Trip Planning Advice

Picking up our "new to us" Grand Banks 42 in Barefoot Marina, Myrtle Beach, SC May 19th. We are headed NORTH to Norfolk, VA ultimately.

According to the chart, it is at ICW mile 354.

The first day, my wife and I want to do like 50 miles to the North, so we will end up at mile 300 or so.

When I go to my BlueChart app, or my charts it is pretty inefficient searching up and down the chart for an ICW mile marker, and then trying to come close to 300 and start planning the day.

I am not trying to be exact, but just wondering how others plan their days on the ICW.

Thanks

kurt.reynolds said:

Picking up our "new to us" Grand Banks 42 in Barefoot Marina, Myrtle Beach, SC May 19th.

According to the chart, it is at ICW mile 354.

The first day, my wife and I want to do like 50 miles, so we will end up at mile 300 or so.

When I go to my BlueChart app, or my charts it is pretty inefficient searching up and down the chart for an ICW mile marker, and then trying to come close to 350 and start planning the day.

I am not trying to be exact, but just wondering how others plan their days on the ICW.

Thanks

Click to expand...

We plan point to point and within the range of distance we want to cover. Use either your plotter or some online navigation software. Also, Active Captain can be a great tool. I will try to tell how I'd approach your first day.

Looking south in the 40 to 60 nm range (we use nm exclusively even though the markers are statute), you have Georgetown. Nice marinas and nice anchorages in that general vicinity. You don't really have any other hot spot to spend time that fits well in your parameters. Then it would be on to the next day of travel. The next day is a bit more of a challenge. Approximately 80 nm to Charleston. That may be too much for you. If so, then it becomes a two day journey. That's fine. Then I just look at a nice stop anywhere in between. It doesn't have to be the exact midpoint. In fact, I probably wouldn't decide where in advance. There are anchorages along the entire route and not much in the way of towns. i would start the day early and when I got tired or it became late I'd look for anchorages within the next hour or so. If you make it 40 nm or 60 nm the first day, it really doesn't matter.

One thing I would to if new to this is look down the coast and get an idea of the distances between places. Here is a good tool.

https://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/distances-ports/distances.pdf

When we first started we made a spreadsheet where we had every town and marina we might be interested in along the coast listed and the distances. We've done it in other areas. For instance between Westport, WA and San Francisco, we had 15 stops on our consideration list. We looked at the mileages and selected 8 of them that fit together to make a good plan. We kept the others in our mind as emergency and back up options.

Kurt,
From Myrtle Beach, our next stop would be around Wrightsville Beach. We usually anchor in the basin off the ICW. From Wrightsville, heading north you will run into three bridges that have to be timed for scheduled openings.
For planning, my wife uses Skipper Bob Anchorages Along the ICW (totally works on statue miles) and I use Active Captain.
A day for us is 40-80 miles, depending on the marina, anchorage or other stopping point.
Enjoy the trip.

I don't know why I thought South. Sorry.

Going north we'd go for Southport or Wrightsville. We'd probably pick Southport. We'd still do the same as detailing all the potential stops and distances and then selecting the ones that we liked most.

We too use Active Captain for trip and anchorage planning. Along the ICW, if you zoom in enough the raster charts that AC is based on show ICW mileages. So just look for 300 SM which is Georgetown.

But the Georgetown harbor can be crowded. I have anchored a few miles north behind Butler Island and it was a safe a bucolic anchorage.

The next stop would be Mile Hammock Bay at mile 245, then Adams creek at 190 or Oriental's free docks at 180, then the Pungo River just south of the canal or the Alligator River just north of the canal, then Elizabeth City and their free and welcoming docks, then through the Dismal Swamp Canal to Norfolk.

Enjoy your trip.

David

kurt.reynolds said:

When I go to my BlueChart app, or my charts it is pretty inefficient searching up and down the chart for an ICW mile marker, and then trying to come close to 300 and start planning the day.

Click to expand...

On a north-south route, using minutes of latitude can sometimes get you in the ballpark quickly. 57 minutes is about 50 statute miles. Impacted by how straight the actual route is, etc.

Find 57 minutes north (from your starting position), then rummage around there plus/minus (usually) 3-5 minutes or so to locate statute mile markers...

-Chris

ranger42c said:

On a north-south route, using minutes of latitude can sometimes get you in the ballpark quickly. 57 minutes is about 50 statute miles. Impacted by how straight the actual route is, etc.

Find 57 minutes north (from your starting position), then rummage around there plus/minus (usually) 3-5 minutes or so to locate statute mile markers...

-Chris

Click to expand...

You have this the wrong way around:
50 minutes of latitude = 50 nm ~ 57 stature miles

Insequent said:

You have this the wrong way around:
50 minutes of latitude = 50 nm ~ 57 stature miles

Click to expand...

Ummm... yep, sorry, calculated backwards... thanks for the correction.

Approx. 43 minutes, then.

-Chris