02/07/2025 ICW Day 38 : High Tides and Good Vibes

by Brian · Published February 7, 2025 · Updated February 13, 2025

We woke with hopeful hearts - someone told us the boater’s lounge is open 24 hours. At 5 AM we walked over, excited to sit and sip coffee and microwave our frozen sausages. When we finished the long, wet walk, we found that our marina card key didn’t work. It would be locked until 7:30 AM. With heavy hearts, we walked back to our floating tent and tried to pass the time. I fired up some YouTube videos, and in spite of the cold (I had already packed the sleeping bag), it seemed like we had been instantly transported to 7:15AM. I usually try not to do that, but YouTube is kind of like a Time Machine.

After coffee and charging in the lounge, we made our way North as the waves picked up. We landed at Clinch State Park to do a short hike. This was the Northern terminus of the Florida Saltwater Circumnavigation Paddling Trail. We did it! Now on to the rest of the ICW.. Georgia.

We saw a sailboat actually sailing on the horizon, and if you’re a cyclist, you probably already know what happens next. You try to race them! Since they were ahead of us, we analyzed their moves and tried to shortcut as much as the wind would allow. We made ground on this Fifty foot boat. But right as we were about to catch them, they turned around. Sly move! It was the rental sailboat that had been parked at the same dock as us last night 😆

Thanks to that boat, though, we had gone down a channel that we had not originally planned. That turned out to be pure serendipity because we landed at Cumberland National Seashore. Wow, a National Park entrance with lots to see. We did a hike together, and because I wanted to see more, I ran further on some other trails. It was exquisite!

We used up the rest of the incoming tide to make it to camp; we were about 45 minutes too late and had to really pump the pedals those last two miles. Excellent campsite once again.

Photos:

They just rebuilt the visitor center a few days ago. It is beautiful and informative… and still smells of wood stain and paint.

Here is the “boater’s lounge.” You bring your boat and sleep on it but you get access to this facility as well as some good showers and bathrooms and a freshwater hose by your boat with 220v electricity. All of the boats parked next to us had larger “services” (that is the gauge of the incoming wire) than I do at my land based house.

We did it! Well, we did half of it… from the Everglades to Georgia.

Janet on our hike.

The salt water comes and blows in the air, stunting the growth of trees. This is called “salt pruning”. Note that the palm on my picture is more likely “human pruning.”

That is Spanish Moss. I was surprised to learn that it is not a parasite. It gets its water and nutrients from the air. It is actually a bromeliad, so it is related to the pineapple 🍍 of all things.

I ran out to the beach during my jog.

The horseshoe crab shells keep getting bigger, albeit less complete.

What could this be? A lost buoy? Part of a ship? Part of an old light house?

Many of the trails were on elevated boardwalks. I examined the marshy land below, where every prone log with broken off branches was an alligator for a split second.

The island has many wild horses (non native, by the way).

Whose poop? Hint, it’s not mine. There are bobcat on the island (they became extinct, so humans reintroduced them). They are doing OK, but now they have competition from coyotes.

This is the Dungeness House. It burned down over the course of 3 days.

I saw a few armadillo buddies on my run!

Back at it! Janet is well protected from bugs. As Murphy’s law would have it, after I tell you there haven’t been any bugs, we encountered some no-see-ums while on the water.

A clandestine camp - intentionally under trees because we believe that might prevent nocturnal tent soaking.

Huge tidal swings! If you have ever looked at a map, Georgia kind of pulls inward from the ocean relative to Florida and Maine sticking out, right? This causes the waves to be smaller on the beach because of the length of the continental shelf (on my run, I noted that we could have beach landed our boat of we wanted to). This special geography also causes 9 foot tidal variations - with up to 11 feet in extreme cases. Sure, it’s not the 50 foot Bay of Fundy tide, but when you have to drag your boat uphill each evening, you’re counting every foot

Strava Comments:

Stan H.

Congrats on completing the FSCPT, which I never even heard of until you and Janet did it on a bath tub toy. 🙌 I love that you picked a race with a fifty-foot sailboat! On to Georgia!

Janet W.

Ahoy captain Brian! We’ve made it almost halfway along the ICW. We finished Florida and I know there are more states coming up!

Nancy P.

Congrats on crossing a state line!

Osman I.

Congratulations on your milestones!

Osman I.

I notice you are not tacking as much. Are you traveling downwind, or is it the current, or both?

Osman I.

When you were racing the 50ft sailboat, were you both pedaling? Actually, is it possible to pedal in tandem and work the rudder and sail?

Brian L.

Hi Osman Isvan - the lack of tacking is due to it having as much wind “directly on the nose.” You can sail about 45 degrees off the wind on this boat. Some boats can go even closer. I was telling Janet yesterday that I’m becoming a wind fanatic like you 😃. We have been scheduling around the current as best we can, but with a “head current,” we just go straight into it using pedals (or the appropriate sail angle of the wind is strong enough). Yes, during the “race” we were pedaling. If the wind takes you to 5 knots, and pedaling alone can talk you to 4 knots, it’s not like you go 9 knots. Instead, you achieve about 5.5 knots, so 0.5 for your pedaling effort. If I try to sprint, it’s the same… sometimes even SLOWER?! it seems there must be some sort of slowing turbulence generated beneath the boat from crazy pedaling. Janet and I can pedal together or either can stop when they want. Beats out bike tandem drive. One person sometimes sits on the paddle board to balance the boat, which increases speed in heavy seas (the opposing side sinking into the waves slows the boat down). Yes, technically we were “cheating” against the sailboat because we were “motor” sailing… and they were only using wind. Regardless, it fascinates me that a plastic boat can keep up with or even surpass blue-water monohulls - boats designed to cross great oceans!

Jesse B.

Brian Lucido what is your total hill length of all three hulls? I am guessing close to same as the big boy!

Osman I.

Your propeller is probably not as efficient when you pedal at 5,5 knots under sail power, as it is at lower speeds. But even aside from the loss in efficiency, I wouldn't assume that pedaling under sail would add the "pedal-only" speed to the "sail-only" speed. The power difference between doing 5.5 knots and 5 knots may well be the same as the power needed for doing 4 knots, in terms of the rate at which water is displaced.

Mark G.

I understand all about the boat dragging as it was a daily ritual on some kayak trips in the northwest-turned me into a fresh water lover. Total bummer there wasn't an access key for the lounge-seems doable.