I always spend the end of Hurricane Season in Colorado visiting friends and family in the Denver area and this year is no exception; it is always fun to catch up and…
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I have visited 49 of the 50 states, but will only be writing about places I have visited since I bought my boat and sailed the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), which has an Atlantic segment and a Gulf segment. It is made up of manmade canals connecting natural bays and rivers used to help facilitate the safe movement of ships and goods up and down the coast. The benefit of having such a route that was safe from both natural (weather) and manmade (warships and pirates) hazards was recognized very early in the history of the USA. It was first discussed in 1802….only 26 years after the country was formed.
The Atlantic ICW officially starts at Norfolk, VA and runs down to Key West, FL and can accommodate mast heights up to 65 feet (except for one bridge between Fort Lauderdale and Miami). If you want to travel north of Norfolk you can stay in protected waters all the way to Boston by using the Chesapeake Bay, C&D Canal, Delaware Bay, New Jersey ICW (bridge heights around 35 feet), Hudson River, Long Island Sound, and Cape Cod Canal.
Helpful Info
Population – 325,719,000
Money – US Dollar
Language – English
Religion – 73.7% Christian
When to go – Any time
World Heritage Sites – 23 – Cahokia Mounds, Carlsbad Caverns, Chaco, Everglades, Glacier Bay, Grand Canyon, Hawaii Volcanos, Independence Hall, Mammoth Cave, Mesa Verde, Monticello, Old San Juan, Olympic NP, Papahānaumokuākea, Poverty Point, Redwood Forest, San Antonio Missions, Smoky Mountains, Statue of Liberty, Taos Pueblo, Waterton Glacier, Yellowstone, Yosemite
Country formed – Independence from the UK declared on 04 July 1776
This is Lucy the Elephant found in Atlantic City since 1881
The Gulf ICW runs from Brownsville, TX to Carrabelle, FL and another segment from Tarpon Springs, FL to Fort Myers, FL. On the Gulf ICW you will find a whole lot more commercial traffic as chemical companies transfer good back and forth. Here the bridge heights are extended to 73 feet high (except for 2-3 between Pensacola, FL and Destin, FL). One odd aspect of the Gulf ICW is that the official starting point is New Orleans and the mile markers are X miles east or west of that point.
My Visit
Helping the Wright Brothers fly at Kitty Hawk
After spending 9 months south of Houston, TX living on the boat, getting to know it, and making improvements, I left the dock on January 20, 2010. My best friend and I spent a week cruising the Gulf ICW to New Orleans, where we arrived two days before the Saints won the Super Bowl. I stayed in New Orleans through the Mardi Gras season before continuing eastward along the Gulf Shores.
I traveled as far up the ICW as Newport, RI and took a ferry over to Nantucket, MA. On my way back south I spent two weeks exploring New York City and a month relaxing in Annapolis, MD. By Christmas time I was south of Miami, FL and ready to jump across the Gulf Stream and start exploring the Bahamas.
Likes, Dislikes, and Recommendations
Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas
A lot of people do not like the ICW, but it is super convenient and you can travel almost anytime regardless of weather. Plus, if you get a favorable sailing day you can jump out to the ocean for a day sail and come back in by evening, because it seems like there is an inlet every 40-60 miles.
I loved my year cruising the ICW with the many bays, historical sites, cities, towns, and cruising friends I saw and met. But, my top stops were Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the sponge fishing in Tarpon Springs, the Dry Tortugas at the end of the Florida Keys, Kennedy Space Center, Cumberland Island in Georgia, Charleston, Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks, New York City, and Nantucket.
Playing around with a horseshoe crab
One of the biggest questions I get is about anchoring in the ICW. Apparently within the cruising community the East Coast has a reputation that you have to stay at marinas all the time. This is simply not the case as there are anchorages everywhere and you will be hard pressed to not find a place within 5-10 miles of the last one. In fact, my biggest recommendation is to get the Skipper Bob Cruising Guides. These simple and cheap books lay out each bridge, anchorage, sight, and more in order you come to them and tell you the mile marker each is at. You will have no problem navigating with these books and your charts.
The other recommendation is to not think of your trip up or down the ICW as a way to get somewhere, but to enjoy your travel and explore the many communities (both big and small), historical sites, and natural beauty.
Below you can get even more helpful hints by watching the travel videos I made for the Gulf and East coasts of the USA. Also, you can read what all I did in my blog posts located below the video.
All Blogs From The USA
When my daughter visited me at my parent’s house for Labor Day weekend we drove down to Kansas City and spent the morning and early afternoon exploring before her flight…
This is also the hometown of my mother and last month when my daughter visited for Labor Day weekend we took her over to see where her Grandmother lived and…
Now that I have the boat hauled out of the water, put away, and the yard working on it I had to figure out how I was going to get…
[Mom – October 3, 2019 – A very special thank you to our wonderful tour guide ( AKA son, Shane) for the last 4 weeks. If anyone is interested in…
[Mom – October 2, 2019 – Bill, Shane and I made a visit to the NY Public Library and the Grand Central Terminal. Bill had a bit of an encounter…
[Mom – October 1, 2019 – Today was another bucket list check off for us as we visited the Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island.] Except when I visited NYC…
I am in the middle of sharing the last five days of the month long trip I had showing my parents Israel, Jordan, and New York City. This photo was…
[Mom – September 30, 2019 – Today was an art museum day for Shane and me. We wore Bill out at Coney island yesterday so he stayed at the hotel…
[Mom – September 29, 2019 – What a fun day we had traveling by subway to Coney Island! Our day started when we walked out of the Hotel Pennsylvania and…
[Mom – September 28, 2019 – We had Mexican food our first and last nights in Israel. We then went back to the hotel where Janice was spending the night…
Nine years ago, when I sailed the Guiding Light to New York City, I visited the Apollo Theater during the day and since then I have always wanted to attend…
On July 31st I flew into New York City for a one night stay before I headed overseas for my off season travels. I just happen to be there on…
Last year when I was in New York I visited every building that once was the tallest in the world…..or so I thought. Turns out when I looked up the…
Having already seen Sears Tower and doing the river walk one evening at the end of July, I continued along the eastern side of The Loop, as downtown Chicago is…
Yesterday I told you about my visit to Sears Tower in Chicago’s downtown called The Loop. I visited the tower at sunset, which meant it was nighttime when I walked…
After spending five days in Denver getting ready for two months over seas, I headed to the airport on July 29th to start my travels with a couple days in…
Travelling in the US will open your mind, fill your Instagram with amazing photographs and give you stories to tell to your grandchildren. No matter which state you visit, you…
So this is going to be my last blog about my road trip through California and Arizona and I want to spend it letting you know how amazing of a…
Chiricahua National Monument is a unit within the National Parks System located 36 miles southeast of Willcox, AZ. The highlight within Chiricahua National Monument is the hundreds of column rock…
Fort Bowie National Historic Site is the site of Fort Bowie, which was built in 1862 in order to secure Apache Pass and Springs. It sits in the southeast corner…
I hope you enjoyed reading about Saguro National Park yesterday and learned a lot about those giants like I did. Today’s “photo of the day” is one last photo from…
Think about the southwest right now. What is the first thing that comes to mind? I bet it is a desert scene with a very tall cactus having two arms…
But you do not want to get to close, because it is a cactus after all. Haha. What do you think of it? I found these giants to be amazing…
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is the only place you will find the cactus called organ pipe in the USA, because this is the northern limit of it habitat. They…
The Casa Grande National Monument consists of the ruins of multiple structures surrounded by a compound wall constructed by the ancient people of the Hohokam period, who farmed the Gila…
Tonto National Monument is in the Superstition Mountains of central Arizona. The area lies on the northeastern edge of the Sonoran Desert ecoregion, an arid habitat with annual rainfall of…
Today’s “photo of the day” is about as Arizona as I could find. I loved everything about this scene and knew it would make a great photo. I hope you…
Walnut Canyon National Monument is located about 10 mi from Flagstaff, AZ, off Interstate 40. The canyon is 350 feet deep and an almost mile long trail descends 185 ft…
Prickly pears are actually really tasty, but you have to watch out for the little cactus stickers. I found this patch of fruiting cactus outside Casa Grande, which I will…
On Tuesday I told you how I stopped at Wupatki National Monument to view the 1500 year old adobe buildings and that Spur 395 off Highway 89 was a 20…
Horseshoe Bend is the name for a horseshoe-shaped meander of the Colorado River located near the town of Page, Arizona. It is located slightly downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam,…
After visiting so many National Parks during my two week road trip in California and Arizona, I started to crave more and wanted to see all that I could. With…
On Tuesday I wrote all about my time at Antelope Canyon in northern Arizona near Page and today I want ot share another photo that really shows off the colors,…
On Tuesday I shared my experience at Grand Canyon with you and today I am writing about a canyon in the opposite extreme. Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon outside…
I hope you read my blog yesterday about the Grand Canyon. If you did then you will remember me saying that no amount of words or pictures will prepare someone…
The Grand Canyon is rightfully a World Heritage Site and mere words can not describe the beauty ofthis desert canyon, but would it surprise you that the Grand Canyon does…
Did you enjoy reading about the northern half of Joshua Tree National Park, which rests in the Mojave desert? What about all the “photos of the day” I have shared?…
Joshua Tree National Park is on the eastern part of southern California and sits at the junction of the Mojave and Colorado deserts. The Mojave desert is the higher of…
As I was hiking to Barker Dam in Joshua Tree National Park I came across this cool old car just sitting in the desert. I am not sure of the…
Since I was in Los Angeles visiting my niece who just moved there, I took the opportunity to visit not one, but two different presidential libraries as I check them…
The view from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is pretty darn stunning and it would be hard to find a better resting spot for President & First Lady Reagan. In…
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is located north of Los Angeles in Simi Valley. The hacienda style building has an address of 40 Presidential Drive due to him being the…
Who wouldn’t want to walk through the plane that carries the President of the United States? I know I was super excited about it when I fould out how to…
Visiting my niece in Los Angeles was great since she had just moved to California recently and had not seen to much of the city. We got to see many…
Just look at today’s “photo of the day”! How can it not be a good day if you are riding a rollercoaster on a wooden pier in the southern California…
Kind of sounds like the pitch for a movie doesn’t it? Well it is actually the site of the La Brea Tar Pits. These tar pits, which is really just…
The scene they have created at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles really gives you an idea of what it might have been like during the last Ice…
Hollywood became synonymous with the greatest film industry in the world when movie studios, a new entertainment medium at the time, all moved to the Los Angeles suburb in the…
Those tusks are at least eight feet long and the skull would take two hands to pick up. Any idea where this is from? On Tuesday I will tell you,…
One of the main reasons I chose to do a two week road trip in southern California and Arizona was because one of my nieces graduated and moved there for…
To be honest, there are not a lot of options :). Due to the amazing size of these trees all the NPS could really do is cut a section out…
I swear every person I know from California raves about how good the burgers at In-N-Out Burger is and how they miss them so much. I going to admit it…
Yesterday I wrote all about Sequoia National Park and gave you highlights to look for and a few tips. I also had a photo of the outside of Fallen Monarch,…
The idea that a tree could be big enough to drive a car through has intrigued me since I was a kid and spending time in the Mariposa Grove of…
Even though I did not know about Kings Canyon National Park until I arrived at the entrance to Sequoia NP, because both are administered together, I loved it. I can…
After seeing the sequoia trees in Mariposa Grove of Yosemite National Park I was excited to visit Sequoia National Park, but to get there you have to pass Kings Canyon…
Over the last several days I have written about Yosemite National Park and the Mariposa Grove of sequoia trees at the south end of the park. this is just the…
On Sunday I told you how I flew to California for a two week road trip after I visited New York City and how I started the road trip by…
This great view is looking down the Yosemite Valley with El Capitan on the left. After visiting Yosemite I understand why so many people are drawn to it. If you…
I hope you enjoyed reading all about my time in New York City over the last several weeks. It is now time to tell you about the road trip part…
Last Saturday I wrote a travel guide for five days in New York City I called My Top 12 favorite Thing To Do In NYC. Well today I am going…
My parents love a good “dead body show” as my mom calls them and they got me sucked into Blue Bloods starring Tom Selleck as the Police Commissioner of the…
Yesterday I wrote all about the Roservelt Island cable tram that goes over the East River and today I want to share my favorite photo of it coming down to…
Roosevelt Island is a small island in the East river between Manhattan and Queens and it is connected to the former by a cable car called the Roosevelt Island Tramway…
While I am not an expert on New York City I thought it would be fun to tell you the 12 places that are my favorites and is a good…
That is right. There is a great brass sculpture of Alice in Wonderland that sculptured in 1959 by José de Creeft. It sits just inside the park near East 74th…
Central Park in New York City is the most filmed location in the world, but until you actually walk off the loud and crowded Manhattan streets and start strolling along…
What I find the most amazing thing about Central Park in New York City is how it is the most featured film location in the world and yet when you…
In the movie Night At The Museum Ben Stiller is a night security guard when all the exhibits come to life. You may be wondering how it can all go…
While the displays at teh New York City Natural History Museum might seem a little dated now a days I was amazed how real life they were about to get…
During my visit to New York City last fall I ended up at the famous Macy’s store, which happens to be the location of the classic Christmas movie, Miracle on…
While I was looking down on the city for some of the buildings I visited I was mezmerized by how many wooden water tanks I saw. They are on every…
The next stop on my time in New York City last September is the New York Public Library, which is located on 5th Ave at E 41st Street and is…
Since I first saw the New York Public Library in the movie Ghostbusters I have been amazed at the beauty of the building. After visiting it I found the building…
I hope you have been enjoying reading about my week in New York City with Melek last September. Today I want to tell you about our adventure at Times Square…
Today’s photo of the day is a shot down the alley way to the courtyard and front of 30 Rock, the tallest building in the Rockefeller Center. Yesterday I wrote…
While the Empire State Building won the “Race into the Sky” during the early 1930’s (and it is an impressive building) I think the sheer size of the Rockefeller Center…
Nicholas Cage jumped from the deck of the USS Intrepid in the movie National Treasure, but the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is worth sticking around and checking out….
Check out the deck of the USS Intrepid filled with historic military planes and helicopters. I have wanted to visit this air & space museum since my first trip to…
What an experience it was to walk across the Brooklyn Brige in New York City. To walk the same path that people have used for over 125 years. To view…
We are moving up Manhattan and talking about the Brooklyn Bridge today. This iconic bridge is an amazing structure to visit and a must do when in New York City….
While touring New York city last September I found an appropriate sized ice cream cone. 🙂 It was located in Little Italy outside Ferrarra Bakery. Now this is an ice…
Today I continue my five day trip to Manhattan by stopping at Trinity Church since it near so many of the other places I visited like the 9/11 Memorial, Staten…
Yesterday I wrote all about riding the Staten Island Ferry and how much fun I had. The main reason I originally rode the ferry is for the view of the…
If you are in the downtown area of New York City you should consider riding the Staten Island Ferry. Not only does it take you to Staten Island, which is…
Yesterday I finished writing about visiting every building in America that use to have the title of tallest in the world by writting about the World Trade Center memorial. What…
When I visited the Burj Khalifa in Dubia, the tallest building in the world, during my travels in 2014 I realized I had been in three of the last six…
Since the World Trade Center was once the tallest building in the world I visit the memorial site as part of my tour to see all the building in the…
If you are into visiting building and getting great views from observation decks, then there is none other than the Empire State Building in New York City. This is where…
You read that correctly. Today’s photo of the day is taken from the main observation deck at the top of building, but there is another one at the top of…
I continued to visit each building that once was the tallest in the world during my offseason road trip and on Sunday I wrote all about how the 40 Wall…
As we follow my quest to see all the buildings once labeled “tallest in the world” I visited 40 Wall Street, which is a 71-story neo-gothic skyscraper in downtown New…
The Woolworth Building is the next stop as we visit all the former “tallest building in the world” in America and it held the title from 1913 until 1930. The…
On Sunday you read how I was going to try and see all the buildings in America that have claimed to be the tallest in the world at one point…
I am on a quest to see buildings that were deemed the tallest in the world at one time. Yesterday I wrote all about Philadelphia City Hall and tomorrow I…
This offseason I broke my tradition and did not travel overseas. Instead I took a two and a half week road trip in America. I started off by flying into…
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Warren & Erica join me as we talk about their three-month road trip around the southwest USA in a pickup truck that Warren modified. We had a great time chatting…
Unfortunately, we do not celebrate Halloween in Turkey, I lived in the U.K for 3 years, but I don’t think it was a big deal there as it is here….
When I visited my parents in Kansas City the first thing we did before heading to their house was go downtown and check out the main library. What this branch…
I spent the entire week hanging out in the north part of Lake Worth, which is in North Palm Beach. There is a dinghy landing a quarter of a mile…
November 1st is the day my insurance says I can start heading south due to the hurricane season ending in 30 days and the likelihood of a storm is greatly…
My name is Eric McKenzie. I’m 25 years old and a full time firefighter/paramedic for Chillicothe, MO Fire Department. I have never been sailing before but love the ocean and…
This week started with me in the Bahamas and ending with me in the United States. On Sunday Paul, Nancy, & I hung out at the fantastic Old Bahama Bay…
This week I thought I would let Bluie Foster (the mom of the family who is sailing with me this week and next) provide a recap of our activities. Hey! …
I snuck into Miami before a strong cold front hit the area. I dropped my anchor on the south side of the Venetian Causeway between Di Lido and Riva Alto…
On Sunday I met a representative of the Seven Seas Sailing Association in order to pick up boxes of books donated for schools in The Bahamas. I originally stated I…
The constant chop at the exposed anchorage in Titusville was starting to get on my nerve, but I had to wait until a battery temperature sensor arrived. On Thursday I…
After church (and a healthy breakfast of donuts) Dad and I went to NASA for the day. He had taken me when I was 8-10 so it was fun to…
On Sunday we all slept in and relaxed until my dad and I went to church. After that we walked around St Mary’s and Lennie found a washer and dryer…
On Sunday we all milled around until noon. At that time Mark said his goodbyes and we headed offshore for an overnight to Charleston. We started with 20-25 knots from…
We left Manteo on Halloween morning and headed for Oakracoke, but the winds were a bit too much on the nose, so instead of a southwest route we went westward…
We rented a car and picked my dad up from the airport. On Tuesday we went to the historic triangle and saw Jamestown (the first permanent English settlement), Williamsburg (preserved…
This week I finished up my annual haul out and I think it was successful (although expensive). I had the bottom scraped and painted, the sail drives serviced, replaced three…
For the last two weeks I have been hanging out with the other boats in my anchorage in Spa Creek. This is a great place as it is in the…
On Sunday I decided to bike 14 miles round trip in order to see Lucy the Elephant. This is a six story building built in 1881. It was a fun…
New York was amazing, but we had to work around rainy weather the whole time. On Sunday we motored through Hell’s Gate with the current and had great views of…
Mystic, CT was a great place to visit. I had pizza at Mystic Pizza twice. It is the same place the movie of the same name staring Julia Roberts is…
Well this week found me stuck in Newport, RI with the gooseneck pulling away from the mast. Chuck, the rigger from Rig Pro, could not get to me until Tuesday…
This week was all about traveling north to Nantucket. We sailed 40-60 miles a day and stayed the night at Ocean City, NJ, Manasquan Inlet, Fire Island Inlet (very pretty),…
My buddy boat decided to get a slip on Monday, so we had access to the swimming pool, which was very nice. The raw water pump came in on Tuesday…
We made it to Elizabeth City, which is supposed to be the “harbor of hospitality”. The area is very nice, but if there were two other boats with us the…
We started the week off by getting a ferry across the Ocracoke Inlet to Portsmouth, which is a ghost town ran by the National Park Service. The town was established…
This week we have been to four different places. First, we spent an extra day in Swansboro, because we got a late start on several things and would not have…
There was a lightning strike close to the boat in Ft Lauderdale and it fried the old chart plotter (a GPS and electronic map combo) antenna. This is why you…
We arrived at Charleston on an outgoing tide so the current was against us as we went up the Ashley River. It took a while, but we made it to…
Melissa and I drove the boat up the ICW to St Augustine so we could pick up our newest crew member, Veronika, from the Jacksonville Airport. We also met up…
Melissa and I left Ft Lauderdale on Tuesday morning, because I had a dental cleaning on Monday afternoon at my friend’s office. After the appointment we went to see Iron…
Chase went with my friend to Ft Lauderdale so he could see a friend and find some quick work. That left Melissa and I alone on the boat and 70 miles…
We left Marathon and on a whim decided to go to a light to see if there were any fish. What we ended up with was a great reef (best I…
Last week we were in Key West for the whole week waiting for the 20-30 knot winds to die down. I visited the southern most point in the continental US,…
My friend decided to join us on Monday in Naples for the rest of the week. We had an amazing beach with more seashells than you could imagine. We also…
We got to Pine Island (near Ft Myers) on Monday and Chase showed up in a rented car on Tuesday so we took care of some errands. On Wednesday Russ…
My new crew member, Russ, joined me on Monday and we hung out in Pensacola with his friend Walt until we sailed to Destin on Friday. The sail started with…
Roberts Bayou was the absolutely perfect place to spend Easter morning. The entrance was very narrow, but once you get in it opens up and has houses on the shore…
This week I left New Orleans. I have Jim and Blieu from Missouri and Erin from New Orleans aboard. Jim and Blieu are thinking about getting a Lagoon and wanted…
The last two weeks I prepared to get the boat ready to leave New Orleans. I also wired in a switch so I can raise and lower the anchor from…
I went to the French Quarter again and visited the Voodoo museum and had a muffalata for lunch at Central Grocery. It is amazing how much voodoo is apart of…
I have been working on the boat the last two weeks. I had the yard I am staying at help me with an oil change (oil, filter, fuel filters, and…
I went with Rusty & Linda to their friends house, on the other side of the lake, in order to watch the Saints win the Super Bowl. They invited me…
I have completed all the projects I had started, sold my car, and am ready to leave the Houston area. The personal injury attorney Kansas city mo have proven experience…
We took the boat out for the first time since I got it to the Houston area. I have also been busy working on a chart holder and getting an…