9 October 2015, Oriental, NC – 24 October 2015, Riviera Beach, FL

Trawler trip down the ICW

It all started with an e-mail from “Trawler School Captain Bob” this past March saying he was going to travel to Boston to give Trawler Classes there in the summer. He inquired if any of us would like to charter the Miami Mermaid for a portion of the trip on the ICW. My wife and I being former students of his trawler school in 2011 thought it would be a unique experience so we e-mailed back and requested a portion of the southern Leg.

We took the trawler class thinking about buying a trawler but due to the wealth of information we received from Captain Bob’s on the pros and cons we decided to buy a small house on the water with a bay boat. Being a retired Coast Guard Officer we (my wife Betty & I) never strayed far from the water, I currently am still a partner in a Management company dealing with ocean going tugs & barges. But the desire to cruise the intercostal waterway has always lingered in our bucket list so we jumped at the chance.

The cruise was an irreplaceable experience and the fond memories will always be with us. In reality we chartered the Miami Mermaid, charted the course, picked out the stops and expanded our knowledge in navigation, not to mention the hours of hands on the helm.

Captain Bob seemed to disappear after we got underway in the morning and reclassified  himself as Cabin Boy Bob which means he also bought the groceries, cooked the meals. (That’s when he turned into Chef-Boy-AR-Dee Bob and turned the saloon into a 5-star restaurant with music, candles and wine).

Our trips ashore in his dingy (Named “My Ding-A-Ling”) were always special. We ended up in a mullet festival in Swanville, a wonderful seafood dinner and then partying on a 75’ trawler in Charleston, a late afternoon carriage ride through the historic district of Beaufort then shrimp & grits at Blackstone’s Café in the a.m. and a drink in Florida’s oldest tavern the “Palace Saloon” while at Fernandina Beach. Every day was an adventure whether ashore or at sea one day finds us running at Idle speed through South Carolina’s storm flooded waterway being shadowed by the Marine patrol or Coast Guard to insure the NO WAKE zone was enforced as the water was over the banks and into the homes or maneuvering up from the end of the Brunswick River open to the Atlantic in 4-6 foot seas.

The many homes we passed were unbelievable due to the architectural beauty and or landscaping. It was like a daily boat show sharing the waterway with every kind of vessel from multimillion dollar pleasure craft, other trawlers, river tugs and barges to sailing yachts of every description.

Sailing again with Captain Bob was a pleasure, we traveled around 800 miles ending around 50 miles short due to my coming down with a kidney infection but as he Medevac’d me ashore it all ended with smiles & high fives.

Bon voyage

Betty & Jerry Schambeau