DSK wrote:
snip

Rosalie B. wrote:
We are not constrained by time, and last year we did a much larger
number of offshore hops because Bob is bored of the ICW. I always
make him convince me it is safe to go, although I make up my own mind
based on weather forecasts etc.

That sounds like a good decision method.

... The one time I let him convince me
against my better judgment we had a horrible time.

But I bet it was a learning experience

Well not so much for him - it's taught him to say that I don't want to
sail and am chicken. It's also made me really BE a chicken whereas
before I wasn't really. It was also right after his heart attack, so
I was quite anxious about being on the boat anyway.

Anyway, we always (after the first time) go offshore from Miami (we
always stop in Miami because we have grandchildren there) to Ft.
Pierce. Hate all the bridges that we get into otherwise.

That's one of the places, like New Jersey, where it's just an exercise
in masochism to try and run the ICW.

We usually go inside from Ft Pierce and up the Indian River anchoring
around Melbourne, Titusville, Daytona, St. Augustine, and Fernandina
or St. Mary's. That's 5 days.

And still a relatively pretty stretch o' country IMHO

We've also gotten into the habit of doing offshore from the St. Mary's
River to Charleston. That way we avoid all the tides in Georgia. We
have more grandchildren in the Charleston area.

Oh c'mon! Sure the tides are big but this is the least developed and
prettiest part of the whole coast? There are zillions of beautiful
anchorages, rivers & creeks to explore... heck we could spend months
cruising Georgia and SC!

I love the area, but Bob hates it. He hates having to worry about
running aground on a falling tide and he doesn't like to have nothing
to look at. (We have a 50 foot boat and a 5 foot draft, and it takes
us three days - we usually do Jekyll, anchor in the Wahoo, and then
Thunderbolt)

And on the way back this time we also went from Charleston to the Cape
Fear River and that worked out pretty well, although we missed
Georgetown and the Waccamaw which are very pretty. But OTOH we also
missed the rockpile and the pontoon bridge and a lot of shoaling.

True. Ever made the side trip up the Waccamaw to Conway?

No we haven't

The problem as I see it, making inlet to inlet hops, is that sooner or
later you're bound to hit an inlet on the wrong tide with something ugly
brewing... poor visibility, offshore breeze against ebbing tide, sudden
T-storm, etc etc. I'd rather do a slightly longer hop & overnight, then
rest up at anchor if need be. You still save a few days.

We have had some hairy inlet entries, but Bob doesn't mind that, and I
don't really either.

We've been into Ft. Pierce against an outgoing tide with a wind from
the ESE and big rollers coming in to the shore, and we managed OK.

The last time we came into Charleston it was heavy, heavy fog. We
couldn't see the ATONs until we were within about 35 feet of them. I
saw a big ship coming out of the inlet WAY before I could see him in
person (and the radar was set just to show the jetties and not much
past that - we don't usually have it set longer than 3 miles), and I
wouldn't have been able to see him even then if he hadn't had a black
hull. (We went outside the channel)

We do have a computer chart in the cockpit with prior trip tracks on
it.


When we came up the Cape Fear River, we went in to Southport, but
moved the next day to Masonboro to rest up.

I can't make up my mind if going out around Cape Fear is better than the
river & Snow's Cut. If the tide is against you there, it's long uphill
battle.

We've done this twice, once we went to Bald Head (which I will not do
again) and this time to Southport. If you stop there, you can pick
the time to go through Snow's Cut.

... I suggested that we go
out Masonboro and come in at Beaufort as a day trip, but he vetoed the
idea and then we promptly ran aground which REALLY irritated him (we
were right in the middle of the channel). It would probably have been
a better idea to do that.

That's a shallow boring stretch anyway, and the bridges are a big PITA.
A bonus is that you can overnight at Lookout Bight, one of my favorite
places (when it's not too crowded). I've plotted doing Beaufort to
Little River as an overnight, saving 1 day or so.

The other time we came into the Cape Fear River, we went out Little
River and it was a day trip to Cape Fear. I'm sure that you could do
Little River to Beaufort easily. But I really don't like the Rockpile
section.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

grandma Rosalie