USA East Coast

[bayview]

A big difference between west coast cruising and east coast cruising is that there are many more places to visit. There are many rivers reaching the coast and every river has a town or city with a maritime history because water was a major means of transport in the past.
I envy your trip and don't know how you can possible do it all in one year.

 

[Wxx3]

The only people I can guess that say no to the East Coast probably live in compounds and have limited scopes of interest.


Its like people who say no to the west coast from here. Show them a picture of the inland passage on a beautiful day or Baja....and they yawn but get goose bumps at night time skyline shots of New York. Just who are these people?


Sure you cant get to many places on the ICW...but there are hundreds of great, interesting, and historic destinations that 7 feet of draft is no problem.


Cruising is exploring to a point...why not explore?


I would be ecstatic to be able to explore both coasts extensively...even if it took decades.

What he said.

If you like Alaska, you will like and even love New England. From Rhode Island, Mass, Maine and even New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, all wonderful places with a real seagoing culture and vibe.

Have fun and go north.

Richard on Dauntless

 

[BandB]

Thanks everyone for the input- overwhelmingly in favor of continuing. Does it make sense to make a beeline from south Florida to a point further north? We could get a good push in Gulf Stream and get pretty far north in 4 days or so. Thanks again.

Wifey B: Lot's of ways to do it. Certainly one is beeline way way way way way North and then work back south slowly. We like to do what hubby calls "Leapfrog" Cruising. Pick all the places we'd like to stop and see on the East Coast, then do every other one on the trip up and the remainder back down. For instance, we might do Hilton Head to Myrtle Beach to Beaufort, NC going north and then Wilmington and Charleston on the way back south. We'd pick up St. Augustine and Fernandina on the trip North and then Jacksonville and Canaveral South. That way we enjoy the trips both ways and have manageable legs but get to see different places, not just returning where we were earlier. Also, allows us to avoid overnight cruising. The other thing too is that it leaves the trip back still as exciting as the trip up.

Rather than four days solid going north, I'd do like long legs perhaps, but with some stops and exploration. Maybe do a 12 hour day but then spend a day where you ended up.

And I like outside with ducking in, not inside. Only place I choose inside is the VA Cut to get from Beaufort to Norfolk. We've been around Hatteras but it's a long way around and conditions are known to get very challenging, to say the least. Doing an hour in the ICW morning or evening to get where you want is fine, but with your draft, 12 hours of ICW would be very tedious in some areas and your boat is fully capable of outside.

 

[Larry M]

Fernandina Marina is still a mess from Hurricane Mathew. They have ~12 moorings and 4-6 transient slips open. Draft can be an issue.


For the area, Cumberland Island maybe a better choice

 

[DavidM]

You are into the warm weather of Florida, Ga, SC, even NC now. I would head to Block Island and enjoy LI Sound, Narrangansett Bay, etc for the month of June and head north to be in Maine near the 4th of July.

Plan to leave Maine at the end of August and catch what you missed on the way back down: the Chesapeake, NC and south.

David

 

[Bigsfish]

WifeyB

Your other B is smart, I never thought of leapfrogging. Hope you guys don't mind if I steal that idea. Thanks.

 

[BandB]

WifeyB

Your other B is smart, I never thought of leapfrogging. Hope you guys don't mind if I steal that idea. Thanks.

Wifey B: He is. He married me. :lol: As others have mentioned, you do perhaps move up faster to hit the weather. We once went from FLL to NYC in 7 days, basically just relocating a boat. However, we were cruising at 20-26 knots. Another time we took 30 days from FLL to NYC. Problem for OP is that from Key West to Portland ME is nearly 1400 nm. So, let's say in a day he can do 70 nm. And the distance grows for ins and outs so add at least 10%, so then at least 22 days to get there. That's on a delivery schedule. I'd want to at least take every other day off plus your distances won't always work out. So, if I was going from Key West to Portland ME I wouldn't consider doing it in less than 50-60 days. Then sometime you have the trip back. So, you could take 2 months up and 4 back but OP doesn't have that time.

Oh, this is hurting my brain.

I've called upon my assistant for help. So, now the OP has 10 weeks. That's not enough time for Maine and Back.

I'd shorten the distance and at 70 every other day and two ways then you have 5 weeks each way on average and that's like enough to cover ...get this math....35 x 35 = 1225 nm and that's enough for maybe NY or Nantucket at most.

If he was going to try to do Portland and back in ten weeks he'd have to cruise 44 out of the 70 days. So, only 26 out of 70 days would he actually be able to enjoy a town or area.

I'd recommend less. Maybe only to the Chesapeake and Delaware. Otherwise you're just cruising but not seeing.

I sort of go at things like this backwards. I have x days, I can do x amount in a day, I want to cruise x out of x days. How far can I go?

I just say don't make it too aggressive as there's so much to see everywhere on the way.

Hope this helps some. Now, I need some speed in our RIB.

 

[bigpoppop]

We will likely end our trip in Maine on around 9/1 then we will figure out what to do with the boat- but we will not be cruising back south down the coast in 2017. I'm thinking we might make a beeline from Nassau to Chesapeake bay in early June then we will have 10 weeks to see the area from Chesapeake to Maine. We'd miss some stuff to the south but can't see it all this time through- thoughts?

 

[alormaria]

Boating is like baseball.

There is always next season.

 

[BandB]

We will likely end our trip in Maine on around 9/1 then we will figure out what to do with the boat- but we will not be cruising back south down the coast in 2017. I'm thinking we might make a beeline from Nassau to Chesapeake bay in early June then we will have 10 weeks to see the area from Chesapeake to Maine. We'd miss some stuff to the south but can't see it all this time through- thoughts?

The other B:

I would start with the places that I considered must see areas. List them and distances and how much time to see them all. Then start eliminating if you must. There would be obvious benefit of getting the boat back to warm temperatures at the end of your journey. So, I'd start my entire planning with "where do I want to end up with the boat." If that was Florida, then I might cruise from the Chesapeake down.

I see far more must see areas than you can possibly hit so it's selecting those that fit and you want most. I start with South Florida. Then Canaveral. It's a shame for anyone not to see St. Augustine. Savannah and Charleston are must see areas. Myrtle Beach, Bald Head Island, Wilmington, Beaufort and Morehead City. Norfolk and the entire Chesapeake to Annapolis, Baltimore. The Potomac to Washington. The Delaware out to Ocean City and Fort May and New York City. Long Island, Newport, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, Boston. Then Maine. Now, in our previous trips, based on time planning, we haven't made it to Maine.

I just prefer to leave my boat where I don't need to winterize and can just leave it in the water, plus it's accessible. Perhaps you put the Bahamas later in the trip even.

You can never see it all but that's the great part. There's always something for the next trip and the one after. You never reach saturation.

 

[Bigsfish]

The old adage paraphrased: if you try to see it all you will see nothing. Besides it gives you a reason to return.

 

[Reveille]

I'd run up the outside to the Chesapeake Bay. You can catch south of the bay on your return trip in the fall.
Lots to do here in the Chesapeake.

Baydreaming has a nice website on visiting the bay.
BayDreaming.com's Guide to the Chesapeake Bay

Cape Charles
Solomons Island
Deale (Herrington Harbour North)
Annapolis
Baltimore
St Michaels
Onancock
Then head up to Maine. Know of three other Nordhavns that are spending the summer in Maine & up to Nova Scotia. Two of them are 55s

CJ

 

[Ski in NC]

I just drove my car over the Chesapeake Bridge/tunnel at Cape Charles. Water around there was a washing machine. Would have kicked my little boat's a$$.

 

[bigpoppop]

Thanks for all the ideas- super helpful.

 

[bigpoppop]

Good morning everyone- our plan is to go direct from west palm beach to chesapeake bay next week. What is the best source for finding a route that maximizes the Gulf Stream northbound current? Windy app has great graphical resource- and gps waypoints can be garnered there. Is there a better resource? Thanks

 

[High Wire]

Good morning everyone- our plan is to go direct from west palm beach to chesapeake bay next week. What is the best source for finding a route that maximizes the Gulf Stream northbound current? Windy app has great graphical resource- and gps waypoints can be garnered there. Is there a better resource? Thanks

Try NOAA chart 11009.

 

[Sealife]

Careful, the gulf stream at night tends to have lots of storm/lightning activity. Lee Chesneau, a well respected weather guru mentioned this in one of the many classes I took. When I brought the boat north from Ft. Lauderdale to Beaufort NC, we got out before nightfall and watched the lightning all night long over the stream.

 

[bowball]

Good morning- we have been cruising in our trawler for a year, starting from SoCal, up to to Alaska then down to Panama to Colombia and DR and PR and T&C and now in Bahamas. We are trying to decide whether to continue the trip up the east coast to Maine (our original plan). Our draft is nearly 7 feet so ICW is not attractive. I've asked a number of people about the east coast and have received strong opinions to go AND not go.

If we do decide to continue north we'd have around 10 weeks starting 6/15.

Appreciate any advice or opinions.

Jeff

This really was an amazing adventure. From what seems to be no boat experience to buying a N55 and cruising from Alaska to Maine in 14 months. With a 9 year old. What an experience they have done for family memories. I wonder what they are doing now? They just planned and executed. Incredible.

 

[bigpoppop]

Great Memories

Thanks for taking an interest bowball. It was a great trip for sure and we did do the east coast up to Maine and slowly (for us anyway) back down. Ended up shipping the boat from Miami to Ensenada where i had the boat hauled and a few things done like bottom paint. The gulf stream was awesome. Being from west coast i didn’t know much about it but it truly is a force of nature and we were so lucky to get to hang out in those waters. When in doubt, go!

 

[Reveille]

Glad you had a great time here. We met at Solomon Island, Md a few years ago.

 

[bigpoppop]

Yessir- remember you for sure- it was a super busy weekend there and I remember you were kinda the mayor of that island. A friend of yours connected us- really nice guy out of south Florida who I’ve not connected with since I left there.

 

[2savage]

. What is the best source for finding a route that maximizes the Gulf Stream northbound current?

There is no best route because you do NOT want to be in the gulf stream when the wind is from the north. I have had success being ten to twenty miles from the western edge of the stream when the wind is from a southerly quadrant so I could head closer to shore if things change. That said, Diamond Shoals off Hatteras should be given a wide berth. Shoals are a problem and waves can kick up quickly and be very steep with no back to them. I fell off one around 2003 and the landing was so hard my anchor punched a hole through the anchor locker!

 

[Reveille]

We met at Calvert Marina. I was on my boat just passing through. Did you sell you Nordhavn? What are you doing now?