If you’ve been following along with us here on the blog or watching our YouTube channel, you know that we took the slowest approach to going north on the Atlantic ICW possible. This past spring we stopped at virtually every city or cool anchorage along the way north. We saw so many awesome places while meandering up the ditch with zero passages on the outside in the ocean from the Florida Keys all the way to Norfolk, VA.
We did it that way because….well because the purpose of the trip was to see a bunch of places we hadn’t seen before. Mission accomplished.
On the way south after hurricane season, we had a different mission. That mission being to not freeze our bunions off whilst rocketing south as quickly as possible with visions of warm beaches in the Bahamas dancing in our heads.
Check out these differences in the time and stops between the trip north and the trip south!
First, our time through the Chesapeake leaving and getting back to the start of the ICW. Hours instead of almost a month! Lol!
Norfolk to Annapolis 26 days, 14 different stops
Annapolis to Norfolk 27 hours, zero stops
Next our ICW trip, which included an overnight hop on the outside from Georgetown, SC to Savannah, GA, was over 3 times as quick. I used Jacksonville here because we stopped there for a couple months to do more boat work and visit family for the holidays.
Jacksonville, FL to Norfolk 58 days, 27 different stops
Norfolk to Jacksonville, FL 17 days, 11 different stops
Finally, for other cruisers reading this wondering how much time to allow to get from the Chesapeake/Norfolk to a Bahamas crossing, the answer is about 3 weeks. Once we left Jacksonville, it was 5 more days to the Lake Worth Inlet area. Of course, you can get there much quicker if you are willing to sail day and night on the outside and have the weather for that. This time frame is for if you stay put in really poor weather and only jump on the outside in mild conditions. It was also many consecutive days of motoring from sunrise to sunset (60-70 miles many days). Sometimes in the rain…always in the cold!
Jacksonville to Lake Worth Inlet area 5 more days
Roughly 3 weeks from Annapolis to Bahamas crossing area
After all that cold and motoring, we are definitely ready to do more sailing in the beautiful, balmy Bahamas! Just a few more projects to complete in Jacksonville to get the boat ready.
Mary Duncan
April 9, 2019 at 12:12 amGoals set, goals met. You really appreciate the warm weather when you’ve been subjected to cold weather and wind on a boat for sure. Brrrrrr.