Need Resources regarding navigating the ICW

[Centurion63]

if anyone can share a link to navigating the ICW from NJ to FL I'd appreciate it......... I used to have link to a blog that discussed areas of the ICW to be wary of due to shallow drafts, e.g. just south of masonboro inlet in NC you need to stay to the west side of the ICW or you'll run aground if you favor the eastern side....... that sort of thing

thanks

[Ferrity]

Check Bob's blog Cruising the ICW with Bob423

He includes actual tracks and offers the ICW Cruising Guide.

[Centurion63]

thx, this is different than the other blog I knew about but looks like lots of good info!

[ranger58sb]

Don't know about the NJ part, but from VA to FL:

Waterway Guide
ActiveCaptain
https://cruisersnet.net/salty-southe...ct-information
NOAA Coast Pilot books
Local Notices to Mariners (LNMs) from USCG
BoatUS East Coast Alerts from Tom & Mel Neale

There's also a printed Mile-by-Mile guide, arranged like on of the old AAA Triptychs.

And then Aquamap Marine supports in-app purchase of US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) waterway survey data. Useful for visuals through the shallow areas.

Plan so you transit shallow areas at mid-tide or better, ideally rising.

-Chris

[Tin Tin]

Join the Great Loop Associations on line, great resource.
https://www.greatloop.org/

[rwidman]

The Waterway Guide books will tell you a lot about this trip, but most folks use electronic charts on a chart plotter to figure this out.

"Old timers" use paper charts.

BTW: A calibrated depth sounder is a great help in keeping you from grounding.

[Scrimshaw4]

One of the keys to doing the ICW from VA to the Keys is to think like a tugboat pushing a barge. This is especially true when rounding bends. Don't cut the corners, take them wide. Remember a tug pushing a barge is a large and deep combination so follow the line you'd imagine they would take. JMHO

[dougweibel]

A super valuable resource for the ICW is Waterway Guides Urgent Alerts page:
https://www.waterwayguide.com/urgent-nav-alerts

There are typically only a few relevant alerts there at any time but it has at least twice alerted us to ICW bridge closures that otherwise would have been a surprise.

[rwidman]

The AICW is not really a difficult trip. Instead of thinking of it as a thousand mile plus trip, think of it as a series of day trips one after another. You will be stopping at a marina or anchoring every night.

The entire AICW is marked with USCG aids to navigation so if you stay in between the red ones and the green ones you will be fine. For the most part, the red markers are on the inland side (your right, heading south), but they do reverse in a couple places where you are on a river.

If you plot your route on a chart plotter, you will have an easier time of it, but many people have done it without a route and even without a chart plotter.

I mentioned a depth sounder in another post. Se the alarm on your depth sounder to a couple feet deeper than your boat's draft. If the alarm sounds, STOP and figure out the situation. Travel slowly in questionable depths.