Cruising@America 2010

Ein Projekt für 2010 des CCS

1000 sm US-East-Coast and ICW, 30.10. - 4.12.2010
Informationen zum ICW
 

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway

→ www.waterwayguide.com
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.
 

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.
 

weitere Links

bluewater.de

→ www.bluewater.de/east-usa.htm

Es lohnt sich die Ostküste der USA mit dem Boot zu bereisen und Land und Leute kennen zu lernen. Die Natur ist beeindruckend und in den abgelegenen Teilen von grosser Schönheit. Die vielen kleinen Städtchen, die zum Teil in den Tagen der ersten Pioniere gegründet wurden, sind reizend und mit den alten Häusern in den Baumalleen auch sehr romantisch.

Übersichtskarten

übrige Links

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