We get a lot of questions from people who are thinking about making the trip down the Intracoastal Waterway to the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, or a similar one. Probably the most frequent is "How long does it take to get to ____?" The answer is, "It depends . . . ." We have the capability of travelling at 12 knots, but not the budget. So we spend most of the time going 7 knots. Do you mean, "How many days of actual travel?" We left Connecticut in mid-September and got to West End, Bahamas on New Years Eve, but we had stopped to smell the roses and sip the coffee (and rum!) along the way. We were actually underway for less than half the time on the way to the Bahamas. The rest of the time we were either waiting out some bad weather or just simply doing little or nothing.
How about, "What does it cost?" "It depends. . . ." The sky's the limit if you stop at a marina or resort every night, go out for most or all of your meals, and fly home for all the holidays. If you spend most of your nights at anchor (free) and cook most of your meals aboard, your living expenses might even be less than they are at home.
We left Old Saybrook, Connecticut on September 15, 2007, cruised down the ICW to Miami, went across to the Abacos in the Bahamas, and went as far south as Little Harbour. We returned home on June 7, 2008, having spent 265 days aboard. We were underway (moving) for 108 days, covering a total of 3873 nautical miles (NM) which is 4454 statute miles, averaging 35.8 NM per day. Our shortest trip was only a few miles, taking friends and relatives on "3-hour tours" or less. The longest was 78 NM from North Miami to West End. It took 46 days (underway) to get to West End, Bahamas and only 39 to get home from there once The Admiral began to smell home.
We spent 149 nights at anchor, 6 on free docks, 42 on rental moorings, and 58 at marinas - paying as little as $20/night on a dock with electricity and water. (Some math whiz out there will figure out that I'm missing 10 days somehow, if all the other numbers are right. I have no idea what happened during the missing days, but rum was cheaper in the Bahamas than milk so I don't really care!)
We put 920 hours on the engine, including time underway and time charging the batteries (about 2 hours a day when we stayed at anchor or on a mooring). We used 1808 gallons of diesel fuel which cost a low of $2.70 per gallon (New Jersey at the end of September) to a high of $5.12. The most expensive fuel was in the Abacos, but it was around $4.90 in Connecticut when we got home in June, thanks to George W. and his henchmen. Our total fuel bill was $7,393.03.
We had the bottom cleaned by professional divers twice and hauled the boat for a complete bottom job in the Chesapeake on the way home. The 4-year-old chart plotter went belly up just before we planned to leave for the Bahamas and we replaced it. (We have since had the old one factory rebuilt for $150 so we'll have two - one for the bridge and one for the main station.) Other than that, we had no major "boat expenses" on this trip.
Sesame will be "on the hard" in Connecticut for the winter while we give her a rest, clean her up, do a few boat projects, cuddle up to our new gas stove and think about (maybe) heading south again in 2009-2010.
After a side trip to Kent Island to spend a couple of nights in a motel (and a couple of blue crab feasts by the Captain) while the boat was hauled for its annual bottom painting, we headed back across the bay to Annapolis and treated newlyweds Pattie and Jerry (see October 13, 2007) to a seafood buffet ashore.
By chance, we had arrived the week of graduation at the Naval Academy and were treated to a fireworks show,
Bill,
Liz,
Emily,
and Alison.
We then had a 3-day East Coast Camano Organization Rendezvous with parties,
Seminars and discussions,
After the Rendezvous, the Admiral put us on a record-setting trip toward home.
We stopped to anchor overnight at Chesapeake City on the C & D Canal before braving frequently-nasty Delaware Bay. There was a new sign next to the slip where we'd gone hard aground a year ago (see June 6, 2007). NOW they tell us!
The next morning was cold and foggy, so we waited for a little more visibility before heading across New York Harbor and out the busy East River.
And headed back into our "home waters" of Long Island Sound. Once again, NOAA was (thankfully) very wrong and the 20-25 knot gusts were never more than a nice 8 knot breeze.
After a night at a free town mooring in Manhasset Bay, we anchored at Duck Island, near the mouth of the Connecticut River, to avoid running hard aground trying to find our mooring at dead low tide. This morning, we did a little packing and organizing, found our way home to North Cove, unloaded lots of stuff at the Yacht Club dock, and left the boat on the mooring.
We stayed at Isle of Hope Marina for a night and got caught up with laundry, groceries, and fellow Camano owners Faith and John aboard "The Chaser" who we had met a year ago in Key West. They treated us to delightful dinner ashore. While we were there, a huge long dredge setup came around the hairpin turn, heading south. It had a major tugboat and 5 other pushboats keeping the inter-connected parade of barges, pipes, pumps, and dredges in order as it went by.
We went by the famous St. Bonaventure Cemetery, outside Savannah.
The route takes us through a number of sounds and rivers which are fairly shallow, but build a nasty chop when the wind pipes up. These little guys had all they could handle as we went by.
None of them seemed particularly crowded and everyone drives a cart. At times, it appears that they are having more fun "dirt tracking" on the golf carts than whacking on a little ball with a big stick.
We stayed at the Osprey Marina for the first time. Low prices and quiet in the middle of the cypress swamps. Good breakfast and lunch at the little restaurant too.
Sometimes, you lose track of where you are in relation to the "real" world.
The National Weather Service (aka: NOAA) predicted winds of 10-15 knots for Albemarle Sound, but they were gusting to at least 30 when we got there. Spray was coming over the top of the flybridge, so we couldn't get any pictures. The boat handles well in these conditions when she is run "with authority" so the skipper was busy with one hand on the throttle, one hand on the trim tabs, and the other (?????) on the wheel. By the time we turned toward Elizabeth City, we had some protection from the seas, but it was still breezy. We would certainly like to avoid these conditions when we can, but we're happy to know that the boat handles them with great aplomb.
We decided to bypass Elizabeth City and get a start through the Dismal Swamp. We managed to get through the last opening of the South Mills Lock and stayed overnight at the North Carolina Welcome Center, rafted to a couple of other boats.
Nice weather and an early start the next morning took us through the rest of the canal. We found a turtle catching the rays.
And a goose getting a running start for a take-off.
