Detroit to Miami

[Maynard Rupp]

Mike, our Yacht Club is half way up Lake St. Clair. Crescent Sail YC. Strictly sailboats, we keep our Hat about 2 miles north. This Saturday, 8/26 is our clubs regatta. Lots of merriment and sailboat races, including mine. My cell is 313-701-1179. Call me if you get in the area and have time. Sunday I will take my 35' sailboat apart for winter as I am leaving for Florida on Labor Day. I would llike to stay inside as much as I can as time isn't an issue and I would like to see yhe sights. I spent 30 years flying over the entire earth at 500+ miles per hour. I am no longer in a hurry. The entire Erie canal is now open and we can lower our bimini top to meet all clearance requirements. We plan on going that way unless you think that I shouldn't. Did you sell your 36' Sedan?

 

[Timeless56]

Maynard:

We sold the 36' Sedan last May and it went to Grand Haven, MI. I agree, if you have the time there are some really great ports along the way. Enjoy the trip. We will be in either St. Clair or Port Huron on Saturday and up to Bayfield on Sunday, Grand Bend on Monday, Tues-Wed The Old Club, Thursday - MacRay's, Friday -Saturday GPYC, Sunday - Put-in-Bay, Home on Monday(CIC)

Mike

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Maynard slow down and wait for me! Our boat is in Maryland. I'll be ready to do "the ditch" in late September early October. So stop on by and join me for some crabs and a beer. You lead the way, I'll bring up the rear.

Mario

We are leaving this Monday, Labor Day. We are planning to do the whole thing at 8 knots to save gas. We are laying for awhile in NYC and in Annappolis MD. Maybe we can catch each other. My cell is 313-701-1179. I will check this forum every time I get a WiFi hookup.

 

[tomrealest]

Best money you can spend is on Skipper Bob's publications whose web site Pascal posted eariler. The fuel prices will be wrong but you sure can get the idea about who is cheaper and who is expensive. You'll save a ton on fuel costs not to mention the dockage information is accurate.

Don't Leave Home Without It!

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Best money you can spend is on Skipper Bob's publications whose web site Pascal posted eariler. The fuel prices will be wrong but you sure can get the idea about who is cheaper and who is expensive. You'll save a ton on fuel costs not to mention the dockage information is accurate.

Don't Leave Home Without It!

Thanks Tom, I already have them. The early reading that I have done tells me alot about all the important questions.

 

[ADaily3224]

Maynard.

My guess is you're still home. The weather has been really bad and trying to come down Lake Erie in the last few days would have been exciting with a 60MPH east wind in your face. Anyway keep in touch.

Tony D

 

[MarioG]

We are leaving this Monday, Labor Day. We are planning to do the whole thing at 8 knots to save gas. We are laying for awhile in NYC and in Annappolis MD. Maybe we can catch each other. My cell is 313-701-1179. I will check this forum every time I get a WiFi hookup.

Great! I leave for MD on Sept. 8 or 9th. hopefully I'll be ready by then. I hope we'll see you in Annapolis. my cell is 786-282-4441

Mario

 

[Maynard Rupp]

We are now in St. Augustine and this has been a great trip. We had no serious depth problems except in South Carolina and a few of the little connecting links between the many rivers in Georgia. I have never seen a more devious way to head south than the Georiga ICW. They have many Est and West bound rivers and the ICW has short dug channels that connect these many rivers. Southerly progress is slow in Georgia, but it is very pretty. We only ran aground once and thar was today. I was not thinking clearly and decided to put the green posts to starboard. We plowed some silt for about three seconds as I rolled the wheel toward the correct side. Fortunately we never even slowed down. Tnank god that gas pices have dropped over $1.00 per gallon. I do notice that diesel prices are now almost the same as gasoline. Unity is working great. I just did the second oil change. I did have to deal with a fleck of junk in the carburator needl of the gen set. The float wasn't shutting the fuel off and the carb woul flood the genny.

We have not had very good Internet connectivity. I will bet that if you do this trip in three years, you will have greay availability. Severel stops offered monthly connectivity, which of course is useless to folks who are just spending one night in the area.

 

[Capt K]

When we brought my friend's Ocean up in April/May, we left Jupiter inlet and St Augustine was our first stop(from outside). We were forced on the ICW the rest of the way until Norfolk. You're right, great scenery and not too bad water if you pay attention. Georgia IS interesting, isn't it?

Did you happen to stop at River Forest Manor in Belhaven, NC? If not, you missed an experience!

Enjoy the winter.

K

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Glad to hear all is going well, Maynard. Sounds like a great trip.

We got in a big storm once while in the GA ICW. There was no good place to dock and it was getting dark, so we went up one of those little rivers and found a place to drop the hook. We rode out the storm fine, but in the morning the tide was so low that we wondered if we would make it back out of there. All turned out well, though. Part of the fun of boating, the adventure of it all.

 

[34Hatt]

We have not had very good Internet connectivity. I will bet that if you do this trip in three years, you will have greay availability. Severel stops offered monthly connectivity, which of course is useless to folks who are just spending one night in the area.

You should see if you can do it thru your cell phone! I have been doing that this summer works pretty good. I have Verizon and use the Nationwide access
It only counts as minutes and if you do it after 9 or weekends it does not matter how long then!

Ga ICW when we did it we went out of Charleston SC straight to Fl skip that part I here you go 2 miles to make it 1 mile south .

 

[67hat34c]

Dont have your schedule but I will be in Merritt Island FL this weekend so stop in if you are going to be in the area, we are just off of the ICW on the Barge Canal, State Road 528 bridge.

Steve Hierholzer
407 928 5173

 

[Pascal]

welcome to florida...

let me know when you're coming in... probably cant get tugs to escort you in with fire hoses... but we can celebrate and take pics...

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Thanks Pascal....We plan on arriving this Sunday afternoon. We are going from St. Augustine tommorrow, (thursday), to Titusville, then Ft. Pierce, Palm Beach, and Miami on Sunday. Boy has this been a neat trip. No hurricanes, and so far, only 2 rainy days, both around Annappolis. We had dinner with Jim Rosenthal, saw Blue Note, and swapped lots of stories. Some about Pascal too.See you Sunday. Fire hoses would save me from having to rinse all the salt off with my hose. I guess I am paranoid about salt water. I hose the boat completly every night after we dock.

 

[egaito]

Thanks Pascal....We plan on arriving this Sunday afternoon. We are going from St. Augustine tommorrow, (thursday), to Titusville, then Ft. Pierce, Palm Beach, and Miami on Sunday. Boy has this been a neat trip. No hurricanes, and so far, only 2 rainy days, both around Annappolis. We had dinner with Jim Rosenthal, saw Blue Note, and swapped lots of stories. Some about Pascal too.See you Sunday. Fire hoses would save me from having to rinse all the salt off with my hose. I guess I am paranoid about salt water. I hose the boat completly every night after we dock.

Heck, I think that's SOP in salt water. The captain that brought Misty down for me (work got in the way) rinsed her down every night as well. But then, he was playing around with her to see how much salt he could put up into the flybridge from what I gathered ;-) Man, I wish I could have made that trip!

Where did you stay in St. Augustine? We took a runabout from Daytona to St Augustine years ago and stayed at the Conch House marina, where they had some old, but very clean motel rooms, and a great eatery/watering hole.

Ran aground once on that trip, learning a) what temporary markers look like and b) Why there was a SeaTow billboard strategically placed within view of that spot in Matanzas bay!

I guess we'll see you at Columbus Day then?

 

[Maynard Rupp]

We are at St. Augustine Municipal Marina, and yes we will join all of you for the Colombus Day get together. My son may have to return for work on Monday though. Sure glad I am retired.

 

[67hat34c]

St Augustine is a neat little town, you can walk from marina to anywere there.

 

[egaito]

St Augustine is a neat little town, you can walk from marina to anywere there.

There's a great Kite store there...good enough that there were "no kite flying" signs in the nearby park! Also met Cuban cigar roller I liked.....

I'm sure there are a bunch of neat waterfront towns along the way, but that was my first and so far my only "water trip" on the ICW, and it turned out to be a great one.

I don't know what the state of the place is these days, but on the way home, we stopped at Marineland for a hot dog and a dolphin show, which was another neat experience. The used to have a marina on the river side you could tie up at to, and walk across the street to the venue.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Tonight we are in the municipal marina at Ft. Pierce. Lovely marina with friendly help. We have learned on this trip that the city owned maronas are usually better and half the price of private ones. The exception is the New York City area where nothing is great nor cheap. Tommorrow a short trip to Palm Beach the on to Miami on Sunday.

 

[Angela]

Assuming you're coming into Miami through Government Cut (at the Port of Miami/Fisher Island), I'll be looking for you to pass by sometime on Sunday as you pass under the Rickenbacker Causeway! Otherwise, see you at Columbus Day Regatta. We're planning to follow Pascal out Friday evening. Hope you're going to follow suit.