For several good reasons, we decided to travel south via the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (aka the ICW or the ditch). The ICW is a series of connected inland canals and rivers that stretches from New York to Miami. The first reason we chose the ICW is that the weather is still somewhat cold and volatile so it affords some protection from the ocean weather. The second reason is that while sailing offshore for 4-5 days would be the fastest way to Florida, we are still getting to know Night Music and how she sails/handles in various conditions. An offshore adventure would not necessarily be the best maiden voyage, especially for the kids’ first experience. So, the ICW route it is! We can travel between 40-50 miles a day via ICW – stopping at either marinas or anchorages each night. Most of our travel will be motoring, with some sail/wind assist if the wind direction is right. At that travel rate, we should make it to southern Florida in about 3 weeks.
On that first day we motored from New Bern, NC to Morehead City, NC. We saw dolphins as we left the Neuse River and entered the ICW channel. The kids loved seeing them! Reed is more interested in driving the boat than Ava, but they both like hanging out in the cockpit to see the scenery.
We woke up Monday to dense fog – which meant waiting for that to clear before we could continue on. The ICW channel is dredged with navigations markers delineating the deep channel. With fog, it isn’t possible to see from marker to marker so running aground is more likely (more on that later!). Once the fog cleared, we were on our way and made it to Swansboro, NC. We docked late afternoon and found a nearby park for the kids to get their wiggles out! We are definitely looking for marinas and anchorages that provide for some shore exercise – especially for the kids.
Some of the memorable moments from our first few days were seeing lots of interesting wildlife (including dolphins every day), birds, marshes, river inlets, as well as vacation homes and small communities line the ICW. In addition, there are several different types of bridges across the ICW. Some open upon request, others open at a regular schedule. So far we've traveled past bascule (draw) bridges and swing bridges (they pivot on a central pier to open). I suspect that chatting with and waving to the bridge master will become a fun tradition as we head south.
On our third day, we had been warned by locals to watch out for a particular stretch of the ICW where many boats had run aground. We listened intently, took all the advice…and ran aground anyway! The inlets from the ocean carry sand via the tides causing the channel shoals to shallow depths in those areas. There are often temporary buoys to mark the areas but with the dark/silty water, you can’t really see where the problem areas are. Fortunately, Eric was able to use the engine forward/reverse to get us moving again. Whew!
On day four, a look at the weekend weather showed some strong storm fronts moving through on Thursday and Friday – with 70 degrees and thunder followed by 30 degrees and sleet. We decided to hang out in Wrightsville Beach, NC, for a few days. Eric could get a few engine maintenance items done (oil change, transmission fluid changes, and fuel filter change) while Karrie and the kids could play at the nearby park, do laundry, and some homeschooling. The kids took advantage of the warm weather to climb trees and met a group of kids and played kickball and sharks & minnows
Tomorrow, Saturday, March 7th, the weather forecast improves to warm and moderate winds so we will continue our trip south toward Charleston, SC as our next multi-day stop. It will take 4-5 days to get there, depending on the currents/wind and tide.
We will post more along the way!