ICW Virginia and Chesapeake

[Firefly2006]

I am about to begin my cruise from Oriental, NC to Albany, NY. Because of all the torrential rain in recent days, I'm concerned about the condition of the ICW between mm 180 and 0. Also, the condition of the Chesapeake given that the many rivers and streams can dump a lot of floating debris into it.
If anyone has any recent experience I'd be grateful to hear about it.

[thomm225]

The lower bay was fine last weekend when I sailed over to Kiptopeke from Little Creek (except the current was ridiculously strong due to the near full moon)

Couple weeks before that it was good over to the York River.

I didn't hear any reports of debris over the radio either.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Firefly2006

I am about to begin my cruise from Oriental, NC to Albany, NY. Because of all the torrential rain in recent days, I'm concerned about the condition of the ICW between mm 180 and 0. Also, the condition of the Chesapeake given that the many rivers and streams can dump a lot of floating debris into it.
If anyone has any recent experience I'd be grateful to hear about it.

I went through that whole section last month and it was "normal", meaning there wasn't any problems and in fact that section has less dangers really than further south has. I'm now in the Potomac and there wasn't any issues getting here from Portsmouth.

[Cruiser2B]

Ran it two weeks ago, Virginia cut, no issues at that time. The weather has been good so it's probably still in good shape.

[JSLExplores]

We just arrived at Hamton, VA yesterday. We took the dismal swamp route.
A tree had fallen in the middle of the swamp and until that gets cleaned up I would avoid that route if your draft is great than 3'6".

[kingofcary]

FireFly2006 ... I am from Albany area and kept a boat in Oriental. I would be interested in the details of your trip. I potentially may be doing same. What are you sailing for the journey and what is/was your expected timelines. Thanks ... kingofcary

[wayne.b]

Originally Posted by Firefly2006

I am about to begin my cruise from Oriental, NC to Albany, NY. Because of all the torrential rain in recent days, I'm concerned about the condition of the ICW between mm 180 and 0. Also, the condition of the Chesapeake given that the many rivers and streams can dump a lot of floating debris into it.
If anyone has any recent experience I'd be grateful to hear about it.

===


We came through there over the last two weeks. The Virginia Cut and Lower Chesapeake were fine. The Upper Chesapeake, north of Solomons and beyond, had a bit of floating tree debris. It was mostly smaller branches but a few were bigger. We also saw some smaller logs off the Jersey coast but that's not unusual in our experience.

[SFS]

We left Oriental on Wednesday morning. We arrived at Coinjock today about noon. I've seen very little debris in the water in the past 130 miles. I'm now at statute mile 50. Norfolk tomorrow. The cold front has generated some rain, which will add to the potential for more vegetation in the water.