ICE on AICW South of Jacksonville, Florida
Posted by Claiborne | Posted on 11-01-2010
Good Heavens! Is this a “Titanic” scenerio Not really – just kidding, but Captain Stepniewski’s report below shows just how cold it has been over the last week in northern Florida!
Subject: Ice on the ICW
Cruising News: Yesterday (1-10-100 one hour south of Jacksonville FL we saw flat “water” and then heard crunching. Believe it or not, we played ice breaker for about ½ mile. Have pictures.
Andrew Stepniewski
Now stop your whining – I’m up here in Toronto at the boat show, 15th floor of the Hilton right now, and I’m looking at a LAKE full of ice, and it’s a lot thicker than what you’re seeing down there. Still, pretty astounding for FL.
I’ll be glad to be back to my own boat later this week, in Melbourne. This cold isn’t fun, either here or in Florida.
Wally Moran
HI WALLY,,,,WE ARE IN PHILLY AND THE WATER IS STARTING TO FREEZE HERE,,,,I AM NOT WHINNING,,,HOW IS SUE,,,,,AND WERE ARE YOU HEADING WHEN YOU GET BACK TO FLORIDA,,,,
LOVE PATTIE
We are freezing here in Fernandina Beach, Florida..we did not have any…but…you should see the SNOW that Jacksonville got ! Our dear friend in Ft. Laude4rdale phoned and he has moved off the sailboat and into a hotel !!
I am so glad we are not trying to live on the boat right now ! I have never seen any cold weather this bad on the ICW before……almost makes Connecticut look tropical !
Ernie Roberts
We are at dock in Marathon, Fl (FL Keys) and can see dead fish lying on the bottom, due to the frigid temps.
Cris
The farther south we have gone, the colder it has gotten. We anchored out the night before last at a snall “dent” in the ICW at marker 94 and at 0400 it was 34 F. in the cabin and 32 F. on deck. We are now at Adventure Yacht Harbor, Daytona Beach, and are waiting for the warm weather to catch up with us instead of trying to catch up with it. Several days ago, at Palm Cove Marina, a water hose had dripped all night and coated the concrete float with ice. Not fun!
Ted Jones
I think many cruising captains will remember the Florida winter of 2009 / 2010 as the year when hell froze over. Personally traveling down the ICW from Chesapeake I seem to have had lousy cold north windy weather since September. And the further south I got – the colder it got! This was not like the brochures portrayed…….
Many marinas too, trying to boost sagging sales in a poor economy, are charging “extras” wherever they can. I was asked by one for $20 to top up my water tank – even though I had just bought fuel from them. And others $12 to tie up your dinghy for an hour or so. Pure daylight robbery!
On the other hand – fighting fire with fire – I found several where if you showed hesitance at their transient rate you could get 50% off by paying with Cash! $2 a ft swiftly turned into $1 a ft.
I made it down to Lake Worth but the cold weather extended even to Key West and I decided the heck with it and turned around slowly heading north again.
Arnold
We had shore-to-shore thin ice here this AM. Second time in ten years. When stepped aboard the boat today, I could hear the crunch of ice breaking
up around the waterline.
Rich Gano
CALYPSO (GB-42 #295)
Southport, FL (near Panama City)
