ICW CRUISING TIPS

The following is an excerpt from the 2010 Waterway Guide Atlantic ICW edition:

The ICW

The first question to ask when you are talking about the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) might very well be: Just what in the heck is the Intracoastal Waterway? Sure, it's a navigable route of protected water, going from Boston south to Florida and then along the Gulf Coast to the Mexican border, via interconnected canals, creeks, rivers, bays and sounds. But doesn't the "real" ICW run from Mile Zero at Norfolk to Mile 1090 at Miami? Is Chesapeake Bay part of the ICW?

Here are some quick facts to help sort things out. First, the term ICW refers to the entirety of the inland waterway system from Boston to Brownsville (in Texas, at the Mexican border). Along that overall waterway are individual sections with their own names, such as the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW), the aforementioned waterway between Norfolk and Miami (much of which is covered in this book). There is also the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW), which runs along the Gulf Coast between Florida and Mexico. And yes, Chesapeake Bay is indeed a part of the ICW between Boston and Norfolk.

Defining the ICW can be a tricky business. But boaters who have navigated along any part of this incredible feat of civil engineering can tell you what the ICW is to them-a great place to cruise and explore.

History

The history of the ICW along the Atlantic coast dates all the way back to the Revolutionary War, which, among other things, clarified the need for better transportation routes between the Colonies. Thomas Jefferson thought that a system of canals connecting America's East Coast waterways, coupled with a similarly overarching road system, would greatly increase national security.

Over the ensuing decades, states began constructing canals, a series of independent projects that would lead to the great "canal era" of the 1800s. In 1808, then Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin produced what could be considered the mother of all ICW proposals-a report to Congress calling for an inland waterway along the Eastern Seaboard, between Boston and St. Marys, GA. (He also proposed linking this system with the great Western rivers.)

While Gallatin's plan got the attention of Senate lawmakers, his project was never pursued on a large scale. Instead, a series of smaller civil engineering projects-including the construction of canals and dredging of rivers, creeks and harbors-would be linked, piece by piece, to form a longer continuous waterway.

It was not until March 3, 1909, that Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act, authorizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to complete surveys for an intracoastal waterway system along the entire Atlantic coast. Shortly thereafter, recognizing the value such an unobstructed route would have for the military, not to mention the economy, Congress began to approve funding for a series of federal canal and dredging projects, with the express intention of realizing Gallatin's dream.

The USACE completed most of these projects in the mid to late 1930s. In 1947, federal legislation consolidated the six Intracoastal Waterway projects under USACE control between Norfolk and the St. Johns River in Florida. By this time, the federal government had opened up many of the ICW's featured canals, such as the Cape Cod Canal and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal at the head of Chesapeake Bay.

Cruising Conditions

The conditions a cruiser will find on the ICW will vary greatly from one portion of the Waterway to the next, which is one of the ICW's charms. The specific conditions you are likely to encounter are covered in each of the following sections of Waterway Guide Mid-Atlantic, where they apply. Yet some generalizations about the Waterway do apply.

The USACE is struggling to maintain the ICW. Funding shortages in recent years have made the Corps' task that much harder, especially recently. Dredging no longer continues to regularly take place in certain areas. The USACE's project plans call for 12-foot depths along the bulk of the Waterway-but any experienced ICW cruiser would often call that wishful thinking.  The nature of the ICW-particularly its canals, land cuts and narrow rivers-means that shoaling and silting are constantly underway. Still, the original intention of the Waterway has proven a boon to the recreational boating set: It's an amazing, well-protected passage for most of its length. While large amounts of commercial shipping traffic use the Waterway (known as "The Ditch" on the run between Norfolk and Florida), boaters continue to discover the unique charms of ICW cruising.

More cruising tips and information are in the 2010 Waterway Guide editions.  Order your copy today.