On the brink of the Intercoastal Waterway

May 5, 2007 Saturday
We are tied up at the Port Canaveral Yacht Club, a very friendly club. We actually got to hose the salt off the boat and are enjoying 110 V AC electricity. What luxury - at a considerable cost however, like all transient marinas in Florida. They charge what the market will bear. We have been visiting with Bill and Fran Davidson (the guy who distributes the flamenco DVDs) and talking about old times, playing guitar, etc.

We have decided, due to forcast bad weather in the Gulf Stream, to take a try at the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) that is a ditch running from the Northeast to Texas. It provides sheltered water (and frequently shallow water), but takes us through the heart of cities and through sleepy coastal villages and isolated anchorages surrounded with wildlife. Many folks travel up and down it every year to adjust the climate to their tastes. We don't want to see any hurricanes up close, so we are going North. We'll probably go fairly quickly up the "ditch" and then take our time coming back down next Fall. Boston is probably as far North as we want to go. I have always wanted to see the famous yachting centers around Martha's Vineyard, Block Island, Newport, etc. And I think that sailing into New York Harbor would be memorable. I can't imagine what slips cost there?

So we bought a bunch of charts and guides to the ICW and I have been studying hard to learn all the new skills needed. We will go through another lock just a few miles from where we now are and between here and St. Augustine, there are about 8 bridges that will have to be raised to allow us to pass. We have to call the bridge tenders on the VHF radio and ask for the span to be raised. That should be interesting! The channel in the ICW can be quite narrow and only about 8 - 12' deep. That means you have to pay attention to where you are or you drift out of the channel and get stuck in the mud. There are a bunch of channel markets on posts all along the ICW, so you pay careful attention and hopefully don't get stuck. Our boat is 6'-2" deep, deeper than most powerboats, so we have to be especially careful. Just in case, I bought an unlimited subscription to TowBoat/US - a good investment since just one tow would cost more than a whole year's subscription. And with 1000 miles of ditch up the East Coast, most folks get stuck at least once.

So in a day or so, we are going to move the boat up to Titusville where Bill Davidson lives. He will join us to provide a little local knowledge and we will put up some pictures of the ICW. We didn't put up pix of the Gulf Stream because it was just more water....