Atlantic ICWW anchorage and marina advice

Hi, will be bringing 40' trawler down Atlantic ICWW late May/June. Final destination Green Cove Springs. Any recommendations for anchorages/marinas would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Green Cove Springs, where?


Anyway, have you checked ActiveCaptain?


-Chris

Oriental. Two free docks; one with pump out and restrooms or anchorage in harbor or under 45' bridge.

Greetings,
Starting where? If the Chesapeake area and doing the Dismal Swamp Canal route, would suggest Lamb's Marina Lambs Marina

Browse through this site, lot's of discussion, For more thorough coverage:

On the Water ChartGuides | Home of On the Water ChartGuides Foundation
About the Guides | Waterway Guide
Cruisers' Net | Cruisers Helping Cruisers

As you get closer to a particular place of interest, and the kind of things you are really interested in, then maybe you could get some more info here from some of us vets. But there is a plethora of good information available already.

Is this a straight through delivery or an exploration cruise?

There is Active Captain and there are several books with the information you are seeking. The Waterway Guides are good.


There are hundreds of anchorages and marinas along the way and it would be silly to try to list them all on a web forum.

Skipper Bob's book of Anchorages.

Great Book of Anchorages

Active Captain

They are the three main sources I use.

Here is a list of some of the stops we make when going from Norfolk to northern Florida. Not all are listed.
Chesapeake Yachts free dock just S of I 64- good place to spend the night to get an early start the next morning- avoids bridge restrictions
Elizabeth City, NC- free dock
Pungo River at the southern end of the canal
Oriental, NC- free dock
Beaufort, NC- Town Creek
Mile Hammock Bay, NC- basin dredged by the Marines
Wrightsville Beach off of Harbor Island
Butler Island on the Waccamaw north of Georgetown
Wapoo Creek east of Charlestown
Beaufort, SC
Broad Creek, Hilton Head
South end of Cumberland Sound across from Drum Pt Island


David

Have Waterways guide and complete map tec charts. Was interested in peoples opinions. Will actually be starting out from Toledo Ohio thru Welland Canal then to Oswego N.Y. etc. Green Cove Springs located North Eastern Florida

If you do not know about Active Captain, you need to find out about it and use it for this trip.

AC is a PC application and a marina/anchorage/hazard database that is built in to a lot of navigation apps. With either the PC version or the app version you are presented with a chart view (raster in the case of the PC version) with icons showing anchorages, marinas, etc. You click on an icon and a data box pops up with basic information about the icon. But more useful to me is the reviews that are included from users.

The PC version has a basic path tool that sets up a route and gives you its mileage or it can be converted to a route that some download to their gps.

It is an essential planning tool for anyone contemplating a trip such as yours. The PC version is free, but you have to register. Once registered then you can use the database on supported navigation apps and even some chart plotters use the database.

I just saw that you are starting in Ohio. That is an ambitious passage: two Great Lakes, the Erie Canal, down the Hudson to NYC, around NJ, up the Delaware River, down the Chesapeake. Wow, the AICW is only half of it and maybe the easiest half.

David

traveller said:

Was interested in peoples opinions.

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ActiveCaptain has reviews. You have to read between the lines, sometimes (i.e., consider the reviewer, relevance to your needs, etc.).

-Chris

traveller said:

Have Waterways guide and complete map tec charts. Was interested in peoples opinions. Will actually be starting out from Toledo Ohio thru Welland Canal then to Oswego N.Y. etc. Green Cove Springs located North Eastern Florida

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Much nicer ride through the Erie canal from Tonawanda than the haul down Lake Ontario if you have time and the air draught.

Bridge clearance 18' or I wouldn't even consider the Lake Ontario route.

My advice is to read the guides, particularly those with authors who have a stake in them being accurate and useful with a measure of accountability If you have to pick only one, I'd suggest the Doyle's, but our ideal suite includes the Waterway Guides and Chesapeake Magazine's annual cruising guide. And of course, subscribing to the LNM for the areas you are going through. The Doyles and the WG have on-line updates and news services as well. If you want see something that interests you ask about it here for opinions. I have hundreds of opinions about that route based on our cruising experiences, many already expressed on this site here.

A huge question is...are you the marina to marina go out to dinner type? Or the anchor, dingy to a secluded beach or historic site type?....Or a combination of both?


You might ask what is everyone's top 10 and why...after you give a broadstroke as to your likes....

traveller said:

Have Waterways guide and complete map tec charts. Was interested in peoples opinions. Will actually be starting out from Toledo Ohio thru Welland Canal then to Oswego N.Y. etc. Green Cove Springs located North Eastern Florida

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That's fine but you need to specify the marinas and anchorages and solicit comments about specific ones. And of course, you have to tell us what things are important to you and what are not.

An echo....

It can be a great trip. Are you going to do it in pleasure mode or delivery mode? By that I mean are you going to enjoy the stops along the way and linger at many, or are you going to try to make the trip as fast as possible with a full day of travel each day?

Ditto. I need specific question about places.

caltexflanc said:

My advice is to read the guides, particularly those with authors who have a stake in them being accurate and useful with a measure of accountability If you have to pick only one, I'd suggest the Doyle's, but our ideal suite includes the Waterway Guides and Chesapeake Magazine's annual cruising guide. And of course, subscribing to the LNM for the areas you are going through. The Doyles and the WG have on-line updates and news services as well. If you want see something that interests you ask about it here for opinions. I have hundreds of opinions about that route based on our cruising experiences, many already expressed on this site here.

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This is my first year but I have a short list of specific questions that I would be glad to offer opinions.

djmarchand said:

I just saw that you are starting in Ohio. That is an ambitious passage: two Great Lakes, the Erie Canal, down the Hudson to NYC, around NJ, up the Delaware River, down the Chesapeake. Wow, the AICW is only half of it and maybe the easiest half.

David

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+1. I would be researching the pre ICW part. Once on the ICW you've got it made.

That's a long distance to get opinions on, maybe segment it up a bit, we have a good group that knows the locks in the erie canal well, another group in the Chesapeake, then you have Norfolk to destination on the inter-coastal.

Maybe also include speed and distance you can travel in a day.

traveller said:

Have Waterways guide and complete map tec charts. Was interested in peoples opinions. Will actually be starting out from Toledo Ohio thru Welland Canal then to Oswego N.Y. etc. Green Cove Springs located North Eastern Florida

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Need the most help with the New York area and peoples favorite anchorages and Marinas South of Norfolk. Planning on spending a couple days each in Charleston and Savannah area. I am hoping to make trip in the 6-8 week range(weather permitting).
My wife and I enjoy history, eating, and drinking. We also like to split our time between anchoring and marinas about 50/50. Thanks again for all of the help.

Ok...getting scary here...

40 foot trawler....what kind? And what speed do you expect to go?

I hump it very year to a point stopping a few places for family and friends and it takes me at least 6 weeks to go from Jersey to Ft Pierce, Fl.

I rarely have weather day as I am good at planning around it or travelling in weather that makes others nervous.

Again...for me to suggest places, I need to know what kind of budget you are on. If you want marina to marina, dining out every night and no problem dropping $50 or more for taxis....that really can change suggestions. Or I can recommend places and routes that can be fun and save you a lot of money by using free docks and great close anchorages.

So if you really thing you can do it in 6 to 8 weeks...what is the budget less fuel?

Cruise approx. 10 knots. No set budget

Have you roughed out the distances yet?....a quick stab for me shows about 1675 without ant stops in marinas where in many places can add 5 to 10 more miles or another 10 percent to total distance.

My 2 suggestions are Cape May for walking around and dinner in the Victorian Home district and Charleston, SC for its overall look and feel.

You may get some of the best suggestions by starting a thread when you start your trip and give an estimate of where you will be stopping over the next few days. Reward people with a few pictures every day and they will gladly chime in. What happens is you get good input from posters local cruising grounds that they know better from anyone and they will post in depth.

Asking to post particulars on a 1600 mile plus trip is like writing an entire set of cruising guides.

psneeld said:

.............Asking to post particulars on a 1600 mile plus trip is like writing an entire set of cruising guides.

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And those cruising guides have already been written and are available from several sources.

Between distance and locks, I come up with 4 weeks of time underway. That would be 50-70 nm per day plus the 28 locks. If you have 6 weeks, that leaves you only 14 days to stay in the same place. That's closer to a delivery than a cruise in my mind. At least if you stretch your time to 8 weeks, you can average two nights in each stop. That would allow you to select 28 places to stop along the way. You'll have to select the 14 or the 28 that appeal most to you. On our loop, we will spend 8 weeks between NYC and Toledo and that's in a boat that cruises at 26-28 knots. We'd typically spend 4-6 weeks between Jacksonville and NYC at that's also in a much faster boat than a trawler. Plus doesn't include the Chesapeake or Potomac which would add another 2-3 weeks.

You really need at least twice the time you have to turn it into a nice cruise. I'm assuming your limiting factor is work? One thing I always ask is if it is possible to split it into two trips. That would mean 8 weeks through Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the canals and then leave the boat a while, returning for 8 weeks down the East Coast?

If 6 to 8 weeks is your maximum time, then I'd just pick the 14 or 28 places I wanted to spend a day. Everywhere else, you'd just be stopping for the night.

The more you stop, you really start to add time and distance while some marinas are along the route, many arent, and many that are may be very isolated from places to visit.

Also, weather, maintenance, and rest dsys. I say rest depending on crew and workload of the skipper.

psneeld said:

The more you stop, you really start to add time and distance while some marinas are along the route, many arent, and many that are may be very isolated from places to visit.

Also, weather, maintenance, and rest dsys. I say rest depending on crew and workload of the skipper.

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Good points and I'd suggest stops only on the route. We don't know the size boat, do we? How much crew? Will they run outside or only ICW? What his tolerance for rough sea levels is? What's the condition of the boat and likelihood of maintenance issues?

Your points are all very valid and why this really is sounding like a delivery. In that case you don't really care about things to see as you're not going to see many, just convenient marinas and anchorages, all available on Active Captain.

If they just want suggestions not route planning ....for which I apologize in that they might know exactly what they are doing...hey fire away everyone...


But I think the best responses will be in a dedicated trip thread with geographically small requests for good stops...


That has seemed to work the best in the past here.