Intracoastal waterway suggestions

my3sons said:
You haven't said how much time you have, maybe you are just moving a boat, that's fine, but if you have the time, stay inside and enjoy the trip. A few of the things you'll miss by skipping Georgia: Biking around Jekyll Island and seeing the mansions from previous generations. Enjoying the morning's first cup of coffee while watching the sunrise over the saltmarsh anchored in the middle of nowhere. Checking out downtown Savannah, walking the City Market, learning about how the buildings along the waterfront were built with ballast stone from other parts of the world that the sailing ships off loaded before taking ships full of cotton back to Europe and Africa. Treat yourself and your crew to dinner at 17Hundred90, a great restaurant there with some wonderful (and spooky) history. Don't forget that photo of you and the admiral sitting on the park bench at the bus stop across from "Jenny's" diner from Forrest Gump. (It's not the original one that Tom Hanks sat on, that one's in a museum someplace, but nobody needs to know :) ). Myself and the wife can recall all these things in vivid detail.
I can tell you that the days we ran outside were, well, we ran outside. I know we burned a lot of fuel on those days. We did cover ground, and I get that sometimes you just need to do that.
Just my 2 cents. It's your trip, above all enjoy and be safe and congrats on the new boat.

The most interesting path between two points is never a straight line
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We would like to complete the trip back to Boston in 10 days, 12 days max!. I know that's a lot of mileage to push daily. Worse case, we get her up north as far as we can and keep it at a marina for a few weeks and continue the trip to Boston when we can and the weather cooperates. Unfortunatly, work gets in the way!
 
I travel the Georgia ICW regularly. There are three low tide trouble areas. From south to north the first is Jekyll Creek. It was dredged a little over a year ago but has already filled back up. I’d run that at mid to high tide to keep you relaxed. The second is Little Mud River. You’ll get through it at low tide with that boat’s draft, but it will be a nail biter for you. A few hours before or after low tide will be fine passing through there. The third is Hell Gate which connects the two sides of Ossabaw Sound. It was also dredged about a year and a half ago and is still fine at low tide.

Also after you cross the Savannah River into SC, there is a very narrow shallow spot at Ramshorn Creek at marker G39. You’ll get through it at low tide but go slow just in case. It’s only about 100 yard long stretch.

The Georgia ICW is a series of about 8 sounds connected by rivers, creeks and channels. In rough weather St Andrews Sound can be the most uncomfortable to get through. Waves can be pretty rough. Just gotta gut that stretch out. Sometimes it’s perfectly calm like a lake, though.
 
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ZZ13 said:
I travel the Georgia ICW regularly. There are three low tide trouble areas. From south to north the first is Jekyll Creek. It was dredged a little over a year ago but has already filled back up. I’d run that at mid to high tide to keep you relaxed. The second is Little Mud River. You’ll get through it at low tide with that boat’s draft, but it will be a nail biter for you. A few hours before or after low tide will be fine passing through there. The third is Hell Gate which connects the two sides of Ossabaw Sound. It was also dredged about a year and a half ago and is still fine at low tide.

Also after you cross the Savannah River into SC, there is a very narrow shallow spot at Ramshorn Creek at marker G39. You’ll get through it at low tide but go slow just in case. It’s only about 100 yard long stretch.

The Georgia ICW is a series of about 8 sounds connected by rivers, creeks and channels. In rough weather St Andrews Sound can be the most uncomfortable to get through. Waves can be pretty rough. Just gotta gut that stretch out. Sometimes it’s perfectly calm like a lake, though.
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Getting stuck on a sand bar seems to be a major concern. So here in the Boston area, we call the local city harbormaster for any help or Seatow / Towboat US, or Coast Guard (real bad emergency). In a typical day, we travel to no more than 3 - 4 cities up here.
So when Traveling the Intracoastal doing 25 knots, who do you call for assistance? Your going through a city every couple of minutes! Also, I am reading that most marinas, etc, monitor CH16. Up here, we can ONLY use channel 16 for emergencies. Still lots to learn!
 
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tony1b2000 said:
Getting stuck on a sand bar seems to be a major concern. So here in the Boston area, we call the local city harbormaster for any help or Seatow / Towboat US, or Coast Guard (real bad emergency). In a typical day, we travel to no more than 3 - 4 cities up here.
So when Traveling the Intracoastal doing 25 knots, who do you call for assistance? Your going through a city every couple of minutes! Also, I am reading that most marinas, etc, monitor CH16. Up here, we can ONLY use channel 16 for emergencies. Still lots to learn!
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For any assistance we call Towboat, but they will charge based on services needed, and even with a membership it can be dicey. Also there is no way you will be running the ICW at that speed. You will be blasted non stop as there are a lot of small boats and they hate to be waked. Trust me I have been blasted just above idle.
 
tony1b2000 said:
So when Traveling the Intracoastal doing 25 knots, who do you call for assistance? Still lots to learn!
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Most likely your attorney:)
There are places where you can run, but not many when you consider the length of your trip.
Manatee zones, Slow Speed zones, Idle No Wake zones and common sense because of canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, and fishing skiffs, not to mention the property owners that have their boats docked at the edge of the waterway. That time of year is also northerly migration season. You will be passing trawlers and sailboats returning north every other minute at those speeds, necessitating constant speeding up and slowing down.
If you need to run, it's best to be outside.
With your time frame to do the move, it's starting to look like you need to be outside everyday you can be and going inside on the days the weather won't cooperate.
 
my3sons said:
Most likely your attorney.
There are places where you can run, but not many when you consider the length of your trip.
Manatee zones, Slow Speed zones, Idle No Wake zones and common sense because of canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, and fishing skiffs, not to mention the property owners that have their boats docked at the edge of the waterway. That time of year is also northerly migration season. You will be passing trawlers and sailboats returning north every other minute at those speeds, necessitating constant speeding up and slowing down.
If you need to run, it's best to be outside.
With your time frame to do the move, it's starting to look like you need to be outside everyday you can be and going inside on the days the weather won't cooperate.
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I will be visiting right after Christmas. So no speed required during my visit. Actual move to Boston would be late April. I believe some of the speed restrictions change after April 1st??? What speed do you guys normally travel?
 
mquiet said:
For any assistance we call Towboat, but they will charge based on services needed, and even with a membership it can be dicey. Also there is no way you will be running the ICW at that speed. You will be blasted non stop as there are a lot of small boats and they hate to be waked. Trust me I have been blasted just above idle.
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I second that. There are areas where you might get up on plane for a few minutes. Expect a lot of the journey to be at idle speed.
 
I agree with FootballFan, Tony and Mark. The ICW is not a place for speed for all the reasons listed. We are constantly slowing down then speeding up. My preference is to go at a comfortable low-wake speed to avoid the ups and downs. The Admiral, however, likes the speed and she doesn't mind the up and down.
 
Tony, that's perfect, your visit will get you some first hand knowledge of the whole situation.
As to your other question on the radio, the marinas monitor their working channel and 16. Usually waterway Guide or active Captain list the working channel of each marina but you can just hail them on 16 and they will tell you to switch and answer on the channel they use.
 
Thanks for offering Rusty and all. I have been in Stuart for a few days and heading back to Boston today. The boat needed some work, broken fridge, line through a tv, etc.. so I had mechanics coming and going.
We did take it out on several short trips and to Jupiter. This is my first inboard. I must say, smoother ride, but not as responsive as i/o. Planes nice as the engines are more toward the center of the boat.
I learned my first lessons on the intracoastal. Lots of no wake, the up to 25 mph. Then slow again. Nice to see such beautiful homes on the water. On the down side, their was a dredging rig with a boom heading just north of the St Lucie inlet on the intracoastal. He took up the entire channel!!! I ended up touching bottom for a minute. I understand they are doing there job. But can u ask them to move a bit so you can safety get by?
I will be back down in February to make sure the everything got fixed. Then in April to hopefully take her home.
 
I just passed that barge two days ago, and yes he is right slap-dap in the middle of the channel. He was trying to tell boaters what to do to get around him but his navigational dialog was not clear so I watched a 45 footers run right aground, dang it!

When I approach dredges I always slow down first, then I start calling them and ask what their recommendation is to get around them.

I encounter dredges all up and down the coast and when I do....I SLOW DOWN and crawl by if not real sure on the situation.

You are boating in FLA now so when you touch bottom, if there is no damage, you can just say you shined the props up, lol......check strainers just in case though.

Capt. R
 
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