Time required to travel from NY to FL

[knotflying]

I know this is a loaded question and there are significant variables, but I am looking for a rough idea of the time required to travel south from New York to Naples Florida. I am planning the trip for the fall and taking a swipe at time required for planning purposes and scheduling appointments after arrival in Florida. Anyone who has done it I would appreciate some input.

Thanks!

 

[dclagett]

We have done the trip to Florida in segments in our C-Dory 22 several years ago. The one segment you may be interested in was from Oriental, NC to Jacksonville Beach, FL which we have documented. This took us 10 days and covered 600 NM. We traveled every day in good and bad weather which was doable since most of the route was inside. We only had to divert once at St. Andrews Sound which puts you out in the Ocean for a few miles. The previous days weather had winds blowing 30+ mph and the Ocean had not settled by the time we arrived at the sound. Overall our schedule started out each day about 9AM and we made our destination by 3PM. This allowed us time to scout out the town, plan where we were going to eat that night and get back to the boat for happy hour prior to dinner. This schedule worked for us however if I were going to do the trip again I may lengthen the trip to stay longer at our favorite towns.

If you send me a PM with your e-mail I will send our trip log which details our route and stops.

Dick

 

[Navigator's Son]

In case I am drawing the wrong assumption here, you are referring to waterway, not highway 😀

In case you aren't aware, Garmin HomePort is a free download that you can use with you plotter SD chip and you can use all your navigation charts on a PC.

You can then setup all kinds of routes and even your cruising speed, etc. The software will then give you all kinds of great details, especially distance and time to travel.

The best part is you can then save those routes to the SD chip and import them right into your chart plotter and now your course is all laid out for you before you even step foot on the boat again

 

[bakerboat]

On our 40' catamaran, we would do Maine to Miami (and back) in about two months at a leisurely 7-10 kts. Included overnight offshore trips from NYC to Cape May and Charleston to St. Mary's inlet. Also, several 2 - 3 day stops at places we liked to check out. As you have probably heard before, don't have a set schedule so you can enjoy the journey.

Now, having said that and done this trip half a dozen times, we will really enjoy the 70 mph cruising speed with the R27 in tow and get to where we want to go in a few days! :mrgreen:

 

[knotflying]

Thanks for the reply. When you say 2 months, am I correct in saying that it was one month each way? That seems a lot shorter than I anticipated, but as I said, a lot has to do with weather and smelling the roses along the way.

 

[bakerboat]

No, sorry two months one way. We would leave Maine around the 3rd week of October and get to Miami roughly the middle of December. Return trips we about the same. Once, the weather was not good for going north from St. Mary's inlet to Charleston so, we headed up the ICW. Man is that a long slog up through Georgia! The ICW is shaped like a snake and I think it added about 5 days to our trip. We may have hit a bad cycle in the tides as well. Depending on you location relative to an inlet, you might be going along nicely at 9-10 kts but if you're on the other side you're down to 5-6 kts for several hours. This is for a displacement hull of course.

 

[knotflying]

Two months seems like what I was figuring as well, so you have confirmed my assumptions, thanks.

 

[suran suran]

We did the trip up and down the ICW from Maine to the west coast of FL four times on a 36' sailboat. You could do the trip you describe in six weeks if you were pushing it, but eight weeks would be more realistic. After all, you would probably want to spend a few days on the Chesapeake, visit Charleston and Savannah, perhaps stop at Cumberland Island, and certainly spend a few days in Key West! You might also experience a few weather delays. You never can tell. My only advice would be don't be in a hurry. There is a lot to see and enjoy along the way.

 

[knotflying]

Thanks for the info. Many of the spots you mentioned we habe been to, but there are others we have not been to so I am sure we will spend some time in new spots. We may do the trip back up, so there will be opportunities to see what we pass on the way down. In any event based on what has been posted and my gut feeling, I am figuring two months.

Thanks for the info

 

[suran suran]

By the way, if you are planning a fall trip and find yourselves in Beaufort SC at Thanksgiving, the Episcopal (?) Church in town serves a great T-giving dinner free (donations welcome) and invites all transients staying at the city marina. A lot of locals attend so you would likely meet some interesting folks.