
Newport, RI
Cuttyhunk, MA
Martha's Vineyard, MA
Nantucket, MA

[stacy]

The following is a list of the places we hit on our trip along the S. E. Coast. Be aware that this trip was back in 2007. Your plan to use Active Capt is a good one. There is a booklet/ magazine that is for sale that describes all the inlets that we used. I can not remember the name but it is very helpful and has a number of phots of the inlets. WE only entered the inlets on high slack water and we always called one of the towing services to get the latest info, marker position, shoaling etc. That being said, this is what we did.
We left FT Lauderdale and entered Jupiter sound, headed north on the Icw and anchore at Hobe sound. Exited St Lucie Inlet and went up to Ft Pierce, spent the night and exited the next morning. Went up to Port Canaveral and spent some time in a marina, saw a rocket launch etc. Exit Port Canaveral and went up to Ponce de Leon(this can be a dangerous inlet) anchored off the ICW near Inlet Harbor Marina. Exit Ponce de Leon and went up to St Augustine. Spent time there, very nice. exit St Augustine and went up to and in St Marys inlet Spent time at Cumberland Island, Fernandina, and St Marys, All great places. Exit St Marys inlet and went into St Simon Inlet spent time in Brunswick and St. Simon. Exit St Simon and went into St Catherine Inlet and anchored in Walburg Creek. Very nice. Took the Icw north to Isle of Hope and Thunderbolt. To Exit back to the ocean either backtrack to St Catherine or exit Wassaw Sound. Exiting Wassaw can be both tricky and dangerous so be careful. Next stop was up to Hilton Head. You can either enter and exit from the north or South inlets but you can't enter one and exit the other. Next stop was North Edisto inlet. Spent time there both going north and returning south. It's a very nice place. Back out N. Edisto up to Charleston and that's as far north as we got. Hope that helps.

[Sid at SailAway]

Your Bahia will have no problems getting into the inner harbor in Baltimore. You could spend a life time on the Chessy and still not see it all. Highly recommended!

[Jane.Joy]

We used this chartbook, which lists anchorages and bridges - we found it helpful. Also has info about inlets.
Amazon.com: The Intracoastal Waterway Chartbook, Norfolk, Virginia, to Miami, Florida (9780071545792): John Kettlewell: Books


And we also had this kindle book, lots of info about marinas:
The Intracoastal Waterway, Norfolk to Miami: Bill Moeller, John J. Kettlewell: Amazon.com: Kindle Store


Since you will be traveling outside anyway, I recommend that you do 24 or 36 hour "jumps" instead of the sunrise to sunset inlet-jumping that is often recommended. You lose so much time getting in and out that it seems like a waste of time.

I love Baltimore's Inner Harbor - Annapolis is a great stop that's close to Baltimore and DC. Most places in ICW you will have to motor, but you can do some good sailing in the Chesapeake.

[tpoffen]

Cotemar, Stacy, Sid and Jane:

Thanks so much for your detailed responses. We are looking forward to exploring these waters!

Warm regards,
Gail and Tom
s/v Compass Rose

[SaucySailoress]

NWI..