THE INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY. PREFACE

THE INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY. PREFACE

I have decided to write about our trip on this great Eastern US channel for several reasons, the first being the opportunity offered to my wife (Barbara) and me to carefully evaluate everything we did before, during and after this trip. We talked and remembered with fondness the pleasant moments that we spent sailing for 56 days (between October and December of 1997) in those waters. Reviewing photos, maps, notes, logs and charts helped to refresh our memory and to recommend other people to do so.

We have indeed come to the conclusion that any middle-income person and some time availability can do so. It is an ideal opportunity for a marriage or couple. 

 

What is needed as a minimum is a boat of 24 to 26 feet, preferably motor, in good condition. If you are an American or a resident and have a boat of this type do not stop doing it. It is a wonderful experience.

We did it on a larger boat, a 36-foot trawler. We believe, after carefully reviewing our trip, that we probably exaggerate a little the previous preparations for travel. Perhaps a product of our ignorance about such cruises. Today, as in the time we did it, we believe it can be done without major problems given the wide variety of services that are available in marinas and villages along the route. 

Obviously you are required to have minimum nautical skills and some experience in navigating a craft of this type. In the USA there are many courses on the Imternet that give you that knowledge, take a test and get a license. One institution that can help you a lot is the United States Power (and sailing) Squadron (USPS). This institution has chapters in almost all the cities of USA where there are facilities of navigation sport.

 One of the specialties of the USPS is to educate captains who own these types of boats and their crews. If you have opportunity take your courses. These range from the most basic and introductory to the sports navigation to the most complicated passing through courses of piloting, coastal and high altitude navigation or celestial, meteorology, communications, engine maintenance, cruise planning, sailing. 

In the years following this cruise we have traveled by land between Florida and Washington DC many times, always taking the opportunity to visit some of the places to which we arrived with our boat. Thus we have kept the details of the cruise in our memory updated.

If you have the resources do not stop doing it. The experience will give them moments of life full of colors, flavors, challenges and opportunities to know this wonderful waterfront that connects them with the history of this country as they travel visiting towns and cities, almost all historic (St. Augustine, Savannah , Charleston, etc.), where you can stay for a few days exploring. In addition they will enjoy the view of all kinds of boats, fields, forests, lakes, mansions, houses and marinas that are passing during the navigation and in general of the nature that is very generous along this route. 

I hope you will entertain the articles on this cruise in the same way as the writing has done for us.

    

José Antonio Garnham

Washington DC. May 2013