Travelling the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW)

Whose brilliant idea was it to go up the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) again?  Oh yeah…that was my idea.  Not perhaps my smartest decision I suppose.  I guess six months was enough time for me to forget our last struggle with low bridges and skinny water in a 50 foot sailboat.  (See that crazy story here!) But with a brisk north wind kicking up 8-foot seas outside, we decided to try the inside again.

Ponce Inlet to Daytona Beach

We left Ponce Inlet a couple of hours before low tide.  The bridge at Port Orange has a reputation for being less than the charted 65 feet, so we aimed to reach it at slack tide.  The wind was from the north, directly on our nose and kicking up some good waves in the channel.  We made it under the bridge without touching, with 64 feet on the tide boards.  One down…a lot more to go!

It was a short trip to Daytona, where we stayed two nights anchored just south of downtown.  We took the dingy into Bethune Point Park and walked downtown to the post office.  It seems like a ghost town now with COVID-19 keeping us all isolated.  I remember how busy it was back in February when we were there with my mom.  The town was practically deserted with just a few folks out walking on a Saturday.

Daytona to St. Augustine

We left Sunday morning just after low tide to head to St. Augustine.  There are five bridges to go under just to get out of Daytona!  One was a bascule bridge that opened, but the rest were fixed bridges.  We took them slow and cleared without problem.  After leaving Daytona, there are 4 more fixed bridges to cope with and two other bascule bridges that open.  The lowest bridge we encountered said 64 feet on the boards and we cleared easily.  You can experience going under a 65 foot bridge from my perspective...click here. We encountered one section of the trip with a 10-foot depth, but most areas were 12-14 feet.  The river twists and turns a lot making it a tiring process.  We took one hour shifts at the helm so we could rest.  In these small spaces, even my booster seat doesn’t give me an adequate view of where we are going.  I have to stand the whole time at the helm and it gets tiring standing in one small space for too long.  The ICW is really narrow in spots, so you have to pay attention to navigation and channel markers. 

The scenery along this stretch is really diverse.  You pass through stretches of marshes and sandbars, then areas of million-dollar mansions, then see some rundown older places and abandoned buildings.  It makes the time pass quickly taking it all in.  We had planned to anchor behind Fort Matanzas.  I really wanted to go visit the fort, but it is currently closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions.  We checked it out from a distance as we rounded Rattlesnake Island. 

We picked up a mooring ball in St. Augustine at the city mooring field, just south of the Bridge of Lions.  Finding your assigned ball is something of a challenge, as things don’t ever look like the map when the boats are swinging in different directions.  We did a grand tour of the mooring field before finally locating #33.  Luck was shining on us as we approached and Nick was able to pick up the ball on the first try (Thank you God…my prayers were answered!)  I’m always stressed having to navigate the boat in those tight spaces.

St. Augustine too seemed very quiet, although not as deserted as Daytona.  There were a few shops open and people on the streets as we bicycled through downtown to get parts for the dingy motor (it started coughing and sputtering in Daytona…still trying to figure out the problem.)  All the tourist attractions are still closed but the trolley tour was operating and there were tour boats on the river with people aboard.

Do not attempt St. Augustine Inlet!

We left St. Augustine this morning, going through the beautiful Bridge of Lions, heading toward the open ocean, passing the Castillo de San Marcos and famous cross landmark.  We were excited to get on the outside again and be done with the bridges.  However, on approaching the inlet, many of the channel markers were missing.  We struggled to follow the path and suddenly saw our depth drop FAST.   Like 30 seconds fast! From 18 feet of water to 2 feet!  We hit the ground hard and scared the daylights out of us both.  Promptly turning around, we headed back up the Intercoastal Waterway again.  I think it took at least an hour for our heart rates to subside to normal.

Much of this stretch of waterway is wilderness.   We encountered four fixed bridges that all said at least 64 feet on the boards, but our antenna scraped the bridge on the last two.  We passed several residential areas with beautiful architecture.  Check out the video on Facebook here. 

Tonight, we are at the dock in Sisters Creek.  It is quiet and peaceful.  We will see what tomorrow brings….