Trip planning: Savannah to Palm Beach for next week.

[Son of a son]

We are in a 450 Express Bridge with Cummins 450's.

Any advice is appreciated. OF course my trip depends on conditions off shore vs. in the ICW.

If the seas are calm enough, my initial plan is from Savannah to St. Augustine.

St. Augistine to Cape Canaveral area.

Cape Canaveral to Jupiter/North Palm Beach.

I would appreciate any advice on whether this is a reasonable itinerary and any recommendations on marinas and anchorages.

If the weather doesn't allow us to run outside, how long should I allow for the trip inside? Looking at it, it looks like a MUCH longer trip.

 

[Ididntdoit]

Canaveral to PB is not a bad run on the inside - approx 5 hrs - the ICW is wide and bridges high so you can travel on plane much of the way - Not sure how far south your ultimate destination is, but if going outside, I would duck in at lake worth inlet - if you're going to use another inlet (like Jupiter) do your homework and enter on the right tide

 

[my3sons]

We are in a 450 Express Bridge with Cummins 450's.

Any advice is appreciated. OF course my trip depends on conditions off shore vs. in the ICW.

If the seas are calm enough, my initial plan is from Savannah to St. Augustine.

St. Augistine to Cape Canaveral area.

Cape Canaveral to Jupiter/North Palm Beach.

I would appreciate any advice on whether this is a reasonable itinerary and any recommendations on marinas and anchorages.

If the weather doesn't allow us to run outside, how long should I allow for the trip inside? Looking at it, it looks like a MUCH longer trip.

How someone does a trip like this is all personal preference. If you have time constraints, then your itinerary is doable, just not one I would want to do, and maybe someone else can lend advice for a more hurried plan. If I'm reading you wrong and you are not in a hurry, I can lend some info of a relaxed, ride down through there based on just 3 trips up and down.
On one of our trips, we went from Thunderbolt to Jekyll Island Marina, It's just a hair over 100 miles inside, which is a really long day for us. We usually like to keep it to around 6 or 7 hours at 9kts. Jekyll is kind of nice, walking or biking to see the mansions is interesting. The last time we went through there they were dredging Jekyll creek so it shouldn't be a "time the tide" thing anymore, hopefully. We have also stayed at Brunswick landing marina. Cheaper fuel, great live aboard people that welcome you to their happy hours at the club house where there is (or at least was before covid) free beer, 24/7. The town is apparently not what it used to be, but it was fine for 1 or 2 days passing through. We also stayed at the Morningstar Marina on the north side of St Simons sound, there was a nice restaurant there, but not a lot else around. A decent anchorage that we have stayed at about half way between the Brunswick area and Thunderbolt is the Newport River. There are many anchorages along there, just pick one off active Captain.
It's about 100 miles on the ICW from the Brunswick/Jekyll area to St Augustine, about 85 miles on the outside, so outside is easily done, but I have not done it. We always go to Ortega Landing in Jacksonville and stay at least 4 days, we have family there, great marina that is yacht club atmosphere with everything within walking distance. In between we have stayed at Fernandina twice, They have a new marina there now which was closed from Matthew both times we stayed there. We hung on a ball out front. Nice town, there's a crepe place there that's worth the stop for us. St Augustine is one of the few places on Florida's east coast we really like. We stopped there all three times, stayed once at the city marina and twice on the city marina balls. I don't know if you have a dinghy, so the balls may not be for you. A lot to do, no vehicle necessary. This time of year they have the Christmas light thing going on, take the trolley ride around to see the lights.
You can go outside to Canaveral. Inside we stopped at Daytona Halifax Harbor, Rockhouse Creek anchorage at New Smyrna, anchorage in Mosquito Lagoon, and a couple of anchorages at Cocoa at the Merritt Island bridge. We saw a rocket launch from the Cocoa North anchorage. We had to get up at 2 in the morning to see it, but it was pretty neat! Couldn't believe how loud it was, and we were something like 13 miles away. Check the launch schedule website.
You can go outside the rest of the way with no problem also, but inside we have stayed at Vero Beach city marina, The other of our favorite places on the east coast. The marina is nothing to write home about, but it's on the beach side of the ICW, which means it's an easy walk to the beach. The streets are canopied with live oaks?, very pretty. They (the city) also has a free shuttle that picks up right at the marina and you can ride to the beach or take it across the bridge to down town for shopping. West marine is there in case you need something. We have stayed at Ft Pierce city marina, good inlet there and the marina was decent, restaurants close and a killer farmer's market on Saturdays and also Wednesday's (I think), but not as good as Saturday's. Have also stayed at Faber Cove anchorage, you can find it on active captain across from Ft Pierce marina. very well protected and fairly easy in and out from the inlet in case you have to come in there and just need a quick, easy, cheap place to stay. We have also stayed at Sailfish marina at Port Salerno. Easy from the St Lucie inlet. Lots of sport fish activity around this area. If you are inside, be prepared to be waked, a lot. Store your breakable decorations and Knick knacks with that in mind. We have also stayed at Lighthouse Point yacht club and marina. Very nice. We have only been between The St Lucie and the keys once. It was fun but we prefer the west coast and down to the keys so we went across the canal. Others will know more about that area.
So I guess in summary, if you're on a schedule, I would add one day to your outside itinerary as I wouldn't be comfortable with the first day from Savannah to St Augustine in the short daylight hours, but that's just me. Maybe some of the places I mentioned can help if you get stuck inside due to weather. If you have the time, smell the roses. I always think of the phrase "The most interesting path between two points is never a straight line", but most of all have fun and be safe.

 

[Son of a son]

Thanks. Lots of good info here. We are on a schedule to try to get down to West Palm for Thanksgiving with family. Other than that, we can certainly take longer if we need to. My home marina (Delegal) is on the south side of Savannah (about a mile from Hell's Gate), so I am hopeful a pre-dawn start can get us to St. Augustine with light to spare if the seas are calm. Otherwise, Fernandina or Jax sound like good alternatives.