ICW Resources
Here are our most-used resources for traveling the Atlantic Intra-Coastal Waterway:
PAPER RESOURCES
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1. Intracoastal Waterway Chartbook, Norfolk VA to Miami FL
5th edition (2008), John Kettlewell. Referred to as the “flip-charts”. There are other sources of paper charts but we prefer the convenience presented here. Pass your Chartbook to your knowledgeable slip neighbors and ask them to pencil in notes on shoals, anchorages and shore access. You’ll need additional paper charts if you plan to go outside into the Atlantic.
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2. Managing the Waterway: Hampton Roads VA to Biscayne Bay FL,
Mark and Diana Doyle.
This is the best resource for day-to-day planning as well as minute-by-minute reconnoitering of bridges, locks, or inlets. A splendid narrative highlights the waterway’s history and lore as you pass by. Many more details such as anchorage tidal ranges and big picture overviews of each state are included. If you’re continuing to the Keys, buy their FL Keys Cruising Guide covering the inside & Hawk Channel routes — Miami to Key West.
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3. Anchorages Along the Intracoastal Waterway
Skipper Bob Publications, 13th edition.
Other resources contain anchorage information but Skipper Bob’s system of ranking anchorages by holding, wind protection, current, wake, scenery and provisioning opportunities make this the guide most useful for our purposes. Since it also includes updated information about shoaling, local anchoring restrictions, shore access and other issues pertinent to selecting an appropriate anchorage it does pay to get a current edition.
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4. Marinas Along the Intracoastal Waterway
Skipper Bob Publications, 12th edition.
We rarely stay in marinas but use this guide when we do. Unfortunately it is organized very poorly and requires flipping through most of the book to find all the information relevant to any one marina. If you don’t stay in marinas often you might get by just using the Doyle’s Managing the Waterway Guide and calling for information about rates and amenities. If you do stay at marinas frequently you’ll probably want a current edition as rates change rapidly.
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5. Reed’s Nautical Almanac, East Coast, any edition.
Most the information in Reed’s we find elsewhere. However, we do keep the pages from their outside distance charts handy to help plan distances for outside hops. These distances are measured from anchorage-to-anchorage including miles transiting inlets so it’s easy to compare an outside hop distance to the comparable miles on the ICW. If you prefer print resources to those found online you may find Reed’s to be your primary print source of information. If so, you’ll want to purchase a current copy each year.
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ONLINE RESOURCES
6. Salty Southeast’s Cruiser’s Net
Claiborne Young runs this fabulous website giving up-to-the minute information about the ICW, organized by state from VIrginia to Florida. We find the sections on ICW Problems so indispensable we subscribe to his email alert feature to get the latest updates on shoals, missing markers, broken down bridges and waterway checkpoints by the authorities. Our next favorite feature is the fuel prices that are surveyed and posted frequently during the migration season. We can attest to his information being up-to-the minute as we emailed Claiborne with the report of a critical marker gone missing. We received a broadcast email alert from Salty Southeast within an hour. There is much, much more at Salty Southeast so check it out! Our only complaint is that the site can be slow to load, a problem when you have very iffy WiFi reception.
