"tt" wrote in news:1168810072.961060.210860
@s34g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Does anyone have first hand knowledge of the current condition of the
intercoastal waterway from the Cheasapeake Bay to Central Florida. .I
would like to plan a late spring or early summer trip from myrtle beach
either north or south depending on conditions. Small ( 19ft. )shallow
draft centerboard sloop.

I just did the trip from Deltaville, VA to Ft. Lauderdale in Oct/Nov. You
can find extensive trip logs and photos at http://www.GeoffSchultz.org/ in
the 2006 section.

You're going to have a SLOW trip with a 5 HP motor once you hit the tidal
areas of the ICW, which is the area after Beaufort, NC. There are strong
currents in this area and despite the fact that the currents are supposed
to even out, it always feels like they're against you or when they are with
you, you have to slow way down so that you don't get to the next bridge too
early.

We headed out at St. Helena Sound and ran down the coast of FL to St.
Augustine and then to Palm Beach and then to Ft. Lauderdale. Friends of
ours who stayed in the ditch ran into a lot of shallow water in Georgia and
southern FL. To be more precise, they didn't run into shallow water...they
ran into the stuff below the water! :-)

Good luck on your trip. Bring WARM clothes as you're leaving quite late
and it will get COLD.

-- Geoff

"Glenn Ashmore" wrote in news:rfMqh.18669$sE7.2584
@newsfe21.lga:

Actually, we found fewer problems in SC--much deeper water and better
marked than in NC.

For the return trip, make a note that under the Ben Sawyer bridge that
connects America to Sullivan's Island, north of Charleston Harbor, stay to
the MAINLAND side of the support post. The island side of the post is very
shallow and all filled in, so shallow at low tide outboard motors kick up.

South of the intersection of Stono River and the ICW, down to below the new
high bridge connecting America to John's Island, where the ICW flattens out
into a broad area just south of Stono River, the wide section has shifting
bars that are not all along the shores as the current slows in this area.
It used to be lots deeper, but that's no longer the case. Where the bends
are as it narrows to approach the last bridge on the south end of John's
Island, be watchful of shifting sand bars there, too.

I encountered one of these new bars about a mile S of the Stono
intersection when taking Stray Dog, my friend's Endeavour 35 to the
boatyard down there for her final motor to the survey...our final trip
aboard as she sold straight away. We'll get his new Jenneau 41 in May from
her cheap berth in Miami...(c;

Ah, another handheld GPS delivery in a boat stripped by her previous
owner...

Larry
--
Extremely intelligent life exists that is so smart they never called Earth.

Before you go BE SURE to read The Boy, Me and the Cat. The author made the
trip down to Florida just before WWI along the same route and wrote a
humorous classic about it. We have problems today on the ICW? Naw!

http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Me-Cat-Mas.../dp/1589762266

Bill Longyard


"tt" wrote in message
oups.com...
Does anyone have first hand knowledge of the current condition of the
intercoastal waterway from the Cheasapeake Bay to Central Florida. .I
would like to plan a late spring or early summer trip from myrtle beach
either north or south depending on conditions. Small ( 19ft. )shallow
draft centerboard sloop.