It's also one of the most challenging to dock in, thanks to strong currents and tides. That's one of the best parts of the ICW. Learn how to create your own. The quiet creeks where we enjoy anchoring, do not have mooring balls. Copyright © 1999-2020 Boats Group. An ICW veteran gives us the skinny on some great stops. When you arrive, the marina gives you wooden tokens for drinks at the Dockhouse Restaurant attached, but on the water are several other good restaurants: The Boardwalk Café for breakfast and lunch, and the Dockhouse and Queen Anne's Revenge for lunch. To optimize the time, most cruisers have the lines in at “crack of dawn” (COD) and plan to be off the water with an hour or two of daylight left. var pid296584 = window.pid296584 || rnd; There are B-n-B's, boatels and hotels virtually the entire route, you just need to do your homework (a lot of Capt. Channel 6 is reserved for inter-ship safety use, primarily during search-and-rescue operations. We were married a year later. When it comes to cruising via the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), the old saying getting there is half the fun is spot on. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway—also affectionately known as the ICW or The Ditch—is a protected inland waterway route that runs 1,243.8 statute miles from Norfolk, VA, to Key West, FL. Five short blasts: Doubt or danger signal if the signal has not been understood or the proposed action may not be safe. The ICW is the preferred route for snowbirds heading for Florida, the Keys, Bahamas or Cuba. If your draft is 4' 6" it might be touch & go. With its own wine store next door (buy wine here before ordering dinner to save money), the menu is delightful, reasonably priced, and local. How Risky is the ICW with Covid-19? From there we can easily make Norfolk or Portsmouth, where we stock up for the trip down the ditch. © Many of these boaters are cruisers who use the ICW as a highway, traveling south to escape the cold of winter or north to seek relief from the blistering tropical sun. In the 1950s and ’60s the U.S. Army Corps dredged the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) ... Boating around the bay discovering sandbars and seeing what people do on them can make for an interesting day. Dishes such as fried okra and shrimp & grits are highlights of the southern part of the ICW. Nothing. Mile Marker 0 is where it all begins, in Norfolk, VA. 4% back on purchases from West Marine stores or online at, Discounts on fuel, transient slips, repairs and more at over 1,000 businesses. How to Buy a Boat: Tips for a First Time Buyer, Top 10 New Fishing Boats for Under $20,000, What Type is Right for You? (Photo: SavannahVisit.com), Watching wild horses on Cumberland Island, Georgia feed in the marshy grass. The Beaufort Grocery with its farm-to-table fare and Aqua with small plates and wine-flight tastings are our favorites. In addition to commercial traffic, The ICW is used extensively by recreational boaters, so you will not be alone on the ICW. Channels 6 and 22A are also important to pleasure boaters. Privacy Policy, One short blast: "I intend to leave you on my port side. While recognized as the most popular segment of the Eastern America’s waterways, the Atlantic ICW links to Intracoastal waterways as far North as the Cape Cod Canal, and as far south as around the southern tip of Florida and along the Gulf Coast to Brownsville, TX. Cruising the ICW. If your boat has a draft of 4' or less you will be fine. Coinjock Marina over the North Carolina border is usually our next stop. You should be aware of these if you boat on these waters. As we cruised through pretty towns, I silently thanked our forefathers for linking the natural inlets to provide a navigable route along the Eastern Seaboard, avoiding many of the hazards and discomforts of the open sea. Then I happened to glance alongside the boat and saw a school of 12 dolphins riding our bow wave, jumping, diving, and yes, slapping the water as they landed. Southbound on the Dismal Swamp Canal in November, these sailboats, part of a caravan of five cruising yachts, are treated to a touch of Virginia's spectacular fall foliage. Navigation aids along the ICW are the same as any other U.S. waterway, with the exception of yellow markings. We toasted and matched faces with the boat names of cruisers we'd seen regularly since Great Bridge, Virginia, and all had dinner together at the Toucan Grill, enjoying ribs, seafood, and pasta. My first trip on the ICW was in April 1985, when my husband Jim and I delivered our "new to us" Beneteau 35 sailboat from Fort Lauderdale to our home on the Magothy River in the Chesapeake Bay. Savannah is laid out in squares, each with a beautiful park in the middle. If you're at a day's end, or the Alligator River Swing Bridge can't open because of high winds, you'll probably stay at the Alligator River Marina known as Miss Wanda's. It wasn't so terrible. El Nino is not a good thing for Florida – the weather has been down right awful. With a larger boat, it's worth planning on shorter days of travel, booking marinas ahead, and having a backup plan. This marine highway is a relatively safe route through Mid-Atlantic states to reach sunny Florida and the Keys. You enter the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) at Norfolk, at the southern end of Chesapeake. The Okeechobee Waterway: Cruising the water that connects the seas Florida is best known to boaters for the water around its edges, which is no wonder with more than 2,000 miles of tidal shoreline open to the sea. But coastal cruisers, and those transiting the Intracoastal Waterway, in particular, still have to return to land for re-provisioning and things like water, fuel, and pump-outs. Both get busy with the snowbirds in October/November and April/May, but they always have fuel and water, usually a pumpout system that works, and a good restaurant. This interactive map makes a fantastic route and trip planner. Leaving Oriental, we follow the Neuse River to Adams Creek where we get to navigate using ranges and enter the very narrow Adams Creek Canal. Once you leave the Waccamaw River, travel almost 50 miles through straight-dredged cuts of marshland to Charleston, one of the most beautiful cities on the ICW, and probably the whole U.S. It's a pretty resort with a golf course, spa, and nice restaurants, and they make the best mint julep I've ever tasted. We pulled into Zahniser's Marina to regroup for the night and had a cozy home-style meal of delicious soft crabs and a throat-warming cognac at the Dry Dock Restaurant, after which all was right with the world again. Yes, we are definitely "fair weather" boaters, so, if the wind is high (8+) and/or rain predicted, the boat does come off of the trailer. It runs April to December every Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. just a few blocks from the waterfront, under spreading live oak trees. This stretch of water is used often by East Coast cruisers who head South to Florida for the Winter and back North to New England for the Summer. So the Coast Guard adopted the following clockwise convention: moving in a southerly direction along the Atlantic Coast, then in a northerly, then westerly direction along the Gulf Coast, is considered returning from seaward. ICW in a smaller vessel by: Capt. It's a no-frills place (in fact, it's a gas station and truck stop that happens to have a marina) in a well-protected harbor and offers the only fuel between Coinjock and Belhaven. Use this channel to announce your arrival to a bridge or lock tender, or to communicate with a nearby ship or other large vessel. Our next stop is the marina at Belhaven on Pantego Creek. Transmission power on this channel is restricted to 1 watt, so be sure to switch your radio to low power. You do not need to call on Channel 16 first; Channel 13 serves both as a hailing and working channel. Sailing the Intracoastal Waterway. Channel 13 is for navigational use between vessels. ", Three short blasts: "I am operating astern propulsion.". miles. Our first stops in the Sunshine State are usually Jacksonville or St. Augustine, followed by Daytona and the Space Coast. If you’re planning a trip down The Ditch, plan on paying a visit to at least a handful of the following ports. She and her husband have owned several boats. Cruising South on the Intracoastal Waterway. Fernandina Beach lies on Amelia Island just over the Georgia-Florida border. Gary Reich is a Chesapeake Bay-based freelance writer and photojournalist with over 25 years of experience in the marine industry. The entrance to San Carlos Bay is wide and mostly deep except for shoals to the west. John I have traveled the ICW many times with a small vessel (20ft Sea Hunt), a 28ft pontoon house boat, and finally a 54ft Meridian. Call TowBoatUS instead. Or you can continue on the NJ-ICW for 117 miles, and take a short 45-mile run outside into NY Harbor and Liberty Landing. Most sailboats cross to the Bahamas south of Ft. Lauderdale. Before you cast off from Charleston, pick one of many well-rated restaurants for a pleasant and relaxing evening. meetings). There are very nice, convenient marinas all along the ICW in these areas, but call ahead to make sure you get a space, particularly during snowbird season. We often stop in Beaufort's Town Creek Marina because it's so convenient to fine dining (I told you, I love food) and window-shopping. If it’s not raining it’s cold, if it’s not cold it’s raining. Here's what the barge's horn is telling you: To be comfortable with the inland rules and understand how they differ from the international regulations, carry a copy of the rules for navigation aboard and brush up on them before you go by visiting the U.S. Coast Guard's Navigation Center. A delivery captain and cruising sailor spills his guts about diversifying the Intracoastal Waterway experience, countering disturbing cruising … But that would be a grave mistake. On my vessel’s average speed of six knots, I typically plan for a run of around 40 statute miles each day. It's also got an inexpensive menu of fried chicken, seafood, sandwiches, and excellent fried okra. Winter Boating on the ICW. They currently own a Fleming 55. Then there is the wind and the northerlies. That wasn't something we knew in 2002 when we approached Fort Lauderdale during the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in early November. Cruising: Waterborne pleasure journey embarked on … Originally built to ensure a secure means for shipping goods up and down the Atlantic Coast, today the ICW is used not just by commercial vessels, but also by a large number of recreational boaters. This map was created by a user. var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6); It was just one more great memory of cruising the ICW.Â. Getting through the openings can be a challenge, especially when the bridge tenders are reluctant to help determine whether there's clearance for your boat. Much of the boating in South Florida will take you along or across the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). If the marker in the channel doesn’t have the triangle or square, the boat is no longer in the ICW. On the hook is a nautical term for when the boat is at anchor or secured to a mooring ball. The long-awaited birthday and anniversary celebrations turned into a meal of crackers and boxed macaroni and cheese, with aging Girl Scout cookies for dessert. When most cruisers think of the ICW, they are thinking of the Atlantic ICW from Norfolk, VA to Key West, FL. Viewing my trip as a whole, this allows me to progress along the ICW at a reasonable clip but also provides stopover … (Photo: National Park Service). Posted on February 7, 2016 by comocean. We also didn't want a mast higher than 60 ft to be sure of getting under ICW bridges which are supposed to be a minimum of 65 ft at high tide but are often lower (64, even 63 ft!). Snowbird season is upon us. The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a chain of local channels linked together to provide an inland passage along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. I had my own experience of that during our 2007 trip, when a four-knot current caught me and I temporarily lost control of the boat. The yellow markings override the shape or color of the lateral markers they are affixed on, and indicate the route of the ICW. While Myrtle Beach offers cruisers lots of marinas, we usually press on to the Waccamaw River, one of the most scenic parts of the ICW, with wooded banks, deep water, wildflowers, moss-draped trees, and turtles sunning themselves alongside water birds. Jim and I had to laugh at our own contrariness. The ICW might have a lot older (Senior age, perhaps) on it, but I'd think they've been boating on ICW and even the ocean a lot of years. var abkw = window.abkw || ''; The kind gas dock owners delayed their closing and let us spend the night at their dock, as long as we left by 6 a.m. We docked at Miami Bayside the next day and flew home to work for several weeks. The marina has fuel, pumpout, water, a laundry (to dry out damp clothes), and is just steps away from a pleasant little main street, with grocery stores, a pharmacy, marine stores, some arts-and-crafts galleries, and a dozen restaurants and coffee shops. It offers commercial, military, and recreational mariners a mostly protected alternative to venturing offshore when conditions turn ugly. Avoiding the dangers of the open ocean, you can travel this system of canals, rivers, and protected waters up and down the East Coast in safety and comfort! The menu changes seasonally, so don't miss this little treasure. Posts about Boating written by “Oh Captain My Captain” August 29, 2020. If you're careless with the grill on board you could hurt yourself, or damage the boat, Latest Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers updates on the ICW, It's the route for boaters along the ICW, but the magenta line is sorely in need of an update. It is a great tool for planning your cruise around America's Great Loop. There are artisan jewelers, arts-and-crafts stores, and several gourmet shops, too. Jim and I met when he was my instructor at the sailing school there in 1981. Luckily both are on the ICW so you'll spend lots of time confusing yourself. Midway Marina and Motel with Crabbie's Restaurant is on the west side, but the restaurant is closed Monday and Tuesday. Boat from Warwick, RI to Jacksonville, FL via Intercoastal Water Way (ICW). Sunset on the ICW. Passing to starboard requires two prolonged and one short blast for intention. The ICW runs from New Jersey to Texas. Originally built to ensure a secure means for shipping goods up and down the Atlantic Coast, today the ICW is used not just by commercial vessels, but also by a large number of recreational boaters. Preparing one’s boat for a thousand-mile trip down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) isn’t quite the ordeal of preparing for an ocean crossing. Nearby trips are available to historic Williamsburg and Urbanna, an artists' hub with antiques and fun restaurants. Demarcated by mile marker numbers, there are many interesting ports and towns along the way. It’s well marked and should present no problems except for heavy boat traffic, particularly on winter weekends. There we happened upon a delightful farmers market. It's possible to navigate the ICW with a 6 ft or even a 6.5 ft keel but it would not be comfortable for us. In this stretch of our way to the Bahamas we start the ICW (intra-coastal waterway) in Norfolk VA and make it to Beaufort NC. Though Wilmington is not technically on the Intracoastal Waterway, it’s well worth a 13-mile diversion up the Cape Fear River. 2020 Boat Owners Association of The United States. The flight was delayed several hours and we didn't get to the boat until after all the restaurants and local stores had closed. Be Reasonable When Planning Your ICW Trip. On our most recent visit last fall, we were helping friends take their power cat from Maryland to Southport, North Carolina, and stopped for a couple of nights in Beaufort. I did, but the flapping continued. Given these challenges, reserving a spot at Charleston City Marina's mega dock, a beautiful facility with easy docking, all the amenities you need, and walking distance to the city, is to be recommended. Capt John's Interactive Great Loop Map. Stroll over to Ibis on Front Street for upscale clothing, and to Jarrett Bay Boathouse for boating clothes and supplies. In 2011, as Jim and I pulled in to the Oriental Marina and Inn, a thunderstorm hit that trapped us at the Tiki Bar for the night. But we accompanied it with a bottle of vintage Bordeaux from the year of our marriage that we'd brought down on the boat, and toasted ourselves on the flybridge under a canopy of stars and a gorgeous full moon in balmy Miami. Visit the Calvert Marine Museum, where Bubble and Squeak, a pair of river otters, live, and visit the Drum Point and Cove Point lighthouses while you're there. Originally conceived in 1802 for commercial use, today it is primarily used by recreational vessels, however light-draft commercial vessels along with small tugs pulling barges will make use of the AICW to avoid exposed open ocean passages. It is on this channel that large vessels in close proximity announce their intentions to one another, and it's also the primary channel used at bridges and locks. boats.com is part of the Boats Group Network. Charleston has many great restaurants. On the east coast, some of the traffic in fall is by snowbirds who regularly move south for the winter and in Spring head north for the summer. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway—also affectionately known as the ICW or The Ditch—is a protected inland waterway route that runs 1,243.8 statute miles from Norfolk, VA, to Key West, FL. Nearby is a great restaurant called The Variety Store, offering delicious she-crab soup, shrimp and grits, and blackened tuna as part of its large menu. Miami is one of the best places on the ICW to have work done on your boat—minor repairs or large projects—and there are seemingly more marinas than buildings. ", Two short blasts: "I intend to leave you on my starboard side. Pristine anchorage … The waterway is also used when the ocean is too rough to travel on. Gordon Pass is the main access to the busy waters of Naples, one of southwest Florida’s premier boating destinations. The NJ-ICW is known for it's shallow waters, shoaling, winds, and tidal changes. The trip didn't exactly start without incident. Jim was driving and asked me to check that the canvas was zipped and snapped down in the flybridge enclosure. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a highway of sorts for smaller boats. Lori Ross is a marketing and PR executive, and a food writer for various magazines. All rights reserved. From historic towns and peaceful anchorages to big-city bustle and vibrant nightlight, there is so much to see and do along the 1,100-mile stretch that youd be hard-pressed not to find something enjoyable for every crew. The ICW is fairly flat so even if you don't mount the antenna on the top of the mast you will still get most of the channels (ours is about 10 ft high, just above the aft radar). There are artisan jewelers, arts-and-crafts stores, and several gourmet shops, too. - Shoal Keel A must for our plan on cruising down the ICW. Sound signals, international:Passing portside requires two prolonged (4-6 seconds) and two short blasts for the overtaking boat’s intention, two short blasts for the stand-on vessel’s agreement. Photos by Frank Lanier. Passing to starboard requires one short blast for intent and agreement. Since then, I've made more than a dozen whole or partial cruises along the ICW, both in sail and powerboats. Put your walking shoes on and enjoy. This allows them to travel between 40 and 70 nautical miles each day. Because the ICW runs along the shore, the conventional adage of “red, right, returning from seaward” becomes unclear. You can re… After bouncing off several pilings, fending off other boat bows, and pulling out one of our own bow stanchions, we finally got back under control. Ahhh… Key West, where the live-and-let-live attitude means you can either party until the sun is well below the horizon or relax in almost complete solitude. Matanzas Pass. After the 14-mile-long crossing of the shallow and sometimes sloppy Albemarle Sound, you enter the Alligator River (watch for bald eagles here!). The Beaufort Grocery with its farm-to-table fare and Aqua with small plates and wine-flight tastings are our favorites. I'd been seasick for most of the ocean voyage and all but kissed the ground when we stepped ashore at Morehead City. One of the funniest experiences we had was in 2002 leaving Thunderbolt, south of Savannah. Actually, they're both Beaufort, but the one in North Carolina is pronounced "Bow" (as in bow and arrow) while the one in South Carolina is pronounced "Bew." In fact, the picture you will get over the air is superior to cable since no compression is used which causes compression artifacts. ICW on a Houseboat by: beached guy My wife and I traveled the ICW from TX to Lake Ontario in a full displacement boat, sturdy and more seaworthy 32 footer, more seaworthy than which a houseboat would be. var plc296584 = window.plc296584 || 0; Author: Tom Hale Publish date: Mar 20, 2020. There we've seen deer, eagles, and other wildlife on the approach to Morehead City and Beaufort (pronounced "Bew-fert"). Friendly, beautiful, and with deep-water access to the Atlantic Ocean, Beaufort is one of the busiest stopover points on the ICW. var absrc = 'https://servedbyadbutler.com/adserve/;ID=170269;size=300x250;setID=296584;type=iframe;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid296584+';place='+(plc296584++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER'; These 10 intracoastal ports are must-see stops for snowbirds and boaters alike. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) stretches from Portsmouth, Virginia to Key West, Florida and serves as a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea. In 2002, I was turning 50 and when Jim asked what I wanted for my birthday, I asked if we could take our boat down the ICW to Miami for the winter. For some reason the number of bridges and occasionally uncooperative tenders seems to increase as you head further south. But it's dinner where Beaufort really shines. The town of Elizabeth City is a treat to simply wander around and take in the scenery. Strolls along the Savannah waterfront. When navigating the narrow channels of the ICW, tugs and barges will signal their intentions using sound signals. Assuming you're not traveling via the Dismal Swamp Canal route (which is often closed, so call before you go), the ICW narrows here, and cruisers will begin to see some of the same boats traveling north or south. Our biggest problem was that the boat was underpowered and would only do 5 kn at best. Treat yourself to one of these: Hall's Chop House, SNOB (Slightly North of Broad), High Cotton, and Magnolia. Fearing the wind was going to rip the canvas apart, I walked around searching again for the problem. (Photo: Natalie Kendrach). have a special place in my heart for the Tides Inn in Irvington, Virginia, and we often stop at the marina for a night or two. A month later on my birthday and our 20th wedding anniversary, we flew back to celebrate on the boat. There are two important facts to remember about aids along the Intracoastal Waterway: they run clockwise around the coast and they are uniquely marked. It's difficult in some parts to pass, so you often travel in convoy and are waiting for bridge or lock openings together. Although we both still worked full time, we had lots of vacation built up and thought we'd enjoy using it on the boat. It has really nice bathrooms, free laundry facilities, fuel, and water, and is dog-friendly. Solomons Island, Maryland, sits on the Patuxent River and often has been a welcome relief for us on our way to and from Norfolk. His writing and photography have been published in PassageMaker Magazine, Soundings, Fly Fishing in Salt Waters, Yachting Magazine, and Lakeland Boating, among others. Being a cruising sailor, one is already practicing a kind of social distancing. Boats with the current get to pass under the bridge first after it's fully opened. Early on, we lost the teak swim platform on our 1988 Grand Banks 42 trawler to a wet, steep bay chop and chilly 40-knot winds. document.write(''); Know the name of the bridge before you arrive and always communicate with the bridge tender. We made an ocean run from Florida to the Outer Banks, and entered the ICW at Beaufort Inlet in North Carolina. The farther you travel down the ICW, the more people you get to know, as you often go to the same marinas, see each other at the same restaurants, and eventually start chatting and exchanging recommendations. The boat was running about 8-9 knots in an open waterway, and every few minutes we could hear something flapping. It's also easy walking to a pharmacy, coffee shops, hardware store, and several good restaurants, one of which, Spoon River Artworks and Market, is terrific. It can get crowded while boats are waiting for the bridge, and you may need to contend with strong currents. Pick a spot fairly close, but not too close, to the bridge, and try to hold your position by facing into the current and using the throttle at the same speed as it's moving. To simply wander around and take in the marine industry '' it be. Technically on the boat, VA air is superior to cable since no compression is used extensively by boaters! 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