I’ve had the good fortune to have cruised up and down the East Coast’s Intracoastal Waterway that runs from Norfolk to Key West several times and each time it is a treat. The waterway is a piece of classic Americana, a route originally devised 100 years ago, although legend has it that a young George Washington was hired to survey sections of the future inland canal in the 1700s. There are those who will tell you that the real ICW stretches north to south from the Blynman Canal in Gloucester, MA through the Cape Cod Canal, up Delaware Bay and through the C & D Canal into the Chesapeake Bay where it joins the ICW in Norfolk. If that’s your story, stick to it. But, from Norfolk southward in the fall, you will join a flotilla of Snow Birds headed south to the sun for the winter. The waterway takes you inside Cape Hatteras, through the Carolina Sounds to Beaufort, NC and Moorehead City. From there, some will jump offshore for a straight offshore passage to the Caribbean or Bahamas, or just down to Charleston, while others might choose to stay inside and day hop in the waterway all the way to Florida. There are lovely towns and cities to visit along the way including Charleston, Beaufort, SC, Savanah, and St. Augustine. And, there are hundreds of anchorages for quiet nights on the hook. The waterway is supposed to have a controlling depth of 12 feet but it doesn’t. The Georgia Sounds are some of the most beautiful stretches of the ICW but also some of the shallowest. If you draw more than six feet, you may bump the bottom from time to time; it’s just part of the adventure. And, if your mast rises more than 63 feet above the water, you won’t clear most of the fixed bridges and will have to go outside. If you are headed south with the Snow Birds to Florida this fall, take your time and enjoy meeting parts of America and local Americans you may not be familiar with. You’ll be richer for the experience.
Check out these ICW resources: The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association: This is a good resource for Notices to Mariners and news about shallows, obstructions and things to do with the Army Corps of Engineers.
The Salty Southeast Cruisers Net: Another source of local knowledge and news about life on the ICW.
Active Captain: The website has tons of info on marinas, fuel availability, pricing, and much more.
