NJ to the Florida Keys

[bonnie lassie]

Any and all info for this trip would be greatly appreciated. How long would it take (very general of course) miles per day recommended. Anchoring? Time of year / date to start. etc. Thanks in advance.

[Travelnik]

Welcome to the forum!

You'll need to provide more details...

What boat do you have? Sail or power?

Are you in a hurry, or are you going to see some sights along the way?

The more details, the better the response you can expect.

[Khagan1227]

Welcome to CF!

Also, are you going via the ICW or offshore?

[motion30]

From the top of the chesapeake down the ICW to ft lauderdale is app 200 hrs

[motion30]

figure another 20hrs to key west

[CCBullseye]

I would leave today and expect to see frost before I got out of Chesapeake Bay. Hope you have warm clothes and warm bedding and cabin heat. Since you are asking this question, I assume you plan to take the ICW. I would plan to pull anchor at first light and go until almost sunset to last good anchorage. Try very hard to have the hook down before sunset, not last light. You can do the math for distance per day, knowing your cruising speed and sunrise and sunset tables. You will likely have a lot of cold weather hitting you before you get far enough south. This late in the season, I would not plan on any layover days until Beaufort NC.

It will be a push to get to St. Marys GA by Thanksgiving, but if you make it by then, you will have a great time. You should be able to get down there by then if you don't have any break down delays of a week or more and you push hard six days a week.

[motion30]

The chesapeake is the biggest body of water you will cross Check the marine forcast, then the albemarle sound in NC after that really not to much big water to worry about Listen to the marine forcast. There are generally many more places to anchor then the guide book say There are several long skinny canals that you must clear before anchoring, check your chart book Relax and enjoy a truely great experience

[bonnie lassie]

Definitely should have given more info sorry. I have a 1969 Morgan 30 sailboat. Good condition Tiller / 3.5 draft with non working center board. Have gotten different advise on whether to scrap the centerboard or have it fixed. (suggestions gladly accepted) Not planning the trip for about 2 yrs. Presently anchored in Forked River NJ. Just finished our (my wife and I) first season and got lots of help learning just about everything we could and sailed at least every weekend. Have been studying and reading voraciously. Thanks ever so much for everybodies quick response.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by bonnie lassie

..................... 3.5 draft with non working center board. Have gotten different advise on whether to scrap the centerboard or have it fixed..................

I assume the 3.5 draft is with the board in the up position. What will be your draft when the cable fails and the board falls? Do you know why the centerboard is not working? The board up with your shallow draft can make the leisurely ICW trip easy, but this means much motoring. What's your propulsion engine? I'm sure you'd want to have the centerrboard down option for sailing performance even with short offshore hops.

[skipmac]

Time for the trip is a huge variable. Depends on how long you want to take, are you in a hurry to get there or do you want to enjoy the trip.

I needed to bring my boat to FL from RI on a pretty short schedule. I only had two weeks off work to get the boat as far south as possible.

We made three coastal, overnight legs" NY to Delaware Bay. Delaware to Norfolk, and Charleston SC to Brunswick GA. The rest of the trip we started about breakfast, motored all day, anchored about dinner time. Spent 2 extra days in Charleston working on a transmission leak. In 15 days on this schedule we made it to south GA. I could have easily taken three times longer if I had had the time. If your destination is south FL or the Keys add another week to the trip.

In a full day motoring on the ICW we made from 45-75 miles, depending on how early we started, how late before we stopped and how many bridges we had to wait for opening.

[fisherman.ben]

hello, i too am planning to go south for the winter, leaving rhode island in a few weeks,( as soon as the lobster season is over) and plan to go coastal. i figure it will take a day to go down long island, a day to go down to cape may, a day to get to virginia, a day to get to hatteras/occracoke inlet,a day to get to beaufort, a day to get to cape fear. i hope to be there for thanksgiving. (i also don't want to go icw so if i have to lay-over for a day or two due to weather so be it) if i am wrong on the time tables, please let me know, but i have sailed from r.i to atlantic city in a day and a half, and know i can do 100-150 miles a day.
also if you know of any good spots to stop and take a break in south carolina/georgia, let me know

[carstenb]

six days RI to Cape Fear? I haven't sailed it myself - but that seems really fast. I live in europe these days but, I'm guessing, it's about 700 miles? 500 NM?

I suspect you will have the gulf stream against you - say 1 or 2 knots? Unless I'm mistaken you will also have the wind more or less against you (northern trade winds), meaning you might end up tacking most of the way.

I would double that estimate.

doing 500 NM is six days means 85 Nm per day. That is a lot. I have a 40 footer, max hull speed is say 9+ knots. That means at least a 10 hour sailing day.

[jmackay]

NY to Norfolk 2-1/2 days, Norfolk to St. Augustine 5-1/2 days, St Augustine to Ft Lauderdale 2 Days. The closest the Gulf Stream gets is 3 miles in FL but you will want to seek out the counter current that runs close to shore. If you round Hatteras on the outside, keep in mind that there is no safe inlet. Have done it many times each way from single handed to a crew of 4. Three to four works best. I have never done the Keys, I turn left a Ft Lauderdale for the Bahamas but you may find the Gulf Stream a factor on your final leg.

[Hudson Force]

We just completed the trip from Atlantic Highlands, NJ to Jacksonville, Florida from September 6th to October 19th with a total of 37 days underway out of the total 43. Our typical cruise from Jacksonville to the Keys takes us about 20 days with 12 days underway. Obviously, we enjoy taking our time and we are not bound by a schedule. I've never understood how the anchorages and ports en route should be less enjoyable than the final destination. For us this would be a two month trip!