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Palm Beach to the Chesapeake
x-no-archive:yes
(ALCCA) wrote:
Hi everyone. We are planning taking our boat to the Chesapeake this summer. We
would like to leave the first week of May from Palm Beach and make our way
North through the ICW. We are not in a hurry and would like to enjoy the cruise
without any kind of schedule. Our concern is that if we really take a very slow
approach we may be increasing our chances of being in the path of a hurricane
and secondly that we may miss a lot of the great cruising grounds in the
Chesapeake by running out of time. We would like to start heading back the
first week of October. One approach we have began to discuss is to try to get
to the Chesapeake by mid to June and then take our time coming back. Does any
one have any suggestions which one may be the better approach?
Thanks
ALCCA
You can do both. Go up and the places you don't have time to visit on
the way north, do on the way south. There's no point in trying to
second guess the hurricanes - there is just as much chance of having
them in the Chesapeake as anywhere. Check what your insurance says.
We leave from the Potomac in mid to late October. We like leaving
later because there aren't as many boats clogging up the marinas since
most of them leave earlier. Depending on the weather, this can be a
warm trip or a cold trip. If the weather is cold, we tend to hurry
more and stay in marinas more (for heat). We also like to go north
earlier when the weather is not as hot, but I'm sure May will work
fine.
The first time we did it, we left Nov 1st laid over 2 days for weather
3 or 4 times, spent a week in Charleston, and got to Palm Beach
December 16th. The weather was quite cold.
The second time we left Oct 24th and promptly got weathered in for
several days at the first stop. We left there Oct 28th, and arrived
in Ft. Pierce December 6th. On this trip the weather was warm, and
after the first stop, we stayed a couple of days in 8 places along the
way.
This time, we left October 31, and arrived in Ft. Pierce on Dec 3rd
(we don't go inside south of Ft. Pierce anymore). We stayed 2 days in
Elizabeth City, Belhaven (because of fog), Swansboro (because of
rain), and a week in Charleston, a couple of days in Fernandina, a
couple of days in St. Augustine (over Thanksgiving), a couple of days
in Daytona and a couple of days in Titusville.
On the way back the first year, we left Lake Worth March 12th, and
were in Norfolk by April 14th. We stayed a couple of days in
Fernandina, visited our son for a week in Charleston, and had the
worst weather of all in the Chesapeake in April.
The second year we came back from the Bahamas to Ft. Pierce on March
12 (and stayed there a day), and got to Norfolk April 15th. Spent a
couple of days in St. Augustine (weather), Fermandina, and a week in
Charleston.
grandma Rosalie
http://www12.virtualtourist.com/m/4a9c6/
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