New adventure for me.

[jefwhlr]

About to close on a well kept eighties 36' Marine Trader Sedan. I'm moving out of a 27' Island Packet sail, and this will be a big change. I plan to bring her south from New England to SWFL next early fall. I have plenty of big ship blue water experience, but have never traveled the ICW and am interested in anyone's opinion as to best navigational plan and literature. Slow & steady 6 kts. Particularly, best advice getting from the Cape Cod canal to Norfolk?? Thanks.

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Welcome aboard. Can't help with the northern pat of your route which is not considered ICW but from Norfolk, VA south, we've used Active Captain for the "latest" information and Skipper Bob's various publications for additional info'. Watch your tides and don't follow the magenta line on your chart plotter.
It seemed to me that a fair amount of "data" from either print or electronic sources was generated by people with VAST skill in "creative" writing. Take all you read with a grain of salt and keep your eyes open.

[O C Diver]

Welcome to the forum!
Couple of recent threads in the last year on the NJ to FL portion.

Ted

[Autoteacher]

Welcome!
I miss my IP27 that I sailed single hand all over the Keys. Sorry never been North of South Carolina. We are now on a 40 Marine Trader for five years live aboard. Cruising the AICW and St John's River system. The Keys and Florida.

@ TheOffice

What engines do you have? Pictures?

Enjoy!

[jefwhlr]

I don't want to post any pics until I own her, but she"s got the Ford Lehman 120 with about 250 hrs on major OH. I imagine the St John's is really interesting to wander around in...big river!

[Wxx3]

I went though the same angst.

Ended up that Active Captain answered all of my dreams, prayers and washed the windows also.

Just make sure you have a navigation program that integrates Active Captain, so that you can see what's around you, good or bad, based on where you are.

I used Polar View on my Laptop with a $25 GPS puck from Amazon and it was the perfect combination for me. Made planning and navigation easy.m Made finding stopping points even easier and it helps to see danger points based on your route.

[healhustler]

Originally Posted by RT Firefly

Greetings,

It seemed to me that a fair amount of "data" from either print or electronic sources was generated by people with VAST skill in "creative" writing.

I could be wrong, but the above sounds like a vastly creative writer's way of saying that all information may not be accurate.

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. HH. OR another way of saying some people can't follow directions.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Welcome.

Remember no pics? It didn't happen.......

[BandB]

I think the real guiding factor on the trip south is how much time do you have? Very different recommendations based on whether you're doing this more delivery style or leisure, all the time in the world, style.