We finish our final trip on the ICW, traveling from Wilmington NC to Norfolk VA. Most of the towns were still in winter hibernation mode, but we still enjoyed some of our favorite stop. We also added a new stop in Washington NC, where our good friends from Inconceivable hop on board for the final three days to our ultimate destination of Norfolk VA.
After a month in Jacksonville relaxing and a quick trip to California to see family, we start our eighth and final trip north on the ICW. But of course, it wouldn’t be boating if everything went smoothly…
Our month in Daytona was a weird mix of challenges and sadness, fun, weird weather, a few excursions, time with family, and plenty of ‘downtime’ to think about the future.
When your brain knows it’s inevitable but our heart gets stretched to its limit.
We take a month-long break in the Hampton Roads area to travel to Australia and get some routine boat maintenance done. Then it’s a mad dash down the Atlantic ICW by Christmas with Jack Frost nipping at our stern.
We head south from upper New York, slow enough to let the hurricane season run its course but fast enough to keep temps comfortable for cruising. We have a special guest join us along the Hudson and in NYC, set a personal record for most miles traveled in a day, see friends from our present and past, and get back to the Chesapeake Bay with time to spare before Dave’s Naval Academy Reunion.
We close the loop on our summer travels, cruising down Lake Champlain back to where we started the Erie Canal in Waterford NY. First, though, we take a short pause for a Minnesota visit. Clontinuing south, when the port engine suddenly quits working we learn how much a $25 part can actually cost. Ah, such is boat life…
We travel along the big rivers of Quebec from Ottawa to Montreal and then turn south back toward the US via the smaller Richelieu River and Chambly Canal. Along the way we pass through a wide variety of locks, and enjoy both the big city of Montreal and stops in smaller towns.
Edit Column
The entire historic Rideau Canal is a Canadian National Park and was a highlight of our Loop in 2022. So we do it again — just in reverse to give us a new perspective. From Lake Ontario we go up through 14 locks, through the three lakes at the highest point, then down another 21 locks to Ottawa, where we have a grand finale of 8 locks taking us to the Ottawa River. That’s 43 locks in 126 miles.