South Migration

We are planning on moving our 40' Mainship south from the Hudson River NY to Stuart FL for the winter. We were supposed to leave 2 weeks ago but delayed for some fiberglass repairs.
Supposed to get the boat back in next week but probably wouldn't be able to leave until after Nov. 3 then would like to go for a couple weeks leave boat for a couple weeks to return home for granddaughter and work then go again.
Any suggestions for latest time to leave considering weather,fuel and transient slips we have a 15 year old dog so anchor out a little more difficult.
We would like to take the intracoastal and travel up to 8 hours per day daylight permitting.
Any suggestions for itinerary, marinas or anything else would be greatly appreciated

Get to Morhead City, NC and you should be golden.

Biggest problem would be reservations....maybe..

Just curious...do you already have reservations in Stuart?

Stuart

Yes thanks already have reservations in Stuart

You're going to encounter days in the 60's, 50's and 40's. Nights in the 50's, 40's and 30's. Can't tell you where or where or how many. Similarly with sea conditions. There's another thread here on the NJ ICW and most of us don't recommend it if you can avoid it.

I recommend looking at distances here. https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/publications/docs/distances.pdf

Don't overestimate your day's range as while marinas are open, their hours will be reduced and late arrivals are difficult, make fueling a problem, and early departures are challenging and cold. Check ahead with marinas. Don't burn yourselves out on the first two or three days and make the rest of the trip miserable.

Morehead City was mentioned above. It really depends on how soon you'll return as it can get cold in December and January. It's a comfortable 10 days to get there, but weather can cause you to lose some days.

Leaving on Nov 4 would be fine, but when you toss in the variable of only running 2 weeks, then skipping two, it's getting more precarious. This puts your second two week run as December 3-17 or so. Most years you're talking days in the 50's and 60's in Morehead City, but occasionally highs in the low 40's and lows around freezing. Still your boat is likely to be fine as long as you reach Morehead City. You, on the other hand, are subject to your own tolerance for cold.

For each day of travel, also have bail out destinations. If you can't comfortably make it to destination A, then what is B.

If you have an inside helm and some way of providing warmth, temperatures aren’t really a factor. What is a bigger factor is the increasing frequency, intensity and extent of winter fronts. The later you leave the more of a factor they are. They vary but commonly several days of gales followed by a couple days of calm.

You may find returning to continue your trip only to stare at your anemometer spinning wildly for a few days before you choose to depart. Much of the ICW is protected but, numerous shallow bays and sounds can be very unpleasant, even dangerous when gales are blowing. The later you leave, the more time you need to add to your anticipated trip time.

As you plot an itinerary, it would be wise to call marinas you’d expect to visit and find out for yourself their transient status and availability of water and electric. I posted in another thread, we’ve departed the top of the Chesapeake mid November and arrived in Beaufort/Morehead City a month later without any issues whatsoever.

Thank you

One year we didn't start from Annapolis until 11/14 and left the boat at Osprey Marina (Socastee, near Myrtle Beach on 12/3)... then resumed on 1/21 for the rest of the trip.

Helm on the enclosed but unheated hardtop flybridge. Some days, especially in January, were indeed "chilly" but the greenhouse effect made it mostly easy enough to deal with. We were only going as far as Charleston, and that was pleasant enough...

Did have to pay attention to pump-out availability along the way, especially in January.

-Chris

These are places that we have stayed on numerous trips down the ICW

Heading south from Deale,Md

Solomons Island (Calvert’s Marina)$1.00 ft
Solomons Island (Spring Cove Marina)
String Ray Point,Va (Doziers Marina)
*Cape Charles,Va (Cape Charles Yacht Center)
Norfolk (Waterside Marina). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * St M 0
Top Rack Marina
Chesapeake,VA (Atlantic Yacht Basin)
Coinjock,NC* * * * * * * * * * * * * St M 50
Columbia,NC (Alligator River Marina). * * * * * * * St M 85
Anchor Northside Pungo/Alligator Canal. St M 105
*Belhaven Marina (spoonriver best restaurant). St M 135
Oriental (River Dunes Marina).great marina** * St M 175
Morehead City Yacht Basin (breakfast Grumpys*). St M 205
Mile Hammock (Anchored).* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * St M 245
Wrightsville Beach (Seapath Marina)** * * * * * * St M 285
Carolina Beach (Mooring Field). * * * * * * * * * * * * St M 295
Bald Head IslandMarina. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * St M 310
St James Plantation Marina.* $1.25 ft** St M 316
Myrtle Beach (Barefoot Marina).* * * * * St M 355
Georgetown (Harbour Walk).* * * * * * * * St M 404
Georgetown Landing Marina. St M404
Charleston (Isle of Palm Marina)** * * * St M 455
Charleston ( St John’s Marina. Nice place)
Beaufort (Port Royal Landing Marina) St M 538
Hilton Head Island (Skull Creek)
Savannah.** (Thunderbolt).** * * * * * * * * * St M 583
Savannah (Isle of Hope Marina).* * * * St M 590
*Kilkenny (Good restaurant).* * * * * * * * * St M 615
*Buttermilk Sound (Anchorage).** * * * * * St M 659
*Brunswick (Brunswick Landing).* * * * St M 675
*Jekyll Island (brunch at clubhouse).** * St M 685
Amelia Island (Amelia Island Marina).** St M 720
Jacksonville (Beach Marine).** * * * * * * * * St M 745
*St Augustine (Conch Marina)(O’Steens fried shrimp).*St M 775
*Palm Coast (Palm Coast Marina).* * * * * * St M 805
Daytona Beach (Halifax Harbor Marina). St M 830
Titusville (Titusville Marina).* * * * * * * * * * * * St M 880
Vero Beach (Suntex Loggerhead).** * * * * * St M 945
Stuart. (Sunset Bay Marina). St M 987
N Palm Beach. (Old Port Cove).* * * * * * * * * * St M 1015

Mike, so the biggest challenge is not dying of boredom as you wait for good weather to do the New Jersey coast run. My first year on this route I had to wait five days.

You can hang out at the marina at Atlantic Highlands, go up the Navesink to Fair Haven Yacht Basin, or Anchor inside of Sandy hook waiting for a west or northwest wind.

Active Captain and Waterways Guide have review of the anchorages.

The entrances to most of the NJ inlets are tough if the seaswell is up and the tide is outgoing.

Don’t be afraid of the NJICW, it’s better than sitting at a dock waiting for the sea to die down. Just pay attention to the Waterways Guide hazard warnings. I’ve only bumped at dead low in the marked spots.

For the ICW, you might want to get on the Facebook group “Cruising the ICW with Bob423”

Safe travels.

A slight bend in the topic but leaving in November the OP may be caught up in a wave of snowbirds. I don't know, but I am curious. The Canadian border southbound opens in early November. Yes? I would anticipate a wave of RVs crossing heading south. Are there a significant number of Canadian trawler snowbirds that head south in the winter? If so they may put pressure on available resources that late in the year.

friz said:

A slight bend in the topic but leaving in November the OP may be caught up in a wave of snowbirds. I don't know, but I am curious. The Canadian border southbound opens in early November. Yes? I would anticipate a wave of RVs crossing heading south. Are there a significant number of Canadian trawler snowbirds that head south in the winter? If so they may put pressure on available resources that late in the year.

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I'm leaving Nova Scotia after the US border opens Nov 8. But most Canadian snowbird trawlers come south from Quebec or the Great Lakes via the NYS canals which are now closed, so they won't make it this year.

Regardless of your "normal" cruising speed most ICW crawls are done at about 6K .

The bridge tenders only open for all the boats they can see , so it soon becomes a collection of boats waiting for the slowest sail boat to arrive.

Plan on 60-70 statute miles per day , especially in the fall with short days.

Low boats and 20+K boats can avoid this , but with a huge fuel cost.

This is usually delivery crews ,that get a rebate on fuel bills.

Mainship Mike said:

We are planning on moving our 40' Mainship south from the Hudson River NY to Stuart FL for the winter...
Any suggestions for itinerary, marinas or anything else would be greatly appreciated

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Hey Mike - perhaps take a look at our two trips south from the Hudson, one of which began at the end of October, pausing in Beaufort, NC for Thanksgiving weekend. For the other we staged OLOH in Deltaville, VA for much of October, leaving from there in early November to make Hilton Head for Thanksgiving before continuing south. It should give you a feel for what you may experience and some hopefully helpful thoughts on places to stay.
https://myoloh.com/category/southbound/
https://myoloh.com/category/southbound-2019/

In '05 I made a run from Mystic CT to Ft Myers in 3 weeks, but that was dawn to dusk every day. We're currently heading south at a more relaxed pace.

As mentioned earlier, Osprey Marina is a great place to leave a boat, very protected and very reasonable for the first 3days and dirt cheap after that.

Due to daylight saving time ending on 11/7, it will be dark before 6PM. So I wouldn't count on 8 hour days. For marinas, you should make reservations for transient slips as early as possible. Also, here's a link to Dog Friendly Anchorages https://drive.google.com/file/d/12M...ujhEKwyBdTCX0Y3DwiYLuE51-VkdMTnR3zTbeMw5fxH5s

amapola said:

Due to daylight saving time ending on 11/7, it will be dark before 6PM. So I wouldn't count on 8 hour days. For marinas, you should make reservations for transient slips as early as possible.

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While days will be shorter, they'll still be over 10 hours and nautical days will run about 12 hours. So, get an early start and long days. However, Marinas do tend to close earlier and you need to know that information and make arrangements. So, I see 8 hours as no problem, but keep an eye on your later afternoon arrivals. Also, make arrangements to leave before they open, so all bills settled and ready to go.

Here is some old, old, old advice...
Step 1: Throw out your calendar.
Step 2: Proceed.