Heading South

Hello,
We have just retired and after 40 plus years of boating we’ll be heading south this fall for the 1st time. We will be starting in Connecticut and would like to tip our toes in the Bahamas. So, looking for advice on a reasonable itinerary including marinas, moorings and anchorage’s. We’re cruising on a 46 GB Europa and we run about 8 or 9 knots. We usually like to run 30 to 50 miles at a clip.
I’m guessing many of you have cruised south a bunch and have a list of plan A/ plan B spots. We’ve been cruising “seat of the pants” style in the Northeast this summer but would prefer a little more structured trip south.
Thanks in advance!

Brian

Hey Brian - saw your post on CruisersForum. As mentioned there, TF has several east coast snowbirds who can assist with planning, highlight favorite spots, etc.

Do you have a departure date in mind?

Peter

Late October

Have any preferences?

Like running inside and out or primarily inside?

Party towns with excellent restaurants .... historic places.... quiet country/fishing towns?

What type anchorages..... open harbor near towns or secluded, tidal creeks?

We do not have any preferences and not on a specific timeframe. Just looking for vetted plan A/plan B itinerary based on 30 - 50 mile runs. Places to avoid for whatever reasons would be helpful too.

From memory... starting in southern NJ...

Cape May
(and/or Lewes)
Chesapeake City
(and/or Delaware City)
Rock Hall
Annapolis
Deale
Solomons
leap to Portsmouth/Norfolk
(or... Deltaville, first, then P/N)
Coinjock ****
maybe Alligator River Marina ****
Belhaven
Oriental
Beaufort, NC
Swansboro
Wrightsville Beach
Southport
Myrtle Beach Yacht Club (Little River, NC)
(or Barefoot, or the hotel place, or Osprey Marina)
Georgetown
(McClellanville, if necessary)
Charleston
Beaufort, SC (or Port Royal, or Hilton Head)
Savannah (Thunderbolt of Isle of Hope)
leap to Golden Isles, St. Simon's Island
(or anchor out, halfway between Savannah & GI)
Fernandina Beach
St. Augustine (and/or detour to Jacksonville for a while)
Daytona Beach
Cocoa
Stuart

... ummm... can't remember off-hand the parts between Stuart and Ft. Lauderdale...

Those are not all strictly 30-50 NM segments, and I'd say skip some anyway, to visit on the way back.

**** The Albemarle Sound can re-arrange all your boat furniture... or it can be nice/calm/flat. Look ahead at weather, decide in advance whether to stop at Coinjock or press on. The prime rib at Coinjock is usually decent enough, but not worth the delay if it puts you in a "washing machine" Sound... and it'll still be there on the way back, anyway.

The Waterway Guide is useful, and there's a "mile-by-mile" book that's helpful, too.

-Chris

Salty Dawg leaves, usually end of October weather depending.
Sailboats as you can see will group as a relative offshore bunch, but some tend to go coastal and ICW, as suggested on previous post.

You may like to check their site for seminars and cruising the islands to get an idea on what people do, where they anchor, marinas to use etc.

They also have some webinars on navigating inlets etc.

Thanks you Chris and Davil. Very helpful!

Do you prefer docks or nights on the hook? I've done the ditch about 8 round trips between The Chesapeake and stuart. Can offer an anchorage list of my preferred stops.

Ted

Hi Brian,

We are headed to the Bahamas as well, leaving by mid October. Our first leg is an overnight from Groton, CT to Cape May weather permitting. From there we will spend about two weeks in the Chesapeake and on down. Thanksgiving will be spent in Ft. Pierce with my wife's family. After that the Bahamas with the first good weather window.

Rob

Datenight said:

Hi Brian,

We are headed to the Bahamas as well, leaving by mid October. Our first leg is an overnight from Groton, CT to Cape May weather permitting. From there we will spend about two weeks in the Chesapeake and on down. Thanksgiving will be spent in Ft. Pierce with my wife's family. After that the Bahamas with the first good weather window.

Rob

Click to expand...

If not real familiar with FT Pierce, I live there and if you need anything or places to get stuff, shoot me a PM. Safe voyaging.

O C Diver said:

Do you prefer docks or nights on the hook? I've done the ditch about 8 round trips between The Chesapeake and stuart. Can offer an anchorage list of my preferred stops.

Ted

Click to expand...

Took delivery of my Helmsman Trawler in Charleston this past June and took it North to Long Island Sound.

Now heading south to TrawlerFest to show her then continuing on to Florida for the Winter.

I would love the anchorage list of your preferred anchorages, Ted... thanks!

O C Diver said:

Do you prefer docks or nights on the hook? I've done the ditch about 8 round trips between The Chesapeake and stuart. Can offer an anchorage list of my preferred stops.

Ted

Click to expand...

Hey Ted,
We usually do a combo of marinas, moorings and anchorages. I would appreciate your list very much. Thanks!

Try chatGPT. You would be amazed at it's ability to suggest ports. You can just provide some basics such as boat speed and start point and final destination and distance you prefer to travel each day. It will give a first pass plan. Then you can just layer on new info such as I prefer to stay 2 nights at x port. Then it can add on the marine forecast. In 5-10 minutes you can have an incredible plan. And you can continue to modify it up to departure. The possibilities are endless.

** following **

READY said:

Try chatGPT. You would be amazed at it's ability to suggest ports. You can just provide some basics such as boat speed and start point and final destination and distance you prefer to travel each day. It will give a first pass plan. Then you can just layer on new info such as I prefer to stay 2 nights at x port. Then it can add on the marine forecast. In 5-10 minutes you can have an incredible plan. And you can continue to modify it up to departure. The possibilities are endless.

Click to expand...

Great idea. Thanks!

psneeld said:

If not real familiar with FT Pierce, I live there and if you need anything or places to get stuff, shoot me a PM. Safe voyaging.

Click to expand...

Thank you

psneeld said:

If not real familiar with FT Pierce, I live there and if you need anything or places to get stuff, shoot me a PM. Safe voyaging.

Click to expand...

Thanks Paul, I always take your posts seriously and would love to meet you.

Rob

The attached spreadsheet has ideas for running the Mid Chesapeake to the Gulf Coast.

Forum won't let me attach spreadsheets

fryedaze said:

Forum won't let me attach spreadsheets

Click to expand...

If you can convert to PDF you can attach that.

Peter

Try pdf.

Bshemon said:

Hey Ted,
We usually do a combo of marinas, moorings and anchorages. I would appreciate your list very much. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Happy to share.
Send me by PM (private message) an email address and I will send it to you as a Word doc. It will probably be Friday as I'm out of town till late tomorrow.

Ted