Epilogue

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We arrived in Miami on Saturday, 24 days after casting off from our home dock in Annapolis. Some statistics from our trip:

  • Total nautical miles traveled: 1,115 (1,283 statute miles)
    • Chesapeake Bay nautical miles: 124
    • Ocean nautical miles:  619
    • ICW nautical miles: 372
  • Average speed under way: 8.1 knots
  • Typical cruising speed in ocean/bay: 9.75 knots
  • Diesel fuel used: 1,927 gallons (capacity is 1,750)
  • Number of nights at anchor: 7
  • Number of extra days paused due to weather: 4
  • Favorite spot: Hilton Head, SC
  • Number of days we played pickleball: 2
  • Number of football games Michigan lost during our trip: 0
  • Number of signs stolen by Michigan during our trip: (too soon)
This is the track we created on our Garmin Inreach. 

This was a completely immersive and exhausting experience. I would say that the entire process was more difficult than we expected. The biggest challenges were: fear of shallow water in the ICW, planning and navigating our route each day and figuring out how far to go, and where we would settle for the night, whether at anchor or in a marina. Only once, in Ft. Lauderdale, did we actually have real concerns about finding a place, as almost all the marinas were sold out, and the only anchorage we could find was already full.

Also, getting sick towards the end did not help things. We were lucky that the worst of my cold corresponded to the time we were stuck due to weather anyway. Traveling with Gimel created some complications. He refused to poop on the pad on the boat, so whenever we anchored, we had to get the dinghy down and take him somewhere. We might have anchored quite a bit more without him. We also limited ourselves to 8-9 hour travel days to accommodate the dog.

As we approached Miami, we felt relieved that this trip was over and at the same time, so glad that we did it.





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