The real Intracoastal Waterway

Monday October 29
It was a treat to visit Sunday evening with Jim & Fay Mack on Wanderer-- we had talked on the radio but never been aboard their lovely boat. They had a lot of experience to share with us as they've been doing this trip for almost 20 years and they spend each winter aboard in the Abacos, Bahamas. But after spending two days at the Tidewater marina in Portsmouth, VA at Mile Zero of the Intracoastal Waterway the 30 knot winds settled down to 20 knots, and we decided to do the 50 mile run to Coinjock, NC. This can be a slow run because there are 7 bridges and one lock (our first!) The bridges were easy except when we had 26 boats all waiting in a narrow canal for one bridge to open and trying to hold their positions with the wind and current (some bridges only open on the hour). We didn't have to worry too much about depth in the ICW because we were following the yacht Grand Luxe (228 feet long and 63 feet high) so we knew they had deep water and that the bridges would stay open for them. She is a floating art gallery that travels up and down the east coast hosting events. However it was a little scary when that huge ship joined us in our very first lock designed to lower us about 3 feet to the level of the Virginia Cut.

After the bridge traffic settled down we cruised along at 8.5 knots through some pretty salt marshes in a narrow canal. This was so much easier than the rough rides down Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake that we felt we could really relax and enjoy the ICW. We had purchased the "triptik" type book Chartracker that guides boats down the ICW mile-by-mile so we could easily follow how far we'd traveled and how far we still had to go.

SeaDee started out from Portsmouth just behind us but couldn't fit in the lock with us and Grand Luxe so they arrived at Coinjock about an hour after us. We hadn't expected to see our friends on Rosetta since they'd left Portsmouth the day before-- but Coinjock is a narrow canal with a marina on each side so we could only wave to them as we tied up on the long dock on the opposite side. Coinjock Marina is known for its 32 oz. Prime Rib-- delicious with enough left over for a roast beef sandwich tomorrow!