Southbound

My nephew and I left N Myrtle Beach last Thursday and headed down the ICW on our trip south. We spent the first night on the hook in a creek just past Georgetown. We had a head-on encounter with a tug and barge at the South Island ferry crossing. You can spit across this narrow part of the waterway. Definitely a high pucker factor.

The next day we cruised down to the Charleston City Marina. We parked behind the 170ft. mega-sailing yacht “Tamsen”. The same boat we berthed across from in November in Santa Barbara, CA. They had just come though the canal and were getting ready to sail to the Med. Small world.
Charleston is a beautiful city and I hope we can spend more time there on our return trip.

The next night we anchored in Rock Creek, a small sliver of water in the South Carolina low country. Beautiful vast marshlands as far as you can see. Dolphins were playing (feeding) around the boat all night.

We headed down to Savannah the next day. We anchored just past Isle of Hope at Possum Point in the Vernon River. We passed through Hell Gate at high water the next morning. Very scary even at high water.

We are currently anchored in Umbrella Creek just past Jekyll Sound. Jekyll Creek at low water is no bargain either.

This is my first time in this part of the country and I am amazed at the diversity of scenery and the variety of boats we are seeing (mostly going north). We've stayed inside all the way so far. We might poke our nose outside when we get to Fla.

We hope to make it to Jacksonville tomorrow where we will have to pull into a marina somewhere as we are running out of beer. KJ

"Row faster... I hear banjo music!"

KJ, glad you have thrown off the umbilical chord and are stretching the legs of your vessel. Love hearing the first impressions of running the ICW.

We are in Ft. Pierce for the week. If you get this far, give us a shout.

Have a safe trip.

If you have some time, just before the FL line, double back behind Cumberland Island National Seashore. Anchor and take a dinghy to the dock ($4.00 per person).. Wild horses running around and a beautiful place. We had a manatee follow our dinghy back to our boat when we stopped.

How far south are you going?

"Row faster... I hear banjo music!"
“Dueling Banjos” on the CD player.


“We are in Ft. Pierce for the week. If you get this far, give us a shout.”

We will almost certainly pass through Ft. Pierce, unless we go outside, which doesn’t look favorable yet.

“If you have some time, just before the FL line, double back behind Cumberland Island National Seashore. Anchor and take a dinghy to the dock ($4.00 per person).. Wild horses running around and a beautiful place.”

We actually saw several wild horses on the beach on Cumberland Island as we passed by. That was pretty cool.
Almost as cool as the Boomer coming at us at Kings Bay.


“How far south are you going?”
We have enough provisions and for either the Keys or the near Bahamas. We have contingency plans for both. We might get skinny on time for the Bahamas.

My nephew lost his job as navigator today. He suggested a marina “just a little way” up the St. Johns River to refuel. Yeah, right. 15 miles upstream. At least they have cold beer and a great view of the Jacksonville night skyline.

KJ said:

"Row faster... I hear banjo music!"
“Dueling Banjos” on the CD player.


“We are in Ft. Pierce for the week. If you get this far, give us a shout.”

We will almost certainly pass through Ft. Pierce, unless we go outside, which doesn’t look favorable yet.

“If you have some time, just before the FL line, double back behind Cumberland Island National Seashore. Anchor and take a dinghy to the dock ($4.00 per person).. Wild horses running around and a beautiful place.”

We actually saw several wild horses on the beach on Cumberland Island as we passed by. That was pretty cool.
Almost as cool as the Boomer coming at us at Kings Bay.


“How far south are you going?”
We have enough provisions and for either the Keys or the near Bahamas. We have contingency plans for both. We might get skinny on time for the Bahamas.

My nephew lost his job as navigator today. He suggested a marina “just a little way” up the St. Johns River to refuel. Yeah, right. 15 miles upstream. At least they have cold beer and a great view of the Jacksonville night skyline.

Click to expand...

We saw a submarine also. If you land on the island you can walk right up to the horses. Go on past where you took the picture, then double back into the bay behind the island. There's a Park Service Dock and visitor center.

I have been through Kings Bay eight or ten times and I never saw a sub coming through that is really cool I am just south of Fort Lauderdale in Hollywood on the. IcW.. and plan on heading to Key West. myself next week when you get down this way give a shout maybe we can hook up and have a drink

KJ said:

"Row faster... I hear banjo music!"
“Dueling Banjos” on the CD player.


“We are in Ft. Pierce for the week. If you get this far, give us a shout.”

We will almost certainly pass through Ft. Pierce, unless we go outside, which doesn’t look favorable yet.

“If you have some time, just before the FL line, double back behind Cumberland Island National Seashore. Anchor and take a dinghy to the dock ($4.00 per person).. Wild horses running around and a beautiful place.”

We actually saw several wild horses on the beach on Cumberland Island as we passed by. That was pretty cool.
Almost as cool as the Boomer coming at us at Kings Bay.


“How far south are you going?”
We have enough provisions and for either the Keys or the near Bahamas. We have contingency plans for both. We might get skinny on time for the Bahamas.

My nephew lost his job as navigator today. He suggested a marina “just a little way” up the St. Johns River to refuel. Yeah, right. 15 miles upstream. At least they have cold beer and a great view of the Jacksonville night skyline.

Click to expand...

That run To Jacksonville on the St. Johns River is a bear. The water moves pretty fast through there, leaving is a lot easier.

Very cool sub pic. Thanks for sharing.

An interesting side note about the sub sighting.
We had a navy fast boat with two M 60’s trained on us, stay along side of us while we moved out of the channel while the sub passed. They have a 500 yd. security perimeter around the sub.

After we had reached Fernandina Beach we heard one of the Navy boats on ch 16 requesting a small pleasure boat to move out of the channel to maintain the security zone. The boat came back and said they were anchored and fishing and would try to stay out of the way, but they weren’t going to move.

After a moment of silence the Navy boat repeated the request and the boat responded the same. The skipper then asked the Navy boat if he could ask the sub captain to slow down so his buddies could get better pictures.

The navy boat came back and ordered the captain to get all persons on deck and switch to ch 172. We switched our handheld to 172 but there was just silence. KJ

Not a boomer. Looks like a Virginia class fast boat.

KJ said:

An interesting side note about the sub sighting.
We had a navy fast boat with two M 60’s trained on us, stay along side of us while we moved out of the channel while the sub passed. They have a 500 yd. security perimeter around the sub.

After we had reached Fernandina Beach we heard one of the Navy boats on ch 16 requesting a small pleasure boat to move out of the channel to maintain the security zone. The boat came back and said they were anchored and fishing and would try to stay out of the way, but they weren’t going to move.

After a moment of silence the Navy boat repeated the request and the boat responded the same. The skipper then asked the Navy boat if he could ask the sub captain to slow down so his buddies could get better pictures.

The navy boat came back and ordered the captain to get all persons on deck and switch to ch 172. We switched our handheld to 172 but there was just silence. KJ

Click to expand...

Strictly from memory, I don't believe either of my marine VHS transceivers has a channel 172 so that could be the cause of the silence.

Aside from that, refusing an order from someone with machine guns mounted on the boat is not the smartest decision a person could make.

rwidman said:

Strictly from memory, I don't believe either of my marine VHS transceivers has a channel 172 so that could be the cause of the silence.

Aside from that, refusing an order from someone with machine guns mounted on the boat is not the smartest decision a person could make.

Click to expand...

Yikes, another brain infarct. I believe it was ch 72.

Here's a pic of the Virgina class sub with it's machine gun totting escort. KJ

Well, we finally made it to Miami. We are currently anchored off Virginia Key. What a wild ride down from Jacksonville. There’s so much skinny water, I think they should rename it the IntraCoastalShoalway. Going through the waterway at Jupiter on Sunday afternoon is like a bad Disney ride.

You really need to be on top of your navigation for this trip. South Carolina and Georgia were challenging, but in a different way. There’s so much going on that it’s easy to become distracted. The next thing you know, you’re out of the channel where a lot of bad things can happen.

We’ve only spent two nights in a marina, so planning the days travel and faith in our ground tackle has been a very important part of the trip.

Some of the homes (if you can call them that) and yachts along the waterway are unbelievable, with one out- doing the other in grandeur.

We’ll need to re-provision and refuel before heading out again. The Gulf Stream sounds pretty nasty right now (there was a report of a Bertram abandoned and drifting and a capsized sailboat out there today).

At least we got to go swimming today, just before a violent thunderstorm rolled in. We’ll hang out here for a couple of days and then just start heading south if conditions don’t improve. KJ

Sounds like a great trip KJ. Only two nights at a marina so far sounds like my kind of cruise. The relaxation must be horrible

Bahamas still the eventual destination?

Craig, that trip through the condo canyons of South Florida is only relaxing for the passengers. What with many many timed bridge openings, no wake, minimum wake, 15" wake zones, crazy boaters all over the place the captain has his hands full.

I was at a bridge in West Palm Beach. Called for an opening on next scheduled opening 10 minutes ahead. The bridge tender said that I called too early. So, at the Commercial Blvd. Bridge near Ft. Lauderdale I was waiting and called 5 minutes ahead of bridge opening schedule. The bridge tender said I called too late for an opening. I asked for his name to report him. The bridge opened with no further conversation. Not a fun day.

Needless to say, with any kind of good weather we run outside.

There's frustrations everywhere Don. All things being equal, I'll trade the frustrations you describe for a normal work day any day

Kj
I see your boat is a chung wha, mine also is a chung wha only a 44' I missed you yesterday as you must have went right by me in hollywood What is the name of your boat?

KJ, Welcome to Miami! If you need any local knowledge, just ask and I'll make something up. Seriously Healhustler and I live in Miami. If you have any questions we would be glad to help.

Craig, that trip through the condo canyons of South Florida is only relaxing for the passengers. What with many, many timed bridge openings, no wake, minimum wake, 15" wake zones, crazy boaters all over the place the captain has his hands full.

I would say that applies to many, many stretches of the waterway.

I was at a bridge in West Palm Beach. Called for an opening on next scheduled opening 10 minutes ahead. The bridge tender said that I called too early. So, at the Commercial Blvd. Bridge near Ft. Lauderdale I was waiting and called 5 minutes ahead of bridge opening schedule. The bridge tender said I called too late for an opening. I asked for his name to
report him. The bridge opened with no further conversation. Not a fun day

We got held up at the Venetian West bridge. The gal refused to open it for three boats that were waiting to pass through. She said she couldn’t see us. We were right there. She made us all wait a half hour. When she did finally open she told the boat behind me that if he didn’t speed up she was going to close the bridge and he would have to wait another half hour. I guess she was having a bad day.

Needless to say, with any kind of good weather we run outside.

I would love have made the run outside on any of the segments. We checked every day and it sounded like the boats that were out there were getting bashed up pretty good. Strong N and NE winds along the whole southern coast.


Sounds like a great trip KJ. Only two nights at a marina so far sounds like my kind of cruise. The relaxation must be horrible

Bahamas still the eventual destination?

We were making some pretty good runs on the inside with a couple of 80- 85 mile days and even a 90 mile day. We anchored out more for economics than for adventurism. After running every day and anchoring every night, tying up in a marina with all its amenities certainly is appealing. We will probably tie up tomorrow at Dinner Key Marina and check out Coconut Grove for a day.
The Bahamas are starting to look like a no go. There are 8-10 foot waves out in the Gulf Stream right now and the north wind is not supposed to change for a while. We will start making our way south slowly and make a decision by the weekend.



Kj
I see your boat is a chung wha, mine also is a chung wha only a 44' I missed you yesterday as you must have went right by me in hollywood What is the name of your boat?

With all the crazies we had to deal with in Delray Beach and Jupiter over the weekend, we wanted to get an early start, expecting a difficult run through the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area. We left Lake Boca Raton in a driving rain around 7am and by the time we got to Hollywood, the rain had stopped and was a quite pleasant passage through the “condo canyons” as Don calls them. There wasn’t any boating traffic at all, and we made it down to Miami without any problems (except the Ven. West bridge).

My boat’s name is Avalon.

KJ, Welcome to Miami! If you need any local knowledge, just ask and I'll make something up. Seriously Healhustler and I live in Miami. If you have any questions we would be glad to help

Thanks.


We woke up this morning to see this sailboat up on the beach. He wasn’t there last night. It took two powerboats to pull him off. KJ

I am. leaving Hollywood Thursday heading for the keys maybe I'll catch up to you in Key West

"We woke up this morning to see this sailboat up on the beach. He wasn’t there last night. It took two powerboats to pull him off. KJ "

I wonder what kind of anchor he had?

Kj. are you staying in boot key today Tuesday or are you heading for Key West ?

I will try to give you a call on channel 16 when I get closer

“Avalon” and “Bay Shack” (aka Motion30) at rest

In Key West

865 miles from home port. KJ

Cool pics. almost feel like I am there

Cool pics. almost feel like I am there

Put your feet in a pail of cold water , have someone pour a pitcher of cold water over your head , and start tearing up packs of $100 bills ,

For the real boating experience!

Ff. I was being a bit of a wise ass , as one of those boats in the picture is mine . but of course you are right abou t $100 bills. but the really nice part is the water temperature here is 83 degrees

Btw. KJ and David aboard Avalon
have left Key West for their trip north . it was a pleasure meeting them . they both were two very nice guys , and true gentleman have a safe journey north men

Adios Fla Keys.

We start our northbound trek back to S Carolina tomorrow. I can’t believe we’ve been here for a month already. Time does fly. We’ve had such a great time here; it’s going to be hard to leave.

We hope to spend more time visiting places that we passed by on the way down like St. Augustine, Fernandina Beach, Cumberland Island, Savannah, Beaufort, and Charleston.

I would like to mention that along with a cruising guide, we used Active Captain quite often on our journey down the ICW. It proved to be a valuable resource for locating safe anchorages and we plan on using it again on our way back. I highly recommend it.

I would like to thank Michael (aka motion30) of “Bay Shack” for his assistance with our dinghy/outboard problems which have been nicely resolved. It was a pleasure getting to know him and I hope our paths will cross again on future excursions.

It looks like we are going to have some stormy weather for the rest of the week so we will spend the rest of today securing the boat. We will try Hawk Channel back to Virginia Key; if it gets too crazy we will go inside.

We caught a real nice King Mackerel on the trip back to Marathon. Grilled it for dinner. Can’t beat what Mother Ocean provides. KJ