SV Erica's travels: The Intracoastal waterway of the United States of America (26th March to 17th April 2015)

We left Titusville, Northern Florida on the 26^th of March after visiting the Kennedy space centre and watching a rocket launching. We were bound for Merrit, North Carolina to visit American friends whom we had sailed in the Pacific with in 2006.

Cathy raising the US courtesy flag

This passage took us up the Intracoastal waterway with one sidestep out to sea to avoid some winding routes and strong opposing tidal influences through a part of Georgia

The ICW is a 3000 mile (4800km) inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the USA. Areas of the waterway consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and , sounds, others are artificial canals. It provides a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea and wonderful quiet anchorages at night.

We entered at Port Canaveral, Florida and transited Georgia, Sth Carolina and North Carolina.

Many of the opening swing and bascule bridges which cross the waterway have been replaced with 65' high bridges and those low bridges that remain are opened at timed intervals or on demand.

We saw many fishing boats, tugs and barges along the way

Parts of the waterway are shallow where silt builds up or areas of rock which have been blasted for a canal are narrow in parts which makes navigation interesting.

This is all maintained by the Army engineering corps. Many boaters pay a yearly subscription to US towboats as it is common for boats to run aground at low tide in these shallow shifting sand areas.

We sat on a sandbank for 3 hrs until the tide gave us more water to float off. All we needed was a bit of a wash from a passing motorboat to reverse off but at the time no one who passed us would answer their VHF radio and courteously passed at slow speed.

We were amazed how many dolphin there are in the waterway and we saw lots of manatee and alligators in the warmer waters in the south.

The bird life is prolific with pelican, herons and oyster catchers and we saw dozens of Osprey and their chicks nesting on top of the marker bouys and in trees up the rivers.

Canadian geese and other birds were slowly returning to the north as the spring arrived.

Up the Waccamsaw river in Sth Carolina away from the tidal flow where the water was not salty, we saw small turtles on the riverbanks and at night anchored in mirror calm black water and watched fireflies twinkling in the trees.

In our travels we have seen and experienced so much off the beaten track but we are still in awe by what nature serves

In some parts of the waterway we were able to sail and with a tidal flow to our advantage it was great to turn off the motor and glide along enjoying the peace and tranquility.

Mostly we motor sailed but at times with no wind or strong wind “on the nose” and an opposing current the motor pushed us along barely making 2-3 knots speed.

We averaged about 25-30nm a day

There are many marinas along the waterway for those who wish to avail themselves of a berth at night and amenities but they do not factor into our cruising budget.

There are some free public docks where one can tie up for a few hrs or less frequently overnight. We were able to do this on a few occasions and walk to supermarkets to restock and dispose of rubbish.

When we've needed diesel we've pulled into a marina to fill up and water and holding tank pump out are mostly free.

The recommended anchorages are more sparse and if an anchorage can't be made by nightfall one can be in real trouble as night navigation would be hazardous. One can't just pullover and set the anchor as it is shallow out of the channels.

One has to consider tidal flows which change constantly as inlets go out to sea and tides ebb and flow along the routes with sometimes no obvious pattern, bridges that open at designated times can be difficult to reach and waiting times can very much effect ones destination timing. It amused us as the evenings drew to a close and daylight waned how we all increased our speeds, not worrying about the fuel consumed to get to the anchorage before dark.

The scenery changed interestingly along the way. We passed populated areas with palatial homes or holiday getaways with piers and boathouses and boats of varying styles tied alongside. Some trying to outdo their neighbours with lounge furniture and bars and boathouses out of “Vogue” magazines.

The funniest we saw was a life size giraffe statue on one property and the neighbour had what looked like Poseidon's mistress? in his yard!

We saw the fronts of houses completely screened in extending sometimes 3 stories high and encasing large courtyards. Initially we thought they were bird aviaries then suddenly realised it was insect screening! The midges and mosquitoes were prolific in these areas

On the other hand we passed miles of marshy and everglade type scenery as the waterway wound its way inland sharing it only with the bird life and dolphin.

We have arrived in the Oriental area of North Carolina and will settle “Erica” in a yard out of the water for the hurricane season.