So I got part of my dream in this summer. Mid June, took the boat across the “ditch” (Okeechobee) from Ft Myers Beach and made Ft Pierce first night. From Ft. Pierce, we headed outside and made great time to Ponce Inlet (just south of Daytona Beach). Once inside, started to get the orientation to the ICW that all thoughts about my average run speeds were Interesting at best (calm water, I can cruise at 32-34 mph and prefer to do so if conditions allow). Over the course of the next several months, ran/learned from the following:
• After entering ICW at Vero, we had lots of slow zones up through Daytona, Ormond and Palm Coast. Ended that day in St. Augustine (200+ miles) with the first 120 run in under three hours, and the balance run in an added 6 hours;
• Ran from St Augustine to Fernandina Beach outside. Seas were such that we averaged only 25mph on that leg.
• Left the boat for several weeks at Fernandina, then ran to Hilton Head. Did this run outside and again, due to seas, averaged only 26mph.
• Had lots of great day cruises out of Hilton Head, then took off to Georgetown SC. Ran ICW from Hilton Head to Seabrook Island for fuel (took 2 hours). Average in the ICW was maybe 18mph. Following fuel stop, ran outside to Charleston had us up to about 25 mph, then inside again to Georgetown and an average of maybe 20 mph. ~135 miles took us over 10 hours to travel.
• Left Georgetown to go to Charleston and headed outside. Seas kicked up a fair bit and we were down to an average of 18 mph dock to dock.
• Departing Charleston for Hilton Head, stayed in the ICW. LOTS of slow zones, and trip took us well over 7 hours for an average of under15 mph.
• Left the boat in Hilton Head for several weeks and got a chance to take a run to St. Simons Island. Outside on the way for an average speed of about 28 mph; return had a little rough weather so came inside at St Catherine. From there north to Hilton Head, LOTS of slow zones. Average for the run was maybe 16 mph, but the last half (inside) was killer slow.
• When time to head south, left Hilton Head (just ahead of Hurricane Danielle). Tried outside, but was already hitting 5-7’s so went inside from Hilton Head to Palm Coast. Departed Hilton Head at 9 am, stopped for fuel at Fernandina and pulled into slip in Palm Coast at 10pm. 13 hours and covered just over 210 miles.
• From Palm Coast had planned I would get to Palm Beach. Danielle was destined to keep me inside and had the unfortunate luck to have the ICW closed just south of Ponce Inlet (someone put a bomb in a park at Edgewater and the Coasties/Sheriff were not allowing any boats to pass). Sat at anchor for four hours and ended the day at Titusville. Avg speed was not worth calculating.
• Left the boat in Titusville for a week then ran to Palm Beach. Inside to Sebastian Inlet, outside to Ft Piece (stop for fuel), inside to St Lucie and outside to Lake Worth. ~120 miles and dock to dock was over 8 hours.
• Next run was to West End (Bahamas) to clear customs and then to Great Harbor Cay (north end of Berry Islands). Run was ~150 miles and, including clearing customs and fuel stop, dock to dock was over 8 hours.
• Next leg was to Nassau – quick 75 mile run. Other boat we were traveling with encountered mechanical issues and what we thought should be 3 hours became 6 hours.
Boat is still in Nassau with plans to spend a few more days end of October in the Bahamas and then on to Key West and then back to Ft Myers.
So what have I learned in living my dream, let me offer the following:
• You will be lucky to achieve 50% of what you optimistically think you can run each day. I “planned” pit stops worthy of Indy (in terms of how long I thought it would take), underestimated the amount of down throttle for speed zones and boat traffic/docks; and, try as I wanted, could not control the weather or other items (like the “bomber” that caused the ICW to close).
• Your plans must be filled with tons of contingencies. I studied the charts and marina listings well enough that I knew where I had options to come in or go out and made lots of use of the cell phone checking out marina selections based on what I really was going to achieve for the day vs. what I hoped for.
• Traveling when I did (slow season for FL) made things easier as I had only one instance where I could not find a slip where/when I wanted along the way.
• Having a boat is worth every bit of it’s expenses and all the missed expectation of my plans. Scenery was awesome all along the way, everyone ended with a greater appreciation of the boat (the admiral got up to four consecutive nights on the boat, the girls had a great time when we all got together for the Hilton Head timeframes) and people on the water are 99% of the time great.
Fortunately, my dream is still “in process”. Looking forward to the final leg(s) to get the boat back to Ft Myers, with great ideas of fresh fish/lobster in the Bahamas and snorkeling in the Keys before we get home. If you are even considering the dream, my advice would be loosen up on the schedule, be a bit more flexible on how quickly you plan to arrive and go for it!
