2017 ICW Cruising Guide almost done

The 2017 version of the cruising guide is in final review and should be published by 8/4/2017. The focus of the guide is to aid the boater in safely navigating the 120 or so shallow areas of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) with full-page color charts for each hazard and directions for safe passage. The guide is not a complete compendium of all marinas and anchorages; there are plenty of other guides for that. However, it does include the marinas and anchorages we’ve found spaced conveniently for ICW travel and where there’s pet relief easily available. Also included are lists of how to get ready for the trip and tips on making life more enjoyable on the waterway.

For the 2017 edition, the charts have been enlarged to show better detail and buoys now have their own labels (G3, R4, etc.) in larger type for easy reading. An example of a new chart is above for the Dawho River eastern entrance where you will find 6.6 MLW 400 ft off G115. The least I saw was 5.6 MLW between G115 and G117. The latest Garmin chart is incorrect in this area and the magenta line is much too far south, too close to G115, where the original channel is located. Likewise, the Navionics charts are off too with the magenta line displayed too far south. Even the Charleston ACOE survey is not helpful since it followed the old channel that's too close to G115 and doesn't survey depths outside the channel. The chart above is a reproduction of a NOAA ENC chart as displayed by Navimatics Charts and Tides. It's easy to follow the deep water as displayed. Look at your charts for the Dawho river entrance, if your charts are up to date they should look like the example above. There are many other examples of such discrepancies in the 2017 edition of the guide.  

Where not obvious, the charts have a yellow line showing the deepest water I found during my trip north in the spring of 2017. The chart at right of Masonboro shoaling by G135 shows the deepest water is outside the channel. The shoaling is directly in the middle of the channel down to 4 MLW. The waypoints BMason2 to BMason4 are included in the guide. Each chart has a mile marker location. All of the information on finding the deepest route through a hazard is from my personal experiences in seven years of cruising the ICW, which was updated on my spring trip north in 2017.  Nothing is secondhand except I did include several hydrographic charts from Wilmington and Charleston ACOE were available to aid in transiting the worse of the shallow areas. 

This year I have included waypoints for some of the most difficult areas such as Hell Gate, Fernandina, Jekyll Creek and a few others. I plan on expanding the list for those areas that show some stability. It can be very tedious manually entering the waypoints not to mention being error prone so I've posted the waypoints as GPX files on my blog site at fleetwing.blogspot.com in the ICW Tips section. Since I use an iPad, I've also included instructions on how to transfer the GPX routes to the iPad for the Garmin Mobile app. Once loaded, you will be following the same route I used in finding the depths I recorded in the spring of 2017. There will be one GPX route that contains all GPX routes in the guide. When loaded into the Garmin iPad app, each hazard route will be displayed individually just as if each had been loaded by themselves. I’ll keep the routes updated as I progress down the ICW this fall.

The advice section has been updated and expanded with the latest iPad apps and links in the ebook version have been checked to be sure they work. The Admiral (Ann) now has her own chapter covering the galley and what's handy in preparing meals. She does all of the helm work docking the boat too. Many of the advice comments didn't change, after all, there's a base level of things to do that does not change year to year but there are still updates with additional experiences. I plan on providing a file with all the links organized by guide page numbers so you don't have to look up references in the book, just click on the link. Of course, you can always get the ebook, which is free if you buy the hardcopy. All the links will be active in the ebook. 

I'll provide an announcement on the blog when the book is published. 

Poughkeepsie YC - at our dock

The West Point Military Academy is always a dramatic sight

Today was OK. We had pizza for dinner so today was fun. My cosins left so that was sad. We are at the PYC club. We are HOME. We are having an early bedtime so I am a little disappointed just a little. We had a fun time on the river for 2 weeks I hope we have more like this. But before I go I need to tell you all something very special, the pizza was cheese.    

Storm King comes right to the edge of the Hudson River

The last day of our cruise with the grandkids was perfect. Ann prepared a favorite breakfast for Finn (pancakes and bacon) and we were off. The tide was against us all the way but we didn't care. We had a good view of all the magnificent sights along the way north including the palisades on the New Jersey coast which are about 300 to 500 ft high, very dramatic. Farther north you'll pass West Point and World's End where a chain barricade was placed across the Hudson Rive to prevent the English going farther north during the Revolutionary war. Just north of that you'll see Storm King Mountain which rises 1340 ft above the Hudson. In all it's a dramatic trip up the Hudson River.

Lots of barge traffic today, nobody could figure out what these were

The railway owns both sides of the Hudson for tracks so there is very little development since all the waterfront property is already taken by the trains. the Poughkeepsie YC is a rare exception where the trains take a small detour back from the water.

Home at last, we like it here too

Coming up on PYC we had about a 1 kt current behind us with a 15 kt wind, not ideal for coming into a face dock when there's a boat directly ahead of your slip. Ann was at the helm as usual and I supervised the crew with the lines. Ann decided on a Captain Ron maneuver and came at the dock at a 45 degree angle while moving with the current 1 kt towards the docked boat in front of our slip. At the last minute, Ann turned the boat 45 degrees and threw it in reverse just like Captain Ron in the movie of the same name. The boat stopped cold and snugged up against the dock. It was quickly tied off and we were in!

Our Connecticut crew is gone and we just have Rowan and Finn on board. We will get off the boat Monday and take them home Wednesday to Pennsylvania. We will undoubted spend a few days to rest up.

This marks the end of the temporary blog but it will continue starting 9/15 for our eighth trip to down the ICW to Key West. Be sure to join us then.

Croton Point in Haverstraw - at anchor

Finn's favorite building

Hello it’s the long lost FINN!!! Today we saw some skyscrapers. We are anchored at Croton point. We swam of the back of the boat. Matt joined us too. We saw one skyscraper that we called the drunk architect. It was really crocked so they attached it to the building next to it. I don’t know who would buy it but whoever who bought it must have been CRAZY!!! Today was a great day.      

Another odd one

We have Matthew on board who's in the architect school at Roger Williams University as a Junior this coming year so it was interesting rounding Manhattan and seeing some of the wilder buildings and Matt's assessment of the design. Finn was impressed once again by the "leading towers" of two buildings (pictured). I can only guess that it's just the desire to be different that drives such a design. Likewise for the buildings that appeared to be inspired by Lego blocks. On the other hand the Freedom Tower looked elegant and unique at the same time. It was an interesting ride.

How would you like to work here?

We went through Hell Gate as the tide was turning against us in the hope that by the time we reached the Hudson River, the tide would be in our favor. However, once again in our experience the tide was late. We bucked an adverse current all the way to Haverstraw Bay! It should have turned by at least the George Washington bridge according to the tide tables. We have never seen it turn on time yet! 

Magnificent Manhattan

We are now anchored off Croton Point with about 50 other boats (it's a Saturday night). We well conclude our journey Sunday upon returning to PYC late afternoon. I wish we had more wind for the trip but that's the chance you take in Long Island Sound in the summer. 

Port Washington - at a free mooring

Sarah likes to steer the  boat! 

Hi this is Sarah and today was a very rainy day. This morning we had delightful biscuits with honey and had to wait out the rain. We were aiming to leave at 12:30 but there was a opening and we took it! I read my book, A Tree grows in Brooklyn, for a tiny bit until a felt a little sick and too nauseous to read to read. After a while I took my thirty minute shift and had lunch and rested for a little bit afterwards. Then we got to Port Washington and it was still raining. Before the our trip I took some motion sickness medicine and after we arrived in port Washington I could barley keep my eyes open and feel asleep. After I woke up and played on my phone and now I am doing the blog. After we have our dinner were going to watch Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, bye.

Racing sails!

We watched the weather radar to look for an opening and one came at 12:30 so we were off. There wasn't much wind and we didn't think we had to put out the mainsail for stabilization. That was a mistake. There were rollers coming off the Sound and they were hitting us broadside causing us to roll about 45 degrees in both directions. Everybody down below came up to he cockpit, it was not comfortable. We then up the mainsail up and that helped some but it still wasn't a good ride. 

When we turned the corner around the point and headed directly for Manhasset things got much better.We could see on the weather radar that we still had a window so we hurried along. Then the fog set in. We countered by turning on the running lights and powering up the ship's radar to see what's ahead of us in the fog. As you might expect, nobody else was out in this mess. We found the same mooring we used last time and then it started to rain. 

90 one day, today in the 60's, hardly summer weather

We hope to leave Manhasset around 7:00 am so we can make the tide through Hell Gate and reach Haverstraw Bay by the afternoon if all goes well. The next day we plan on reaching PYC. 

Northport - at anchor

Even though it's called Sand City, the beach is mostly pepples

Howdy! Matt here. Today we had a lovely pancake breakfast. We then proceeded to remove ourselves from Port Jeff. On the way out of the anchorage we raise our mainsail and after getting a little ways farther out into the sound we raised the jib and cut the engine. Fleetwing got to experience a pleasant sail across the sound over to Sand City, Northport. She reached speeds of up to 6 knots with a strong 16 knot wind behind us. We didn’t have to tack until two thirds of our sail was over. I was caught using the head mid tack. I found myself up when I should have been down and came up into the cockpit with the swift realization that we tacked. I got some good reading in while we were sailed today. I have gone deep into the pages of the sci-fi masterpiece, Dune. We are now sitting anchored in Northport waiting to see whether we’ll get hit with a storm. Happy Sailing!

Peddles or not, the kids still enjoyed the water

At last we sailed! We came out of Port Jefferson and sailed across the Sound. Naturally, you could not point directly at our destination, that was right on the bow! We were just happy to have good winds of 10 to 12 kts and we took advantage of the opportunity. Once on the other side we tacked to point towards Northport but then in looking at the weather radar which showed severe weather on the way, we decided to motor the rest of the way (directly into the wind, of course, the wind gods know where you want to go!). It feels kind of powerful to be the only boat on the sound that controls the wind so effectively. Other boats must have fair sailing with winds on the beam since we didn't see any other boats headed in our direction. 

The front looked fierce but we didn't get much rain and no thunder or lightning

The cool front was coming with the associated storms so I made a quick trip to shore with Hoolie and the kids got some swimming in but we had to cut it short to get back to the boat before the storms hit. As it turned out, we snuck through a gap in the front and barely got any rain at all which didn't bother us any. Now it's about 15 degrees cooler and it feels nice. 

We're headed for Manhasset on Friday but there are storms coming again so we'll head out in the morning to avoid the afternoon storms. The real chancy departure date is from Manhasset heading for Haverstraw Bay. There are storms predicted all day long. If there's no opening, we'll sit Saturday out and leave on Sunday. The weather is king.  

Port Jefferson - at anchor

Running the dinghy is great fun for kids of all ages. They all take turns.

Today was great. We went to the beach. I snorkeled. I found some interesting rocks. I even found a clam. I spent most of my time In the aft cabin reading. We anchored at port Jeff. Sadly we didn’t sail but it didn’t take long to get here though. Today was a FANTASTIC day and I hope I have more like it. BYE       

The blog above was from Finn. His brother Rowan got off the boat in Branford but Finn stayed on for the rest of the trip. We would have liked the winds to be incorrectly forecast like yesterday, out of the northwest instead of the southwest. Now that we needed winds out of the northwest, naturally, the winds came directly out of the southwest, mostly on the nose for the trip from Milford to Port Jefferson which resulted in us motoring all the way. Oh well, such is Long Island Sound.

Storms all around us but none on us so far

It was a short trip over and we found the anchorage entirely empty. Two other boats came in later but three  boats in all allows for a lot of room. The anchorage could easily take 30 boats. Of course, the kids were eager to go swimming so that consumed about two hours in the afternoon. There are thunderstorms all around us but none appear to be aimed at us. It's warm at 83F but there's a breeze and if needed, we'll run the genset tonight with A/C to cool off the boat.

Our goal on Thursday is to move over to Northport and anchor next to Sand City for more beach time. There should be a window open in the morning before the storms kick up.

Milford - at a dock

Finally got to sail

Hi this is Sarah here and today was a pretty quiet day. This morning when I got up it was very hot and humid. We had breakfast and then we said goodbye to Mattituck and headed over to Milford. We were able to sail but we only went 5 knots for our speed. Me, Matt, and Finn all took turns sailing the boat. After I read for a long period of time; so much that I was asleep when we were heading into Milford. I took the stern lines and helped with the fenders. After tying down the boat Matt, Finn, and me played card games like slap jack, knock, and exploding kittens. I won a good amount of those games and then Matt started to make dinner after, which are taco burgers (onions, and taco seasoning). So now were going to eat dinner and might watch a Kurt Russell movie after wards, bye!

The docks are nice and quiet

We were going to spend the rest of the trip at anchorages but when we looked at the weather report and saw a southwest wind predicted at 10 to 12 kts, we thought that was perfect for a long reach to Milford from Mattituck. But we made a fatal mistake, we broadcast our intentions before leaving the anchorage. That was the opening the weather gods wanted. Upon exiting the inlet, the winds were directly on the nose! The winds were out of the northwest and not the southwest! We should have hidden our intentions better to keep the weather gods guessing and maybe they would have guessed wrong. But usually in cases like that, there's no wind at all until you turn in one direction or the other, then it's right on the nose! We've even tried pointing at somewhere we didn't want to go but to no avail, the weather gods knew better.

In the end, nothing beats ice cream

In the end, we just clocked over enough away from Milford to get some sailing in at the expense of having to motor the last two hours into the wind to make up for the sailing while not pointed at Milford. On the positive side, everyone had a turn at the helm sailing and they all did fine. We took a dock at Milford Landing Marina and Matthew prepared dinner. I took everyone out for ice cream at one of the best places on Long Island Sound, Scoopy Doos. 

On Wednesday we're headed  back to Port Jefferson and one of our favorite anchorages where the kids can go swimming again. This time the winds are predicted to once again be out of the southwest but only at 4 to 5 kts, not enough to sail. At least the kids will be able to swim which is pretty important.

Mattituck Federal Anchorage

Our anchorage

Howdy! It is I the long lost Matthew! I make my triumphant return with a trade off at Branford with my younger sister Natalie. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the boat for more than a day sail. After a strong scrubbing of the cockpit, we had a pleasant ride out of Branford. We spotted a sub and went bonkers trying to get the binoculars up so we could take a closer look just to realize it was a tug and barge. The wind was real sassy today. Wouldn’t give more than 5 knots the whole ride over until we were just put the sails away when it picked up to 15. We are now anchored in Mattituck. I went ashore with Grandpa to get some supplies while Finn and Sarah swam off the back of the boat. Motoring the dink back and forth from shore to the boat was like riding a bike, one doesn’t forget the ever important landing maneuvers. For dinner we’re having some salsa and cheese chicken. I’ll be onboard until the end of the voyage on Sunday and will be adding to the blog till then. Happy sailing!

Now

Then

Matthew joined us for the rest of the trip. It's the same Matthew that we took to Maine 9 years ago! He's gotten a lot bigger, 240 lbs worth! We wanted so much to sail today but the wind just would not cooperate. It maxed out at 7 kts with 5 kts being the norm. So we motors all the way to Mattituck. 

The anchorage here is ideal. It's big enough for a half dozen boats but we're the only one present for now. There's a free dinghy dock provided by the town and lots of shops a short distance away. There's even a supermarket about 1/2 mile down the main road to the right not to mention the laundromat nearby too. 

Free dinghy dock too for access to town

We'll spend the night and the crew voted to return to Port Jefferson so they could all go swimming again on the beach by the anchorage. The water holds a big attraction for kids. 

Branford - at a dock

Kiddy heaven, it's part of the dockage fee

Today was cool. Finn here. We actually SAILED today. My little brother left today too. I was really sad though I didn’t cry. Mathew is on the boat now. We went to dinner at Lenny’s. I had a huge burger. I could barely finish my fries. Today was a fun day. Good-bye.    

Crew duty;

Our sail today was rather short. We had 22 miles to go and couldn't afford a 6 hour trip at 3 kts (the wind was averaging 7 kts from directly aft of the  boat). The big attraction of Bruce and Johnson is the great swimming pool for the kids so we wanted to arrive in time for a good bout of swimming to exercise the crew. I waited until we were underway before formally making the reservations over DOCKWA, the only way they would accept the reservation. You credit card is charged at the time your reservation is accepted and you'll forfeit 1/2 of the dockage fee if you don't show up.

Fried food may not be best for you but it sure tastes good when it's done right

The other great attraction is Lenny's. It's a famous seafood restaurant that does fried clams like no other restaurant in the world. It's been featured by the New York Times as one of the very best for that speciality on the east coast. They have other menu items but it's like going to a French restaurant and ordering a hamburger. It would be good but it's not what they are best at. Nevertheless, one of our crew did just that! We tried to pretend he wasn't with us but he was too close by.

Our new crew for the next week

Sadly, Rowan chose to go back with Monique today and Natalie had to return for a chance to be in a play. On the other hand, Finn and Sarah stayed and we picked up Matthew who will be a junior at Roger Williams University this fall studying architecture. We will restart our adventure with our modified crew on Monday and head over to Mattituck for their town anchorage, no more marinas the rest of the way.

Port Jefferson - at anchor

Yet another beach, this one at Port Jefferson

This is Sarah here and today was a great day! We started the morning with a nice breakfast and decided to head to port Jeff around 10. Grandpa pulled up the anchor, then I was able to steer the boat for a bit. We were able to put up the main sail and the jib, but we had to keep the diesel on because there wasn’t enough wind in our direction. It is really fun steering the boat because I like to learn so in the future me and Finn can have a boat of our own. Also it is nice to feel the wind in your hair and the water at your side. After I made lunch for my cousins and we were still just cruising along. We anchored, but had to move more further away from shore because of the depth and we went to the nearest beach. It was really nice going to the beach because I thought that the weather was hot and gross. After swimming and spending some time at the beach I stayed in the dink with Natalie to help Grandpa walk Hoolie. Now were settled down and just about to watch a movie before dinner, thanks for reading, bye!

Whatever you do, do not feed the swans at Port Jefferson I did once and found they were impossible to get rid of

Although the weather is nice for the Sound, the wind is not cooperating. Today we had less than 6 kts, not enough to even fill the sails. We headed out anyway since we wanted to get to Branford and the swimming pool at Bruce and Johnson with a dinner at Lenny's. When we arrived at Port Jefferson and immediately everyone headed for the beach! There's nothing like water to keep kids happy.

One of the great things about cruising Long Island Sound are all the excellent anchorages for free, many of which have sand beaches for kid entertainment. There's Manhasset with the free moorings, Northport by Sand City Island, Port Jefferson right by the entrance to starboard, Manatuck with the free anchorage area, Stonington with its designated anchorage area, North Cove free anchorage, and so on. You can cruise the entire Sound without every having to stay in a marina. The only problem is you do not always get wind.

We'll leave in the morning to reach Branford so the kids can enjoy the pool to their heart's content. We will meet Monique there and see who wants to get off the boat and who wants to stay for another week. 

Northport by Sand Island - at anchor

Just add water, instant diversion. Lots of splashing resulted a few moments later.

Hi, I’m Rowan, I’m seven years old and this is my first cruise! Today we went to the beach!!! We had fun today doing motoring down the river. I saw two beaches and a catamaran in the morning. I splashed around in the water and I saw two seagulls.

Playing with my new 40x zoom, this nest is about 1000 ft distant

Tonight was Rowan's turn at the blog. We had to endure a raining morning and we didn't get started until 2:00 pm after waiting for the rain and winds to die down. Meanwhile the kids baked donut holes and made pizza for lunch (busy hands and all). The bad weather finally abated and we were off. The wind died as predicted but there were rollers coming head on to the boat as we headed east so we pitched up and down quite a lot, more than I expected. Rowan seemed immune to all the motion but the others felt it more although nobody got sick. Rowan was up and down the stairs, inside and out in the cockpit, no difference. The rest were subdued.

Starting to get some sunsets

Once at Northport, everybody wanted to take a trip to the beach at Sand Island. The anchorage is very protected and the beach is a popular place with the locals. The beach is more pebbles than sand but it had water to splash around, sold!

Tomorrow is predicted to be a sailing day so we're all looking forward to a sail to Port Jefferson and another appointment with a sandy beach.  

The bridge replacing the Tappan Zee impressed Rowan no end

Hi I’m Natalie and I have been spending time on the boat with my grandparents and cousins having the time of my life. This week we went down the Hudson River using the diesel. Yesterday we spent a nice part of are day going down the Hudson on are sailboat and we had the most prettiest trip. Today we went through New York City and it definitely was rocky! We saw water taxis, ferries, and cruise ships and it was beautiful seeing the city side. On are way through New York City, we saw the Empire State Building, the Freedom Tower, and the beautiful Lady Liberty given to us from France! There was so many barges going by and the New York Harbor was so rocky that all 4 of us kids had to wear life vests! We’re in the beautiful mooring field of Port Washington and tomorrow we’ll be headed to Northport. We will have a lovely ride down the sound tomorrow and maybe we’ll be able to sail tomorrow! Wish us luck on our journey, Bon Voyage! Oh before I forget, the answer to the riddle Finn had yesterday is: Nothing, Nothing is greater than god, Nothing is more evil than the devil, the poor have Nothing, the rich need Nothing, and if you eat Nothing you will die!    

This elicited a big "Whoa!" from Rowan

Well we had quite a day today going down the Hudson River, around the Battery, and through Hell Gate. Our timing was not ideal with slack tide due to Hell Gate not until 3:30 pm! We left around 10:00 from Croton Point and the tide was against us about 1/2 the way. At the end we were doing 10 kts! From past experience I was expecting a fierce tide against me towards Hell Gate and I had one at first but it lessened and even though the current tables predicted a 2.5 kt tide against me, it was actually slack at Hell Gate. It was a rather smooth trip compared to our past trips through the area.

Everybody rushed out to see the Statue of Liberty

That's not to say there wasn't a lot of rocking and rolling! The water taxis ensured our ride was not smooth all the way. All the kids had lifejackets while up in the cockpit south of the George Washington bridge until past Hell Gate. What could be heard the loudest was, "Whoa!" from the youngest, Rowan, whenever he saw a barge or large ship. There were a lot of "Whoa's."

Who designed this!? Everyone thought it was weird

One "Whoa" was reserved for the Statue of Liberty that everyone recognized in the distance. The kids took pictures but with all the rocking and rolling, I'm not sure how well they turned out. Another great attraction is steering the dinghy. They all take turns including Rowan but the big challenge is docking to the aft of Fleetwing. Some come in too fast, some too far away, but they are learning. We do riddles during the quiet moments while motoring down the river. Finn and Natalie are great riddle fans.

All the kids piled into the dinghy for a ride to shore and a chance to drive the dinghy, a very big thing here

We'll just spend one night here and head out for Northport on Friday. There's a sandy beach there for exercising the kids. It's not so far so we should be able to sail at least part of the way. We have tentative plans for Sunday night at Branford if the weather holds.

Croton Point - at anchor, July Adventures on Camp Fleetwing

They were fascinated with the large ships going by

Today was AWESOME!!! This is Finn by the way. Today we sailed down the Hudson river. My grandfather gave us some riddles to try to figure out. The one I got stuck om was what is greater than God but worse than the devil what do the poor have and the rich need and if you eat it you will DIE!!! The answer will be in Natalie's blog tomorrow. We just anchored at Croton Point. I took a swim off the back of the boat and snorkeled a bit. Today was an AWESOME day but sadly I didn’t do any more than that. So I am sad to say this but BYE!!     

Exercise is a big part of keeping the crew happy

Today was quite the adventure on Camp Fleetwing. We have four grandkids aboard on a 42 ft sailboat. We do have two cabins but that's hardly enough room for four active kids. Their first task was to dewater the dinghy which was done amid much splashing with most of the water exiting the dinghy. We took on fuel and then we were off! The weather could not have been better with a high in the mid 80's and cool breezes. The kids gawked at the large ships going up the Hudson River and we motored on to anchor at the north side of Croton Point. 

Part 2 is keeping the crew fed!

Ann prepared a one pot meal with sweet and sour chicken which the kids enjoyed and we're resting  before everyone hits the hay. I think they are going to bed much earlier than they ever do at home. Our motto is, "If we're ready for bed, then the kids are too!"  At least the swimming off the back of the boat did tire them out just a little (but not much!). 

The Captain and Admiral are ready for bed! Now to convince the crew...

Thursday we head for Manhasset Bay via Hell Gate and the East River. Everybody will be wearing lifejackets for that trip. It can get rough through New York Harbor and especially through the East River with the tugs stirring up the water. There's no swimming in Manhasset Bay so we'll have to find another way to exercise the kids.